Book Presentation

Rules For Revolutionaries by Guy Kawasaki

Book Abstract

MAIN IDEA

If any company aspires to change the world rather than just make a few bucks, it has to successfully generate and exploit a business revolution.

A business evolution (an enhanced version of something already in existence) will never power a company to the top of the heap. Only the dynamics created by a genuine business breakthrough, carefully harnessed by a dedicated band of revolutionaries and evangelists, will do it.

Therefore, if you want to make an impact, start your own revolution.

Important Note About This Ebook

This is a summary and not a critique or a review of the book. It does not offer judgment or opinion on the content of the book. This summary may not be organized chapter-wise but is an overview of the main ideas, viewpoints and arguments from the book as a whole. This means that the organization of this summary is not a representation of the book.

Summary of Rules For Revolutionaries (Guy Kawasaki)

1. Create Like a God

Main Idea

The key to creating a revolution lies in finding new and creative ways to analyze the problem at hand. That often requires you to take a top down view -- as if you were sitting in heaven looking down on the earth.

To achieve that top-down-view perspective, you need to:

1.1 Think differently to arrive at a different conclusion.

1.2 Focus not on perfecting but on getting into the market.

1.3 Revise and upgrade your product on an ongoing basis.

Supporting Ideas

1.1
Think Differently

If you follow conventional thinking, all you’ll ever end up with are conventional ideas, or conventional solutions to existing problems. Revolutionary ideas will only emerge as the result of different thinking -- of insights that the crowd has never taken the time or effort to consider.

The three keys to thinking differently are:

1. Purge Previous Programming

   Consciously list (and then disregard altogether) all existing ideas, conventional wisdom, accepted limitations, standard operating procedure or other limits. Look at the problem with a fresh and unbiased perspective -- what can be done differently?

   To do this:

   • Change the way the question is phrased.
   • Consider the challenge in a broader context than usual.
   • Start at the end objective and work backwards.
   • Analyze what the result would be if you did the exact opposite of the conventional approach.
2. Attack Challenges In Ways That Force Original Thought New solutions and new courses of action will only come to mind if you use a different line of thought from that previously used by everyone else.

   Try thinking about solutions to questions like:

   • What frustrates people about this particular product or service?
   • How can form (the way things are done) and function (why things are done) be separated logically?
   • Working backwards from the customer, what steps are taken to meet their demands -- and can any of these steps be eliminated?
   • Can the problem be divided into smaller parts? (You then focus on what hasn’t been solved before.)
   • Can you copy Mother Nature’s solution to the same problem somehow? (Biomimicry)
   • Concentrate on what happens at the interface between the machine and the user, the customer and the company, etc.
3. Watch For Unintended Consequences