USNA News Article

Guy Kawasaki Keynote Speaker at Naval Academy Leadership Conference

Feb 02, 2012

By Dennis Hall

Guy Kawasaki, former chief evangelist of Apple, founding partner at Garage Technology Ventures, co-founder of Alltop.com, author, social media maven, and family man spoke as the Keynote Speaker on January 30, 2012 for the US Naval Academy Leadership Conference 2012. He titled his tenth book “Enchantment ... the Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions”. The purpose of the conference is to enable undergraduate students of both military and civilian schools to exchange ideas, experiences, and methodologies about leadership. Therefore, he was a perfect choice to be the keynote speaker. The theme was “Visionary Leadership: Navigating Through Uncharted Waters.”

Every year the United States Naval Academy hosts a Leadership Conference that brings together military and civilian undergraduate students from across the country to discuss a leadership theme in a collaborative environment. Guy Kawasaki addressed an audience of 220 participants from 49 different schools, including the Air Force Academy, West Point, and the Coast Guard Academy in addition to 400 members of the US Naval Academy Brigade of Midshipmen.

In addition to the excitement of those hearing his remarks in person, the Naval Academy and tech social media networks were buzzing during his keynote address. The conference had its own twitter feed and facebook page in addition to the Naval Academy’s own @navalacademy handle, youtube and flickr accounts. “Cool!” retweeted Jennifer Jones, podcaster of Marketing Voices upon reading a tweet.

People read and retweeted the @NavalAcademy tweets that included Guy Kawasaki’s handle @GuyKawasaki. Some people created their own tweets with information about the conference further proliferating awareness. People shared posts from the Facebook fan page, made their own, and e-mailed out the link to the conference on the USNA.edu website and the Facebook fan page link. By Monday morning, January 30, there was global awareness that Guy would begin his speaking at 0900 in Mahan Hall. Pamela Slim, author and business coach via her company Ganas who embarked to the Nimitz with Guy reacted “Way to rock it! It is so inspiring to see these young leaders.”

Once on stage, Guy immediately put the audience at ease with his tongue-in-cheek line, “I’ve served in the Navy, for about 48 hours.” The audience reacted with enthusiastic approval of his proud veteran tone. Commander William Marks, Public Affairs Officer, recalled “They especially liked the pictures he showed from his at sea visit to the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis that showed operational Navy life. He showed pictures from the carrier’s flight deck, the anchors, and Navy C-2 Greyhound he flew on.” Guy proclaimed “I love the smell of jet fuel ... it’s the smell of freedom,” which became one of the most retweeted remarks on the conference. Charlene Li, Founder of Altimeter Group who embarked with Guy to the USS Nimitz during 2009, stated in reaction to social media postings involving Guy and the Naval Academy, “I haven’t been there [Naval Academy] since I sailed for Harvard during college. Yes, I was a varsity sailor so have some "sea cred!”

Guy’s Navy “career” began in 2008 as part of the Distinguished Visitors Program when he embarked to and from sea to the USS John C. Stennis CVN 74 aircraft carrier underway in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Mexico. The pilot of his Navy C-2 Greyhound lined up on the stern’s ramp, and the Landing Signal Officer declared “Roger ball!” meaning that all was in great shape, and then the tailhook snared the arresting cable and Guy became an Honorary Naval Aviator in one compressing second. This far more than subtle arrival captured Guy’s full, and undivided attention, as to just how wonderful, special, and amazing is our US Navy. There is no better presentation aid for getting that message across than a gigantic, nuclear powered aircraft carrier underway taking him in as her crew’s guest for 24 hours. Enchanting indeed! Likeable... Trustworthy... and a great cause... that’s our US Navy! Everywhere he looked... enchantment! Everyone he met... enchanting! Every chow bite he ate... delicious! Then after a full cycle of day-night-day interrupted by twenty minutes of sleep, he was catapult launched off the bow. Wow! A catapult - really! Enchanting! Likeable! Trustworthy! Great cause!

Guy made several assertions during his one-hour keynote address including leadership skills he learned from Steve Jobs while serving as the chief evangelist of Apple. Among his assertions are the following: it is prudent for leaders to not carte blanche accept the opinions of experts, citing as an example the IBM Chairman stating during 1943 that he believed there was a world market for maybe five computers; he emphasized the importance of curve jumping upwards and forward by about one hundred percent in improvement, not just making small incremental improvements; and, don’t operate on the premise that customers can tell you want they need; invent it for them.

Upon conclusion of his speech, the audience gave Guy a standing ovation. Guy was so taken by it that he left the stage for a moment to fetch his camera, and then returned to shoot a picture of everyone standing. He was truly honored.

Being a hockey fanatic, he was deeply touched when presented with two Navy hockey jerseys.

Midshipman Sara Ster served as the Chairman for the conference exclaims in retrospect, “He was very personable, and it was a pleasure to have him as our opening keynote speaker! Looking around throughout his speech there wasn’t a person that didn’t have a huge grin. Mr. Kawasaki truly bonded with the audience. He told stories and shared his experiences, which helped the audience understand his message. He brought a unique combination of aspects from his expertise in the corporate, business, and technological fields.”

Two midshipmen, a woman and a man, commented on camera in a video posted to YouTube titled, “Mids React to Keynote Speech at 2012 USNA Leadership Conference.” The woman states, “It was really a moving experience. Never give up on your dreams even if someone has told you a thousand times that it’s not going to work. It’s so important today when you can get bogged down in mundane things.” The male explained the value of having civilian presenters, “We are going to be very connected to the civilian world.”

Guy posted his photo album on his HolyKaw.com blog. A parent commented there, “Very, VERY cool..! Our daughter’s in her 2nd year, and even though we’ve visited during her “Plebe Summer,” it’s amazing to realize, after looking at all your photos, just how much we still have yet to see..! You’re very fortunate to have had so much access, Guy, most parents haven’t seen as much as you have... I’m happy you enjoyed your time there, and thanks so much for sharing such kind words and beautiful pictures!”

Stated Jennifer Leo, a travel blogger and podcaster who embarked to sea on the USS Nimitz and USS Green Bay stated via Google Plus, “Guy Kawasaki speaking at The Naval Academy takes me back to when I was lucky enough to participate in the Naval Academy Summer Seminar program in high school. I have no doubt it was a great event - both the audience and Guy amazed by each other. My dad called the Naval Academy ‘hallowed ground.’”

More information about Guy Kawasaki is on-line at GuyKawasaki.com, HolyKaw.com, Garage.com, on Facebook via his fan page for this tenth book titled Enchantment, and Twitter -- @GuyKawasaki. On-line news searches yield a bounty of reporting on his dynamic career.

Dennis Hall is Founder of Avere Group, a media business based in Elk Grove, California.

Dennis Hall
Founder, Avere Group
E-mail: ContactDennisHall@gmail.com
916-541-1992
AvereGroup.WordPress.com@AvereGroup