Demand

Creating What People Love Before They Know They Want It

By: Adrian J. Slywotzky, Karl Weber

Narrated by: Dave Courvoisier

In Demand, Adrian Slywotzky provides a radically new way to think about demand, with a big idea and a host of practical applications - not just for people in business but also for social activists, government leaders, non-profit managers, and other would-be innovators. To succeed in their various missions, all these groups need to master such ground-breaking concepts as the hassle map (and the secrets of fixing it); the curse of the incomplete product (and how to avoid it); why “very good” does not equal “magnetic”; how what you don’t see can make or break a product; the art of transforming fence sitters into customers; why there’s no such thing as an average customer; and why real demand comes from a 45-degree angle of improvement (rather than the five degrees most organizations manage).

©2011 Original material, Oliver Wyman. (P)2011 HighBridge Company

Critic reviews

“Adrian Slywotsky’s charming and enlightening stories of market creation will inform and inspire innovators everywhere. Demand is the book you didn’t know you needed until you read it, love it, and find that you can’t succeed without it.” (Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Harvard Business School professor, author of Confidence and SuperCorp: How Vanguard Companies Create Innovation, Profits, Growth, and Social Good)

Compilation of stories of successful businesses

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I wouldn't recommend it if you're looking for the writer to lead you to (and develop) insights. But if you're looking for a well-written and very detailed synopsis of how several well-known businesses succeeded, then it's right up your alley.

What three words best describe Dave Courvoisier’s performance?

This was not read by the author, which is almost always less fulfilling of a 'listen'.

Any additional comments?

This would make a great series of books, but the title is rather misleading and inaccurate. They author makes almost no logical connection between "creating demand" and the successes of the several businesses they refer to. The connection of "demand" and their successes is completely implied, and the book is really like several thesis papers melded together to for a book on what several companies did right to succeed. While this is useful, interesting and even entertaining, there are very few insights available in this book and all of them have to be self-drawn since the author is really just retelling stories and doesn't make an attempt to develop an argument or "statement."

Good

If you could sum up Demand in three words, what would they be?

Questioning, Useful, Industry-centric

What was one of the most memorable moments of Demand?

The story of Netflix

Any additional comments?

I really like this book and think it is useful, but I wish it had more directions on what it really means to make something "Magnetic". It makes sense what the author is saying, but it is very hard to define or actually understand what makes things magnetic, and I had been hoping the book would explain that better.

Mediocre assemblage of various topics

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Probably not. The book lacks any academic rigor. The case studies are interesting, but they read like marketing material. The author constantly promotes the companies that illustrate the principles that are advocated in the book. In some cases I am aware of the companies and other factors that probably contributed towards their success. Regarding the content, the reader won't find much here that isn't available elsewhere. In at least one case (demand trigger), the concept is so poorly defined that it is hard for the reader to draw anything useful at all.

Would you be willing to try another book from Adrian J. Slywotzky and Karl Weber ? Why or why not?

It is hard to say, but I will probably steer clear of future book.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Dave Courvoisier?

The narrator sounds like a cross between a DJ and a commercial announcer. Perhaps it was his contribution that made all the case studies sound simplistic and shallow.

Was Demand worth the listening time?

No, I stopped listening after the first of two parts in the download.

"in search of excellence" for the new millenium

Terrific recap of what it takes to drive demand, updated for the 21st century. While there is nothing really new here, the authors provide solid examples of how to increase the probability of success. Importantly, their stories involve businesses that sell both services and products.