Even though Guy Kawasaki has held many hats throughout his illustrious career, his name has been synonymous with Apple for as long as most people can remember. Kawasaki’s first stint at Apple dates back to 1983 where he served as the company’s Mac evangelist, essentially touting the benefits of the Mac platform to developers and the public at large.
Earlier this year, Kawasaki penned an interesting post on Quora where he detailed what he learned from his time working with Steve Jobs. What makes Kawasaki’s perspective so fascinating is that his experience working with Jobs occurred during the mid-1980s, long before Jobs managed to tone down his legendary temper.
Based on his time at Apple, Kawasaki relays that being 100% honest at all times was the most valuable thing he learned from working with Jobs. Indeed, we’ve seen a number anecdotes from former and current Apple employees over the past few years articulating the same, namely that Jobs didn’t necessarily demand that everyone agree with him at all times, but rather that he respected complete honesty, no matter how brutal. On the flipside, Jobs himself was never one to shy away from hurting anyone’s feelings in the interest of delivering cold hard truths.
Laying out the benefits of steadfast honesty, Kawasaki writes:
- Telling the truth is a test of your character and intelligence. You need strength to tell the truth, and intelligence to recognize what is true.
- People yearn for the truth—that is, telling people that their product is good just to be positive doesn’t help them improve it.
- There’s only one truth,so it’s easier to be consistent if you’re honest. If you are dishonest, you have to keep track of what you have said.
All in all, some wise guidelines for life, both in and out of the workplace.
