Unleash Different: Achieving Success Through Disability

by Rich Donovan

If you discovered a new market comprising 53% of the world’s population, would you act to invest in it?

There are 1.3 billion people around the world who identify as having a disability. When you include friends and family, the disability market touches 53% of all consumers. It is the world’s largest emerging market.
Unleash Different illustrates how companies like Google, PepsiCo, and Nordstrom are attracting people with disabilities as customers and as employees. Replacing “nice to do” with “return on investment” allows market forces to take over and the world’s leading brands to do what they do best: serve a market segment — in this case, the disability market.
Business managers will come to understand

• how taking a charity-oriented approach to people with disabilities has failed,
• what action is required to capitalize on the world’s biggest emerging market, and
• how their organizations can grow revenue and cut costs by attracting people with disabilities as customers and talent.

Rich gives the reader a peek into how he rose from a Canadian school for “crippled children” to manage $6 billion for one of Wall Street’s leading firms. He makes it easy to relate to the business goal of serving disability — because he has actually done it.

Genres: Design, Business

260 pages, Hardcover

First published September 4, 2018

Reviews

[Jen Cowan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an amazing book! Rich demonstrates an incredible amount of vulnerability by telling his own personal story, which is refreshing. In addition, this book gives you a new way to think about disability, regardless of the sector that you work in. I can't rave about this enough!

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I don't agree with everything that Donovan says, I do agree that the disability market is giant and companies need to start investing in (and for) disabled people. The vast majority of people will become disabled in their lives. Therefore, having products that are easy for disabled people to utilize, access, and afford means that everyone will be able to use them (and this goes for places as well). On top of that, if you give disabled people jobs and make jobs accessible that will allow them to spend money that they may not currently have buying products they need/want that they can use (which can often be limited).

[Emily Ferko · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rich Donovan truly is a visionary. The book is a solid mix of memoir and business lessons, with an engaging and funny writing story. I greatly enjoyed my time reaching about the business world and the ways in which we need to unleash different by getting rid of nice-to-do and replacing it with return on investment.

[Brandon Biggs · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so excited there is a book to give companies to help them understand the value of disability. I would like volume II to contain numbers that companies who design for disability have realized.

[Sasha Boersma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall good read. A little too into the weeds on financials than I’d like. But he’s an interesting guy who is determined to change the system from within.

[Tieraney Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eye opener!!! Whoa... instead of pitying those who are disabled actually grow your market by inclusion. Powerful business read.

[Emidio Corbetta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dó un punteggio alto ai libri quando questi mi lasciano qualcosa dentro, o mi fanno cambiare atteggiamento verso qualcosa. Questo mi ha messo un seme con la speranza che germogli.