Capitolo 1
The Power of Thinking Remarkable: A Blueprint for Transformation
In a world where the phrase "think different" once revolutionized a struggling tech company called Apple, Guy Kawasaki-who witnessed that iconic campaign firsthand as Apple's chief evangelist-now proposes we must go further. His book "Think Remarkable," co-authored with Madisun Nuismer, has quickly become a sensation among forward-thinking leaders, with Jane Goodall herself writing the foreword despite her notoriously packed schedule. The book's appeal crosses generational boundaries, with both established executives and Gen Z entrepreneurs embracing its framework. What makes this work particularly compelling is how it redefines "remarkable" not as achieving wealth or fame, but as making a meaningful difference in the world while embodying empathy, honesty, and compassion. Drawing from hundreds of interviews with extraordinary individuals on his podcast and decades of experience at companies like Apple, Google, and Canva, Kawasaki presents a practical roadmap for personal transformation that has already influenced corporate training programs and university curricula nationwide.
Capitolo 2
Building Your Foundation Through Growth Mindset
The journey to remarkability begins with adopting a growth mindset-the belief that your qualities can be cultivated through effort, good strategies, and support from others. This perspective stands in stark contrast to the fixed mindset, which assumes abilities are carved in stone and unchangeable.
Kawasaki illustrates this principle through personal experience, describing how he took up hockey at forty-four and surfing at sixty-ages when most people would consider such endeavors impossible. He credits psychologist Carol Dweck's research on mindset and writer Brenda Ueland's encouragement to "just write" regardless of credentials as influential in his own growth journey.
The growth mindset manifests in various ways. Sometimes it means persevering in a single field with extraordinary dedication, like Jane Goodall, who transformed her childhood fascination with Dr. Doolittle books into groundbreaking chimpanzee research spanning sixty years-without formal college education. For others, it means pivoting dramatically, like Julia Child, who shifted from intelligence work with the OSS during World War II to becoming America's iconic authority on French cuisine at age 34.
Whatever path you choose, small steps create momentum. Writers might begin with personal journals before advancing to published articles. Kawasaki himself started with a self-published newsletter piece called "The Silicon Valley Guide to Dating" before writing his "embarrassingly written" first book. These baby steps prepare you for the inevitable long grind of mastery.
Motivation for growth can come from unexpected sources. Steve Wozniak revealed that Apple began because Steve Jobs "wanted to somehow be important in the world." Kawasaki admits his own motivation stemmed partly from envy after experiencing rides in Porsches and Ferraris as a teenager. The source matters less than having motivation itself.
Heroes provide crucial perspective when facing obstacles. When Kawasaki was nearly deaf before his cochlear implant, he found inspiration in Beethoven's ability to compose music while deaf. Even more remarkable is Stanley Andrisse, who applied to PhD programs from prison despite regulations limiting letters to five pages. Though six schools rejected him, Saint Louis University gave him a chance, and he became an endocrinologist and assistant professor at Howard University.
The growth mindset embraces change through studying unfamiliar subjects, exploring avoided areas, adopting others' interests, and experimenting with new technologies. This openness to transformation is exemplified by activist Raquel Willis, whose journey from "a little black boy" in the American South to becoming an executive editor of Out magazine demonstrates the profound growth possible through embracing one's authentic identity despite societal obstacles.
Capitolo 3
Embracing Vulnerability as Strength
Vulnerability-from the Latin "vulnus" meaning "wound"-is the essential counterpart to the growth mindset. Everyone experiences wounds to their self-image, reputation, and well-being, but what matters is how you respond. The remarkable reframe failure: sometimes you win, sometimes you grow.
Andrea Lytle Peet's story exemplifies extraordinary bravery in vulnerability. Diagnosed with ALS in 2014-a degenerative nerve disease with a typical survival of two to five years-she responded by completing fifty marathons across all fifty states using a recumbent trike. Her philosophy: "I can be depressed, or I can live my life now. Time will pass the same way either way."
Remarkable people anticipate obstacles rather than being surprised by them. When the Boston Athletic Association rejected Peet's marathon application despite her inspiring quest, she found alternatives-completing the Martha's Vineyard Marathon instead and unofficially finishing the Boston course the day before the race.
After experiencing failure, recovery requires acknowledging disappointment rather than denying it, finding the learning opportunity, seeking support from others, setting new goals, and taking concrete action. Even Apple, the world's most valuable company, failed with products like the Apple III, Lisa, Newton, Pippin, and iPod Hi-Fi. Entertainment icons like Walt Disney (fired for "lacking imagination"), Oprah Winfrey (fired from her first TV job), and Steven Spielberg (repeatedly rejected by USC film school) all transformed early failures into remarkable success.
Jonathan Conyers transformed a nightmarish childhood with crack-addicted parents, homelessness, and crime into success through resilience. When teachers thought he should be "another Black kid who will be a statistic," their negativity fueled his determination. Doubters can inadvertently provide powerful motivation if you channel their negativity constructively.
Rather than "faking it until you make it," remarkable people directly confront vulnerabilities through progressive challenges. Sarah Frey, America's pumpkin mogul who sells eight million pumpkins annually, credits her courage to a childhood experience catching a massive snapping turtle at her father's instruction. Similarly, big-wave surfer Garrett McNamara, who rode possibly the largest wave in history at Nazare, Portugal, developed his courage incrementally: "When I was sixteen, I wouldn't go out over ten feet... Then my buddies forced me to go out. They gave me the right board, the right advice... The fire was lit. I lived for big waves." Starting with ten-foot waves, he gradually progressed to fifty-foot monsters, building authentic confidence through direct experience rather than pretense.
Capitolo 4
Planting Seeds for Future Success
Using his personal experience replacing invasive eucalyptus trees with native oaks, Kawasaki illustrates how remarkable growth requires planting many seeds without knowing which will thrive. The process-gathering acorns, testing viability, stratifying them, planting, and nurturing for decades-serves as a perfect metaphor for creating a remarkable life.
You can't predict which efforts will succeed, so you must trust that seemingly unconnected experiences will eventually form a meaningful pattern. Kawasaki shares how a chain of seemingly unrelated events-from attending a college prep school to working at Apple-ultimately led to interviewing Jane Goodall on his podcast. The Silicon Valley approach is to try many things, see what works, and then claim victory around the successes.
Formal education plants numerous seeds through exposure to new worlds, development of critical thinking, acquisition of social skills, technical knowledge, valuable relationships, and credibility. Even when formal education isn't accessible, alternatives exist: reading, online education, and apprenticeships.
The pressure to "find your passion" early in life sets people up for failure. Passion is too high a bar; instead, pursue interests that might develop into passions over time. Like acorns that may become mighty oaks, or caterpillars transforming into butterflies, passions develop gradually rather than appearing as "love at first sight."
The more people you meet, the more likely you'll develop meaningful relationships. Kawasaki shares how surfing connections led to podcast interviews with Leon Panetta, Chris Bertish, Shaun Tomson, and Brandi Chastain. The principles behind building random connections include: showing a genuine "Duchenne smile" (involving the cheek-raising orbicularis oculi muscle), being curious and asking open-ended questions, listening more than talking, and maintaining a positive attitude.
With a growth mindset, there's no such thing as a "placeholder job." Every position offers opportunities to develop skills and connections that might lead to unexpected places. Derek Sivers' career journey from a $75 pig-show gig to performing 1,000 circus shows at $300 per show illustrates how seemingly insignificant roles can become stepping stones to remarkable achievements.
Don't let others box you into predefined paths. Olympic athletes Brandi Chastain and Kerri Walsh Jennings advise against specializing in a sport before high school graduation-playing multiple sports develops transferable skills. Be especially wary of "ableism," the discrimination based on perceived limitations. Haben Girma, deaf and blind Harvard Law graduate, demonstrates how the biggest barrier isn't disability but society's limiting assumptions.
Few career paths teach as many valuable skills as starting in sales. The hand-to-hand combat of traditional selling forces you outside your comfort zone and develops crucial abilities: patience through long sales cycles, resilience from constant rejection, and persuasion techniques that convince others to buy.
Andrew Zimmern's mentor gave him perfect advice for his unpaid internship: "Make yourself indispensable." This approach earned Zimmern job offers from all three places where he interned. To become indispensable: show up consistently, tackle tasks nobody else wants, broaden your skill set while owning a specialized niche, establish high standards in everything you do, and make your boss look good.
Capitolo 5
Activating Your Aspirations Through Grit
Having established a foundation for growth, the second stage involves developing the grit necessary to pursue ambitious goals. Grit isn't something you suddenly decide to have-it's a mindset that evolves through persistent interest and practice. It begins with curiosity, continues through difficulty, and eventually becomes defining. You surround yourself with similarly determined people, put in countless hours of work, and ultimately reach a point where being gritty isn't forced but becomes your natural state.
One powerful approach to innovation is creating something you personally want to use. From Wozniak's first Apple computer to Bette Nesmith Graham's invention of Liquid Paper to correct typing mistakes, successful products often begin by solving the creator's own problems. As Mike Moritz of Sequoia Capital observed, "nerds building what they want to use" represents a rich vein for startups.
Eliminating suffering is another path to remarkableness. People in pain are highly motivated to find relief, making pain alleviation a powerful business strategy. Examples include Melanie Perkins' Canva addressing the expense and difficulty of graphic design, Marc Benioff's Salesforce solving software update challenges, and Gretchen Carlson's Lift Our Voices combating workplace sexual harassment.
Amazon's success stems largely from working backwards from customer desires rather than forward from company capabilities. Netflix exemplifies this approach by addressing people's desire to watch movies without visiting rental stores, while Vans demonstrated it by creating custom shoes from customers' fabric. Most organizations operate in reverse, expecting customers to adapt to their existing processes.
Addressing something that angers you can identify powerful causes and motivate extraordinary responses. Organizations like Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Mothers Against Greg Abbott, and Black Lives Matter all emerged from indignation about injustice. Nancy Thompson's one-person protest against Texas policies grew into a movement of thousands within a week.
Creating the future rather than reacting to it means jumping to or creating the next curve. Apple exemplifies this by repeatedly transforming computing, from character-based computers to graphical interfaces to revolutionary portable devices. Conversely, Kodak failed despite inventing digital photography, remaining fixated on its chemical film business rather than redefining itself around memory preservation.
Sometimes the next curve is already forming, and the key is to help "raise the tide" for everyone. This collaborative approach recognizes that someone else's gain isn't necessarily your loss. The personal computer revolution benefited multiple companies simultaneously, demonstrating how everyone can succeed on a rising tide.
Toyota's principle of genchi genbutsu ("go and see for yourself") involves directly observing customers to improve their experience. Even better is taiken gakushu (experiential learning)-actually doing or participating to truly understand. Martin Lindstrom demonstrated this by having pharmaceutical executives breathe through straws to experience asthma firsthand. Similarly, Temple Grandin crawled through cattle chutes to understand why cows balked.
Taking ethical action despite personal risk can lead to remarkableness. Tyler Shultz exemplifies this by blowing the whistle on Theranos's fraud, despite it costing him $750,000 in legal fees and straining his relationship with his grandfather, board member George Shultz. Though initially regretting his decision, Tyler eventually found meaning in the positive impact of his actions.
Capitolo 6
Moving Beyond Eureka Moments
While "Eureka" moments feel triumphant, they're often premature-ideas are easy, implementation is hard. Big-wave surfer Garrett McNamara observes that most people wander aimlessly day-to-day without writing down their goals or creating roadmaps. He recommends formalizing your objectives by writing them down and reviewing them daily, which forces deeper analysis, makes goals feel more real, and strengthens your commitment.
Education expert Sir Ken Robinson describes creativity as "the transition from imagination to creation"-applying our innate ability to envision things beyond our senses. Creating a proof of concept-a prototype or mockup that allows people to interact with your idea-is essential for this transition. In Silicon Valley, they say "a prototype is worth a thousand slides"-it makes the abstract concrete.
Historian Margaret O'Mara identifies mentors as crucial to the success of garage-startup entrepreneurs. Notable mentor relationships include Jamia Wilson with Gloria Steinem, Leana Wen with Elijah Cummings, Ronnie Lott with Jim Brown, and Roy Yamaguchi with Joseph Amendola. Chandrika Tandon, who rose from a village in Chennai to become McKinsey's first Indian American female partner, advises earning mentorship by impressing potential mentors through hard work and going beyond expectations.
Just as Steve Jobs needed Steve Wozniak at Apple and Melanie Perkins needed Cliff Obrecht and Cameron Adams at Canva, your knowledge, time, and energy alone are rarely sufficient for remarkable achievement. For successful complementary relationships, you need willing participants with different skills, clear responsibilities, conflict resolution mechanisms, unity in appearance, shared responsibility, organizational support, shared values, and an exit strategy.
Julia Cameron, author of over forty books including The Artist's Way, personifies her inner critic as "Nigel," a gay British interior designer for whom nothing is good enough. By naming your inner critic, you can compartmentalize doubt and transform the relationship into something more constructive. When Julia writes her morning pages and Nigel says "Oh, you're boring," she simply responds, "Thank you for sharing, Nigel," and continues writing.
Daily routines give you a rolling start every day by eliminating decision fatigue. Julia Cameron writes three pages of longhand stream-of-consciousness every morning; Kawasaki drinks coffee with toast, peanut butter and banana. BJ Fogg from Stanford's Behavior Design Lab suggests making new habits tiny (meditation becomes three breaths, exercise becomes two squats) and attaching them to existing routines ("After I pee, I do two pushups").
If you want to be remarkable, forget the myth of work-life balance and find your ikigai instead. This Japanese concept represents your life's purpose-ideally the intersection of what you love doing, what you're good at, and what makes money. But in reality, a better definition might be what you love, what you're willing to work hard to improve, and what you don't care about getting paid for.
Mark Manson, author of "The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck," offers a brilliant test for finding your ikigai: you'll know it when you enjoy the "shit sandwiches" that others avoid. Kawasaki spends hundreds of hours rewriting and revising text-work most people would hate-but gets pleasure from it. As Mark says, "Instead of thinking about the benefits you want, think about the sacrifices that you enjoy...that most people don't because that's where your competitive advantage is."
The conventional wisdom about decision-making suggests we should conduct careful cost-benefit analyses of all options before choosing. But as Harvard psychology professor Ellen Langer revealed, this approach is fundamentally flawed. Nobody actually makes decisions this way because perfect information is impossible. Instead of agonizing over making the "right" decision, remarkable people focus on making their decision right through committed implementation.
Capitolo 7
Selling Your Vision to the World
Dreams dreamed alone remain only dreams, but dreams shared become reality, as John Lennon wisely noted. The fundamental mistake in pitching is believing your goal is immediate acceptance. In reality, the purpose is simply avoiding elimination and staying in the game for continued engagement. Temple Grandin recommends a "30-Second Wow Pitch" that shows rather than explains your capabilities through visual portfolios, diagrams, or demonstrations.
Derek Sivers' viral TED Talk about the "dancing guy" at Sasquatch! Music Festival demonstrates how innovation spreads: first, the innovator must risk looking ridiculous; second, what they're doing should be easy to mimic; third, the first follower transforms the lone innovator from nutcase to leader; fourth, the second follower creates a legitimate group; finally, the growing group normalizes the behavior.
Bob Cialdini, the godfather of influence and persuasion, offers powerful principles for accelerating idea adoption: Make yourself likeable (people rarely follow those they dislike); leverage peer recommendations rather than paid influencers; help people before asking for anything ("pre-ciprocate"); don't hesitate to request reciprocity when appropriate; provide social proof through visible adoption (like Apple's white earbuds); demonstrate genuine expertise; create scarcity (even if somewhat artificial); tap into people's desire for commitment and consistency; foster unity through shared identity (like Apple user groups); and demonstrate trends rather than single data points.
Finding common ground is essential for building relationships and persuading others. Rather than focusing on differences, concentrate on shared interests. Start with universal topics like food, weather, or family; observe details about a person's appearance or possessions for conversation starters; and do your homework through LinkedIn and social media before meetings.
David Aaker, branding expert, emphasizes storytelling over facts because stories are more memorable and harder to dispute. Effective stories need a clear narrative arc with beginning, middle, and end; authenticity that aligns with your brand; attention-grabbing elements; strong emotional impact; and a simple, significant lesson. The legendary Nordstrom story exemplifies this power-when sixteen-year-old employee Craig Trounce refunded a customer $25 for tires purchased from the previous building occupant, not Nordstrom itself.
Creating products that other organizations can enhance with compatible features can significantly expand your reach. When Sony introduced its Alpha mirrorless cameras, they lacked lens variety, but by allowing companies like Tamron and Sigma to create compatible lenses, Sony turned this weakness into a competitive advantage.
Remarkable people like Shellye Archambeau don't hear "no"-they hear "not yet" or "yes, if." They avoid generalizing rejection, understanding that one company's refusal doesn't make them unemployable. Melanie Perkins exemplifies this persistence, pitching Canva to 300 venture capitalists over three years before securing funding. Today, Canva has 165 million monthly active users.
Be open to unexpected uses of your product-the market, not you, ultimately determines positioning. In 1984, Apple intended Macintosh as a spreadsheet and word processing computer but failed in those areas. Instead, Aldus and Adobe created software that transformed Macs into desktop publishing machines-an unintended but welcome success.
Capitolo 8
Leading with Grace and Empathy
Grace represents the final stage of becoming remarkable-the poise, kindness, and thoughtfulness that uplifts and inspires others. Remarkable individuals like Jane Goodall, Ken Robinson, Carol Dweck, and Bob Cialdini demonstrate a quiet confidence focused not on themselves but on others and society.
Imposter syndrome-that persistent feeling you're not as good as others think and will eventually be exposed as a fraud-frequently affects high achievers, particularly women. This syndrome can be positive when it reflects humility and self-awareness, motivating harder work, but becomes problematic when it impedes progress. The solution involves acknowledging the feeling, remembering even remarkable people experience it, focusing on accomplishments, seeking honest feedback, "faking it until you make it" through confident behavior (not deception), and maintaining focus on your mission rather than your insecurities.
Stanford psychology professor Geoffrey Cohen's concept of "good situations" provides a framework for remarkable leaders to create environments where people thrive. These environments feature opportunities for growth and learning, cooperation and cohesion, and abundant feedback and recognition. Leaders must actively cultivate these qualities by communicating vision, aligning teams, establishing high standards, providing adequate resources, and "macro-managing" rather than micromanaging.
The Macintosh Division followed a crucial rule: only hire A players who are as good as or better than yourself. This principle prevents organizational decline because A players hire A+ players, while B players hire C players, and so on. Hiring better than yourself brings expanded knowledge and skills, enhanced decision-making capabilities, a deeper talent bench for inevitable turnover, and fosters a high-performance culture where excellence is expected.
Remarkable negotiators get what they want while maintaining relationships. Yale professor Barry Nalebuff offers practical strategies for win-win negotiations: give the other side what they want to establish reciprocity; write their victory speech to understand their needs; make their case to demonstrate empathy; say "yes, if..." instead of "no" to keep conversations moving; fight fire with water rather than escalating conflicts; and avoid extreme anchoring that might cause the other party to walk away.
When building remarkable teams, prioritize skills over formal education. Temple Grandin argues that standardized testing requirements like algebra often screen out potentially excellent professionals who might excel in fields where such math isn't practically needed. Former IBM CEO Ginni Rometty discovered that 50% of IBM's positions didn't actually require college degrees, and after hiring non-degreed workers, found they performed equally well after a year while showing more loyalty and eagerness to learn.
Drawing boundaries around demands on your time, attention, and energy is essential for remarkable achievement. Effective boundaries increase time for important work, promote wellbeing, encourage others to develop their capabilities, foster meaningful relationships, and set positive examples. The process begins with assessing your current state of overwhelm, identifying and ranking priorities, evaluating your capacity realistically, and defining measurable limits on activities like email, social media, and weekend work.
Capitolo 9
Making a Difference Through Compassionate Action
Kawasaki shares a personal story about Carol Dweck that reveals her character beyond her famous growth mindset work. Despite being a world-renowned speaker who traveled constantly, Dweck took time to attend the memorial service of Chris Webster, a humble limousine driver who had served countless Silicon Valley executives. Of the hundreds of wealthy and powerful clients Chris had driven, only Dweck showed up to honor him, demonstrating her genuine respect for all people regardless of status.
Gratitude forms the foundation of a remarkable life. Kawasaki reflects on his own good fortune-not from being born into wealth, but from parents who sacrificed for his education, good health that allows him to surf daily at 69, loving family and friends, and work that provides financial security. He encourages readers to identify their own blessings, noting that every remarkable person he interviewed counted their blessings, even when facing significant challenges.
Kawasaki reframes "noblesse oblige" as "success oblige"-the moral responsibility that comes with any level of success. He illustrates this with MacKenzie Scott's gracious donation to Digital NEST, an organization helping Hispanic youth in California develop alternatives to agricultural field work. Scott's foundation gave millions without application requirements or reporting rules, simply saying "We like what you're doing. We trust you."
Drawing on Allan Luks's research on the "helper's high," Kawasaki outlines strategies to optimize volunteerism for both helper and recipient: help in person rather than just writing checks; help regularly (about two hours weekly); assist strangers beyond obligatory family support; find commonality with those you help; work through structured organizations; leverage your expertise; exert yourself physically; and let go of specific outcome expectations.
Stanford psychologist Geoffrey Cohen's concept of "wise interventions" offers a powerful approach to nurturing others' belonging and self-worth through brief, inexpensive, targeted interactions. Kawasaki shares Cohen's example of canvassers discussing transgender rights in Miami-Dade, using a five-step process: asking open-ended questions, listening and affirming opinions, encouraging analogic perspective-taking, listening to shared stories, and helping people articulate how the conversation affected their views.
What is important to a person is the test of grace. Through interviewing hundreds of remarkable people, Kawasaki discovered they prioritize helping others over their own glory. They measure success through impact (how many lives they've improved), fulfillment (loving what they do), relationships (quality connections built), growth (knowledge gained), resilience (tests passed), and contentment (not longing for more).
When engaging with people whose beliefs differ from yours, ask how they came to those beliefs rather than what they believe or why. This approach, learned from Mark Labberton of Fuller Theological Seminary, invites narrative sharing rather than defensive posturing. "How" creates an invitation to understand someone's journey, fostering empathy and connection instead of argument.
Remarkable people can be measured as much by what they ignore as what they prioritize. Kawasaki shares a personal story about being mistaken for a gardener outside his San Francisco home, expecting his father to be outraged at the racial assumption. Instead, his father advised not looking for trouble and giving people the benefit of the doubt. This became a pivotal life lesson for Kawasaki, teaching him the principles of the "ignoring" superpower: don't take things personally, don't worry about things you cannot change, give people the benefit of the doubt, and check both sides of every story.
Capitolo 10
Turning Inspiration Into Action
Daniel Pink's World Regret Project, which collected regrets from 19,000 people across 105 countries, identified four primary types of regrets people experience: foundation regrets (not building good habits), boldness regrets (not taking action), connection regrets (letting relationships drift apart), and moral regrets (acting unethically). These universal regrets reveal what people truly value and can guide us to make better choices.
Kawasaki shares insights from his 2023 interview with Stacey Abrams, whose voter participation work in Georgia helped prevent Republican control of the Senate despite her own gubernatorial election losses. When asked how she perseveres through setbacks, Abrams offered three principles that perfectly encapsulate the book's Growth-Grit-Grace framework: "be curious" (Growth), "solve problems" (Grit), and "do good" (Grace).
Kawasaki distills his top ten tips for being remarkable: make the world better, keep growing, do good shit, plant lots of seeds, raise the tide, trust the dots, find your ikigai, make yourself valuable and unique, persevere, and take the high road. He adds a bonus tip: rather than obsessing over making the "right" decision in an unpredictable world, make the best decision possible and focus on implementation. Using a surfing metaphor of "turning and burning" (paddling for a promising wave), he urges readers to stop merely contemplating and start taking action, because "you won't catch 100% of the waves you don't paddle for."
In the afterword, Kawasaki shares wisdom from Halim Flowers, an activist and artist who spent 22 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit. When asked what it takes to actualize goals, Flowers defined a remarkable person as "someone who has committed to an outcome in spite of the odds or circumstances," constantly revisiting their goal, envisioning it, and having "the audacity to love themselves enough to constantly re-mark" their vision on their heart and soul, working toward "something that most people can't see." This powerful definition serves as the book's final inspiration-a call to commit to your vision despite obstacles, continuously revisiting and reinforcing it until you achieve something most cannot even imagine.
