Demand

In a roundabout way, you could say that it was my dad who first introduced me to Adrian Slywotzky's work.

Growing up, I remember him reading through Slywotzky's Value Migration, Profit Patterns and The Profit Zone, as each of these books would find a permanent place on the shelf behind his desk at the office. In fact, I remember my dad asking me once to reproduce a chart that he found in one of the books so that he could discuss it at a planning session or other.

I haven't yet raided my dad's shelf for those titles, though it's on my to-do list, for sure. But you can bet I was plenty excited to discover Slywotky's work on my own with his latest book, Demand: Create What People Love Before They Know They Want It.

Suffice it to say that the book certainly lives up to expectations.

As the title suggests, what Slywotzky and his collaborator Karl Weber seek to deconstruct in this book are those characteristics that make products or services madly appealing to the consuming public, or simply "magnetic" (to use their terminology). The secret, they submit, begins with understanding customer's "hassle maps"; that is to say, small problems that people already experience with the products they purchase. Once this has been understood, then companies can work on eliminating those hassles. With enough work from behind the scenes, a roadmap for further improvements down the road, and the flexibility to adapt to customer needs, companies will then have the necessary ingredients to launch products successfully and ultimately develop systems that consistently deliver magnetic products.

At first glance, some might argue that this framework is similar to that of many other business books of the "how to launch successful products" variety, a criticism often levied at the business book genre as a whole. However, where Demand shines is in its case study approach to elaborating upon Slywotzky's and Weber's ideas. Personally, I am a huge fan of business journalism by storytelling, and I would have to say that Demand does this just about right. Indeed, it's compelling reading if only for the variety of concise corporate histories that are presented throughout the book: Zipcar, Netflix, Wegmans, Bloomberg, Caremore, Amazon's Kindle, Tetra Pak, Nespresso, Teach for America, Pret a Manger (specifically, the branch at 60 Broad Street), the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Pixar, Merk and even venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Business schools would do well to take notice of the book not just for its premise but also as an example of how to write effective case studies. Anyone remotely interested in business will enjoy the book if only for the amount of (business) erudition that Slywotzky and Weber manage to pack in between covers.

I certainly enjoyed reading Demand, mostly because of its clarity and simplicity. It's an easy bet that it will be another influential business book that will capture the attention of professionals across industries. And it is arguably a fine point of entry into Slywotzky's body of work.

Now to get started on Slywotzky's other books still waiting for me on my dad's shelf.

[Demand: Creating What People Want Before They Know They Want It will be published by Crown Business on 4 October 2011. This review is based on a pre-publication proof obtained through NetGalley.]