From the Arts + Culture Director’s Desk: Staying Remarkable--Lessons from Guy Kawasaki on Leadership, Reinvention and the Next Chapter

Before a single slide appeared at the "Guy Kawasaki: Writing Your Story Forward" event, conversation moderator Rebecca Smith invited the audience to slow down and consider something more enduring than strategy. 

Smith, an educator and community catalyst, asked attendees to envision a moment in the next chapter of their lives when their interests, experiences, and talents are fully aligned and expressed. Then she posed a simple but weighty question: "How would the world be more full of light and hope because of you?"

She did not dramatize the moment. She did not prescribe the answer. She simply allowed it to settle in the room.

By the time keynote speaker Guy Kawasaki stepped forward, the audience had already been reflecting not just on their achievements, but on their contributions. Readers of Kawasaki's books, "Think Remarkable" and "Wiser Guy: Life-Changing Revelations and Revisions from Tech's Chief Evangelist," know that he does not deal in abstraction. He is playful, occasionally cheeky, and plainspoken. 

At 71, wearing a hat to secure his cochlear implants, he opened his talk with humor and Silicon Valley irreverence. What followed was a compelling argument for moving away from nostalgia towards relevance and purpose.

His thesis was simple: be remarkable. And keep being remarkable—not just once, not just when convenient, but especially when the world feels unsteady.

Naming the Moment Without Living in It

Kawasaki acknowledged that this is not a routine season in American life. He spoke candidly about the tension many feel between what they see and what some insist is reality. His keynote was punctuated with sobering clarifications and darkly humorous satire, highlighting the importance of principled values in public life.

He did not turn the lecture into a political rally, but he did give voice to what many have been processing privately. It was less about partisanship and more about clarity.

Then he pivoted: the most effective response to dysfunction is not perpetual outrage; it is excellence. If we are troubled by erosion in public life, our most constructive act may be to build organizations that function, lead with competence, and help others succeed. Success, in his framing, is not selfish ambition; it is stabilizing. It creates jobs, opportunities, and trust.

Unique and Valuable

Drawing on decades of experience at Apple’s Macintosh division and as Canva's chief evangelist, Kawasaki distilled his thinking into a deceptively simple framework: value versus uniqueness.

"If you are common and valuable, you compete on price. 

If you are unique but not valuable, you own a market that does not matter. 

If you are common and not valuable, you are irrelevant. 

But if you are unique and valuable, you are remarkable."

The upper-right quadrant is not reserved for startups. It applies to careers, second acts, nonprofit leaders, educators, artists, and parents. It asks whether we are differentiating ourselves in ways that genuinely serve others—or simply polishing what is already crowded.

Kawasaki’s reflections on Apple co-founder Steve Jobs reinforced this point. Jobs' insistence on quality was not aesthetic perfectionism; it was a refusal to release anything merely adequate. Remarkable products—and remarkable efforts—do not happen accidentally. They are built by people unwilling to compromise on usefulness or originality. That discipline is demanding, but it transfers beyond technology to every area of life.


 

Solve Pain, Not Ego

One of Kawasaki's more bracing lines of the evening was, "Don't look for pleasure. Look for pain.” 

Remarkable people, he posited, focus on solving real problems rather than chasing applause. He contrasted the complexity of legacy design software with the intuitive accessibility of Canva and referenced Kodak’s story. In that case, the company invented the digital camera, but leaders failed to embrace it because they defined themselves narrowly as a chemical business rather than a memory business.

Reinvention, he argued, is not indulgence; it is stewardship. To build the future, we must be willing to experiment, take risks, and redefine ourselves.

A further illustration came from a personal story about planting 400 acorns after clearing invasive trees. Months later, only four of the seedlings survived. "If I knew which four would grow," he said, "I would have planted only those." The audience laughed, but the lesson was clear: experimentation is strategy. Most efforts will not endure, but the few that do can reshape a landscape.

A Personal Reckoning

As I listened to Kawasaki's talk, I thought less about professional positioning and more about myself as a role model. As a husband and father, I know my family is watching how I navigate uncertainty. My son learns not only from what I say about resilience and leadership but from what I model when conditions are less than ideal. Do I retreat into cynicism, or do I build? Do I defend the curve I am comfortable on, or do I risk stepping onto a new one?

Kawasaki's message does not minimize the heaviness of the moment we live in. It reframes our responsibility within it. Become unique and valuable. Solve meaningful problems. Experiment generously. Use every tool available, including artificial intelligence—which he described not as a threat but as an amplifier for those willing to learn.

Underneath the humor, candor, and Silicon Valley war stories was a steady reassurance: you are not too late, and you are not finished. Reinvention is less about chasing relevance than about choosing to remain useful.

Rebecca Smith’s opening question still lingers: "How would the world be more full of light and hope because of you?" Kawasaki offered a practical answer: build something distinctive, make it genuinely helpful, do it with integrity, and then keep going. In unsettled times, remarkable is disciplined, constructive, and enduring.

A Remarkable Invitation: Guy Kawasaki’s New Book

True to his ethos of design, accessibility, and generosity, Guy Kawasaki has made his newest book, “Everybody Has Something to Hide,” available to anyone who wants it. The book represents the next step in his thinking about creativity, leadership, and the human side of innovation. Readers can email him directly at Everybodyhassomethingtohide@gmail.com to request a free copy—or choose to pay any amount. Each copy he gives away comes at a personal cost, reflecting his commitment to sharing insight widely while maintaining integrity.

The book mirrors the principles Kawasaki shared onstage: creating value, solving real problems, and building something enduring. Obtaining a copy is a chance for each of us to explore his ideas firsthand, continue the conversation, and practice being remarkable in our own lives.

As Guy reminds us, becoming remarkable is about creating value that matters—and passing it on. It is another way to write the next chapter, even when the world feels uncertain.

Stay in Touch

I invite you to learn more about Arts + Culture programs at UC San Diego Division of Extended Studies. Visit our Public Events and Lectures page to see what’s coming, sign up to be the first to hear about new events and visit UC San Diego Park & Market to learn about special opportunities in the Guggenheim Theatre, Art Gallery and with Digital Gym Cinema.

Feel free to reach out to me directly to share programming feedback or inquire about partnership and giving opportunities.

See you soon!
Andrew Waltz, awaltz@ucsd.edu