Why Some People Succeed and Others Fail?

Ever wonder what sets people like Steve Wozniak, Stacey Abrams, Mark Rober, and Jane Goodall apart? Why do some people seem to eat, sleep, and breathe “awesome?”

In this episode, Guy Kawasaki joined me to discuss his life and career, patterns of successful people, Thinking Remarkable, brutally honest thoughts on Steve Jobs and Elon Musk, joining Canva, Advice to Young People, and more.

He’s an extremely rare guest on any podcast 🔥, and we’re so humbled that Guy Kawasaki has agreed to come aboard ADPList’s Interview! This video interview is already on YouTube trending!

Guy Kawasaki Interview—Lessons from Steve Jobs and How To Leap from Average to Exceptional In Life

Guy Kawasaki is the Chief Evangelist of Canva, the Author of Think Remarkable, and the Host of the Remarkable People podcast. He was also the Chief Evangelist of Apple (part of the original team responsible for marketing the Macintosh) and trustee of the Wikimedia Foundation.

He has written 16 books, including The Art of the Start 2.0, The Art of Social Media, and Enchantment. He is also known as the father of modern evangelism and one of the most influential figures in marketing.

In this episode, we discuss everything on:

* Lessons working with Steve Jobs and Early Apple.

* Early Life in Hawaii: The “Ohana” Culture.

* The Importance of Connecting the Dots Backwards.

* Why do some people succeed and others don’t?

* 3 Traits to Be Remarkable in Life and Career.

* How You Can Achieve Greater Things in Life.

* Canva and the groundbreaking culture.

* The Pursuit: Dropping out from Law School.

* Silicon Valley v.s. Rest of the World.

* Design Wars: Figma v.s. Canva v.s. Adobe.

* Life & Career Advice for Younger People.

Some takeaways:

* Connect Your Dots Backwards—Success is not linear, focus on making the best decisions, not always the right ones, nurture growth, grit, and grace, don't let self-doubt hold you back, and create a growth mindset environment for success.

* Traits of Remarkable People (Must Watch!)—Growth, Grit and Grace. Grit means keep going when things are no longer easy or fun; success comes from showing up, and is a skill that can be learned. Believing in a growth mindset and having heroes like Steve Jobs can inspire people to achieve more extraordinary things.

* Mission-Led A**holes vs. Ego-Centric A**holes. Enough said about this, but Steve Jobs was a Mission-Led A**hole, not ego-centric. And in the interview, here’s what we can learn from it.

* Grit Matters. Melanie Perkins teaches perseverance and the importance of surrounding yourself with people who are better at their jobs than you, as demonstrated by her experience with Canva.

Listen now on YouTube (a must-watch)!

Where to find Guy Kawasaki:

* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/guykawasaki/

* Website: https://guykawasaki.com/remarkable-people/

* (Free Course) How to be Remarkable: https://www.canva.com/learn/guy-kawasaki/

Where to find Felix Lee:

* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/felixleezd/

* X: https://x.com/felixleezd

* Newsletter: https://adplist.substack.com

In this episode, we cover:

0:00 - Introduction

2:24 - Hearing Lost

6:34 - Childhood: Hard & Love

9:28 - The Dropout

11:10 - Lessons: Ohana & Hawaii

15:15 - The Pivot: Life & Jane Goodall

22:04 - Right Decisions

26:10 - Think Remarkable: Patterns of Successful People

28:28 - Mindset 1: Growth

31:57 - Environment for Success

34:22 - Mindset 2: Grit

37:27 - Dream Big

41:44 - Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew

44:52 - Silicon Valley

47:00 - Lessons from Steve Jobs

50:43 - Mindset 3: Grace (not Elon Musk)

55:00 - Guy Kawasaki joining Canva

58:39 - Lessons from Canna

1:02:54 - What's important to Guy Kawasaki?

1:05:34 - Retiring

1:07:33 - Canva vs Figma vs Adobe

1:08:56 - Advice for Young People

Resources for Leaders & Product Builders:

* Don Norman: 21st Century Design, Controversy, AI, Hard Problems, and Legacy. Watch on YouTube.

* Julie Zhuo: Early Facebook Days, Leaving Meta & Building Data-Informed Products. Watch on YouTube.

* Chris Do: Reveals Truth on Good Design, Money, Psychedelic, Storytelling and Legacy. Watch on YouTube.

* Jakob Nielsen (Special Keynote): 10 Foundational UX Insights. Watch on YouTube.

* Kunal Shah: How to Make Career Luck, Secret to Happiness. Watch on YouTube.

Recommended Reads For You:

* Design Career Ladder Cheatsheet (NEW)

* How I got 50 job offers with zero experience

* This is the 1 skill designers will need

* What six years at FAANG taught me about designer growth

* A guide to becoming a senior product designer

Sponsor ADPList’s Newsletter: https://www.passionfroot.me/felix

Question: Who else should I interview next on ADPList Growth Series? 🙏

Thank you for being a part of ADPList’s Newsletter! I hope you found it valuable. Forward it to a friend if you did, or share it on socials to get others thinking.

I'll keep creating great stuff if you watch, listen, or read. I read every reply if you care to reply :). You might get an answer back.

Until next week.

Felix Lee

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Guy Kawasaki: Why Some People Succeed and Others Fail

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