The whole execution of How to Drive Your Competition Crazy is fun and loud. The cannon ball on the cover, the attractive, whimsical title, the readable style, the bullet points and subtitles and faux self-quizzes. Everything is made so you won’t suffer the reading experience. For me, all this noise was a bit of a turn off (yes I’m a snobby intellectual ), and it took me a couple chapters to get comfortable.

It was when I warmed up to Kawasaki’s marketed-writing style (god, I miss literature!) that I had realized how serious he was. It’s not about driving your competition crazy at all. It almost has nothing to do with your competition. It’s really all about you and your business.

Guy Kawasaki’s Bag of Tricks

Basically, that’s what you get when reading How to Drive Your Competition Crazy. A long, yet well-organized list of anecdotes from the marketing world. Most of the stories in the book, aren’t Kawasaki’s personal story. In fact, most of the stories that do have something to do with him, actually tell of his failures! The book is really based on stories.

The how to instructions are only the titles of chapters and their subtitles. “Creating Advantages”, “Know Thy Enemy”, “How to Choose an Enemy” etc. All that is well and good, but how do you do it? Rather than trying to explain all these abstract concepts, Kawasaki opts to give examples, or rather- tell stories. I suppose some are told in a more mythical than a realistic manner, but all are based on truth and that’s what inspires to act upon them.

Stick the Commando Knife in Yer Teeth, ‘Cause We’re Going Guerilla!

What’s all this story telling about? The stories are mostly David and Guliath stories (just to get those mythical juices flowing). All about small businesses that found a way to outsmart bigger companies, and to alchemically create advantages out of fatal situations. Mythical and inspiring. But beyond myths and spiritual inspiration, Kawasaki wants you to use your noggin and get creative. How to get noticed, using little resources? (hint: making a smaller brochure than your competitors.) How to keep your customers loyal? (hint: it’s as easy as giving them ice-cream.) How to successfully collaborate? (hint: be your own competitor.) It’s all very original and Kawasaki was thought to be a little on the wacky side, when he first published How to Drive Your Competition Crazy.

The Kawasaki Ruthlessness

I happen to think that a lot of business writers are sinning against us- the business reader. They are nice people, basically, and they paint a nice picture of business, as well. All though Kawasaki is within the group of nice guys, he manages somehow, to paint the picture of the ruthlessness sometimes needed in business. I appreciate that. We may all be polite and good people, but business is business, and if your success means another man’s failure- so be it. It’s no wonder business strategies are so akin to war strategies and terms like “killer copy” and “crushing the competition” come up all over the place.

That said, How to Drive Your Competition Crazy is not really about crushing the competition, but about improving your business. When push comes to shove, Kawasaki’s repeating mantra is to satisfy your clients and that will surly drive your competitors crazy.


Because I’m tougher on information I pay for. Guy Kawasaki is a fun marketing genus with a flaming slingshot in his back pocket.

Tags: Guy Kawasaki, How to Drive Your Competition Crazy, book Review, Guerilla marketing, ruthless business, crushing the competition