Rules For Revolutionaries: The Capitalist Manifesto for Creating and Marketing New Products and Services (Paperback)

by Guy Kawasaki (Author), Michele Moreno (Author) "Since 1955 the Walt Disney Company made the rules of the amusement park business..." (more)
Key Phrases: death magnet, elegant products, own dog food, Skunk Works, Breitling Aerospace, Macintosh Division (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Guy Kawasaki, former chief evangelist at Apple Computer and an iconoclastic corporate tactician who now works with high-tech startups in Silicon Valley, is back in print with his seventh book: Rules for Revolutionaries: The Capitalist Manifesto for Creating and Marketing New Products and Services. Entertainingly written in collaboration with previous coauthor Michele Moreno, it lays out Kawasaki's decidedly audacious (but personally experienced) strategies for besting the competition and triumphing in today's hypercharged business environment. The book is divided into three sections, whose titles alone epitomize its thrust and tone. The first, "Create Like a God," discusses the way that radical new products and services must really be developed. The second, "Command Like a King," explains why take-charge leaders are truly necessary in order for such developments to succeed. And the third, "Work Like a Slave," focuses on the commitment that is actually required to beat the odds and change the world. A concluding section is filled with entertaining and inspirational quotes on topics like technology, transportation, politics, entertainment, and medicine that show how even some of our era's most successful ideas and people--the telephone, Louis Pasteur, and Yahoo! among them--have prevailed despite the scoffing of naysayers. --Howard Rothman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly
If music (Big Yellow Taxi) and television (That '70s Show) can look to the 1970s as a source of current inspiration, why not business books? That's the implicit argument of Forbes columnist Kawasaki's (How to Drive Your Competition Crazy) new book, which tries to capture the attitude of Apple Computer some two decades ago, when its goal was to make "insanely great products." This tone doesn't occur by accident. Kawasaki was director of product development at Apple. To his credit, Kawasaki, who now runs garage.com, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm, succeeds in being inspirational as he lays out his three steps to success: "Create Like a God," "Command Like a King" and "Work Like a Slave." Each section is filled with dozens of ideas about how to approach a market differently, and he gives pithy examples of how firms ranging from bicycle companies to Internet enterprises applied one of the three steps on their way to market. But while long on inspiration, Kawasaki is short on "how to." He has sprinkled the book with "exercises," but they are primarily there for comic relief, rather than instruction (e.g., "The next time a telemarketer calls you at home, ask for his phone number and tell him you will call him back that night"). Ultimately, however, these shortfalls probably don't matter. Kawasaki gives entrepreneurs and team leaders battling entrenched corporate bureaucracies more reason to keep up the fight. It is very hard not to like a book whose major theme is "don't let Bozosity grind you down."
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Harper Paperbacks; 1st Pbk. Ed edition (May 3, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 088730995X
• ISBN-13: 978-0887309953
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (111 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #26,475 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kawasaki always on target, February 15, 2000

By	Tom Gibson (Houston, Texas United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rules For Revolutionaries (Hardcover)

Guy has always done an excellent job of collecting information and dispersing it in an entertaining and educational way. His latest book is no exception. What makes Guy's books useful is that they are not filled with extra stuff. In other words, he presents just the facts, in as few words as possible. You don't have to read two pages to figure out the point he's trying to get across. Reader's of his other works will recognize some familiar themes such as how to treat the customer. As an added bonus, Guy presents "required" reading at the end of each chapter -- a wonderful collection of other works that are relevant to the topics discussed. And while the book uses the software industry as frequent examples, it is really for every business, high tech, low tech, no tech. Highly recommended reading.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is what you need to read if you want to succeed., April 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Rules For Revolutionaries (Hardcover)

It doesn't matter if you're already on the barricades or just a Walter Mitty dreaming of turning your garage into a factory, you'll want to read this book. Actually, you'll need to read this book. It tells you how "create like a god, command like a king, and work like a slave" (no, Kawasaki didn't write that himself but he was smart enough to quote one of the best: Brancusi). Better than telling you though, Kawasaki shows you with plenty of examples for each stage of this process. And unlike a lot of the business books I read, this is not just a book about marketing, product development, etc., etc. Kawasaki relates each stage of this 3-step process to a broad audience and always shows the important principles behind each. For once, I can honestly say that the subtitle of a business book is truthful (a manifesto for creating and marketing new products and services). In fact, it may even be a bit limited. I've gleaned information from here that I've found very useful just for the everday business of living.

This is definitely on the top shelf of my library.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Definitive Guide to Building Revolutionary Products and Companies, July 6, 2006

By	YoungWealthWeekly.com (San Francisco) - See all my reviews

Revolutionary products and companies outperform their competitors by completely changing the way things are done -- not by doing the same thing better. Perhaps the best book on this subject is Rules for Revolutionaries by Guy Kawasaki.

The book is based on 3 principles:

1) Create like a god
"Develop revolutionary products and services by analyzing how to solve current problems."

First, Guy walks you through the 3-step revolutionary thought process that leads to breakthrough product creation. It's very practical, and if followed, will generate amazing ideas for your business.

Next, Guy introduces you to a concept he calls, "Don't Worry, Be Crappy." Simply put, don't worry about perfecting a product before sending it to market. Focus on getting your product quickly to the market, but be ready to make constant improvements based on user feedback. He says effective companies have a circular built-in system for continuous product perfection, rather than viewing the product life cycle as linear. It's not how good you can make your product the first time, but rather how quickly you can respond to feedback after it launches.

Finally, Guy explains DICEE -- a formula for creating great products. If you've ever wondered what makes Apple products so attractive, it would be beneficial for you to examine this formula and evaluate how it can be added to your own products.

2) Command like a king
"Take charge with strategic decisions that break down barriers of product adoption."

For any revolutionary product, there will be barriers to overcome. Here, Guy gives us 5 common ones: Ignorance, Inertia, Complexity, Channel, and Price. The revolutionary entrepreneur anticipates this, and uses one or more of the book's 6 "barrier busters."

Interestingly, after removing barriers to adoption it then becomes necessary to form new barriers to retain users. These "positive" barriers, if developed correctly, can also promote the creation of "customer evangelists" -- people that love your product so much they act as an unpaid sales force for you.

3) Work like a slave
"Relentlessly absorb information from your environment, then spread the knowledge you've gained."

The revolutionary keeps up to date by viewing the situation from different viewpoints, spending time with typical users, and then gaining information from those encounters. Businesspeople that stay (physically) close to their target customers are more likely to produce successful products.

Guy also reminds his readers that if a new concept will be an inevitable long-term success, the best strategy is to focus on gaining market share rather than reaping big profits initially. While obvious in concept, startup cashflow reality often makes companies do the opposite. He uses the example of Apple and Microsoft in the 80's -- Apple unwisely choose a fat profit margin at the expense of long-term market share.

For any entrepreneur wanting to make a difference, I would highly recommend Rules for Revolutionaries. The book is highly readable, and Guy Kawasaki's entrepreneurial experience at Apple Computer and later as CEO of seed capital firm garage.com is evident throughout.