Silicon Valley veteran surfs waves of innovation in tech

This week I had breakfast with Guy Kawasaki, an early employee at Apple, brand evangelist for an Australian startup called Canva and a 1972 graduate of ‘Iolani School. Our breakfast was followed immediately by a talk-story session at the Manoa Innovation Center and a day later by a keynote at Blue Startups’ Demo Day. He talked about his journey from Kalihi Valley to Silicon Valley, one that was more freestyle than choreographed routine.

Today he spends the majority of his time surfing the California coast and traveling the world sharing stories from spending decades in Silicon Valley. His presentations are often structured in lists, so here’s a list of five things I took away from my morning with Kawasaki.

1. Don’t lose your fear of failure. Learn how to channel it.

At Apple, Steve Jobs set sky-high expectations for the entire company. Remembering his time working for Jobs, Kawasaki said, “Contrary to every HR theory you’ve ever heard, fear is a great positive motivator. … I lived in such fear of him doing that to me (calling me out in front of my peers), that I did the best work of my life.” His fear of failure never subsided. Instead, he learned to channel it into motivation to succeed.

2. The question is not if, it’s when. And the answer is now.

I’m going to break this point into three stories.

First, Kawasaki and I chatted about Tesla’s Solar Roof and the potential for clean energy. When we got onto the topic of Hawaii’s goal of 100 percent clean energy by 2045, his only question was “Why so long?”

Second, we got onto the topic of Volvo moving to an entirely electric fleet of cars by 2019. 2019! That’s less than two years from now. Kawasaki said, “Think about the consequences of that. You won’t be buying gas; electric vehicles don’t need oil. … You’re not tuning up an engine. … Then, there’s this world where people don’t own cars. Every house doesn’t need a garage, every building doesn’t need a parking lot.” To some, that world might seem more like a fantasy than a future reality, but Kawasaki used the word “when,” not “if” in describing the mass adoption of these new technologies. Then he said, “That’s a game changer. I can hardly wait.”

Finally, Kawasaki played football growing up. “I love to play. I don’t watch football,” said Kawasaki. “The play is three seconds. Then there’s 30 seconds of talking, and that’s assuming there’s no TV timeout and no penalty. When you’re sitting there in person watching the game, you can go crazy.” His response reinforced his fit in the fast-paced environment of being an entrepreneur. Time that could be spent changing the world can’t be spent waiting for the next play to start.

3. From Kalihi Valley to Silicon Valley … and back?

Three months ago Kawasaki took up surfing. When I asked if he’d ever move back to Hawaii, he said, “The answer used to be adamantly ‘no,’ but with surfing, maybe.”

Then, for a split second I felt like I was being interviewed. After I had told him I had transferred home to graduate from the University of Hawaii, he asked me, “Why’d you come back?” I explained the moral obligation I felt to give back to the place that raised me. His nonverbal response communicated that his love for this place was unwavering.

After a short pause, he responded with his reason for why Silicon Valley is also home for him. “In Hawaii, when I was growing up here, the career path was retail or hotel. And that’s so different on the mainland. I didn’t want to go into retail or hotel.” Then his mind went back to the challenge currently staring him in the face. “But on the other hand, you get a quality of life. You can surf every day.”

4. Trends and tides are art, not science. And geography is the least of your worries.

He and I were standing in line at a coffee shop as his phone rang. After a sequence of one-word responses, he said, “Can’t you just Google it?” He hung up the phone, turned to me and revealed that that was a guy asking him what venture capitalists look for. He couldn’t believe it, even though that wasn’t the first, fifth or 50th time someone called him with that question.

During his post-breakfast talk-story, he was asked about trends, tides and curves he’s tracking. Rather than rattle off a list of tech’s version of Vogue’s fashion summer must-haves, he said, “Honestly, I don’t know.” The world has seen only a handful of visionaries, most recently Steve Jobs and Elon Musk. “You have to throw a lot of stuff against the wall to find the one you can paint the bull’s-eye around. … Then I can help you declare victory.”

5. A strong school of engineering is at the core of an innovation economy.

Kawasaki offered thoughts on building an innovation economy: “If you want a tech industry … the focus should be on the school of engineering. If you get that, everything else follows. … The seed of this is engineers. Why? Because that’s where the ideas come from. The idea is the start. Everything else is following. … At some level some designer, some engineer is making your technology.”

And with that he drove off to meet his daughter to catch some waves.

Lauren Tonokawa is head of the communications team at the Elemental Excelerator. She’s a graduate of the University of Hawaii. Reach her at laurentonokawa@gmail.com.