The Passion Economy Book Review
Award-winning New Yorker staff writer and co-founder of NPR’s Planet Money podcast, Adam Davidson is a leading voice on issues related to 21st-century business and the economic landscape.
"The identification of your unique passion is the single most crucial and often the hardest part of embracing the passion economy " -Adam Davidson
Davidson’s new book The Passion Economy: The New Rules for Thriving in the Twenty-First Century, is a glass-half-full exploration of how average people are combining their unique passion and their entrepreneurial spirit to challenge longstanding economic rules and trends and carve out their own pathways to 21st-century business success.
Davidson presents several case studies that demonstrate how the last century’s focus on economies of scale has shifted to a 21st century economy of passion. For those interested in launching passionate business ventures, Davidson offers a four-step strategy in which he details the must-haves for 21st-century business success:
- Step #1 -- Understand how your business adds and captures value
- Step #2 -- Pick your customer
- Step #3 -- Pick your competition
- Step #4 -- Focus on how you will capture value from your customer
In addition to detailed case studies and research-backed advice, the author presents his list of eight ground rules for operating in the new economy where intimacy, creativity, automation, and passion are indispensable:
- Rule #1 -- Pursue Intimacy at Scale
- Rule #2 -- Only Create Value that Can’t Be Easily Copied
- Rule #3 -- The Price Your Charge Should Match the Value You Provide
- Rule #4 -- Fewer Passionate Customers Are Better Than a Lot of Indifferent Ones
- Rule #5 -- Passion is a Story
- Rule #6 -- Technology Should Always Support Your Business, Not Drive It
- Rule #7 -- Know What Business You’re In, and It’s Probably Not What You Think
- Rule #8 -- Never Be in the Commodity Business, Even if You Sell What Other People Consider a Commodity
The Passion Economy is REQUIRED reading for anyone who is interested in starting their own business, as well as all of us who are currently running businesses. Filled with real-life examples as well as overriding principles (do’s and don’ts) this book serves as a road map to success in today’s evolved market.
