There are a lot of good business books out there, and there are even more not-so-good business books. But there are only a few truly great books. Here are my favorites.
Top 5 books
1. Playing to Win
Playing to Win by Roger Martin is the most comprehensive, coherent, and practical approach to business strategy that I have encountered. Where most of the strategy advice out there tries to broadly apply a single theory or analysis and call it strategy, Martin addresses the fundamental problems of business strategy and frames the core problem to which frameworks and analyses should be applied. It is also extremely practical, though possibly a bit complicated for smaller companies and startups (most of the examples revolve around a massive conglomerate, P&G), though eminently applicable.
2. Good Strategy, Bad Strategy
Another book hacking at the roots of strategy rather than the branches, Good Strategy, Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt examines the purpose of strategy: to solve specific business problems. Therefore a fundamental activity is the clear and accurate description of the problem itself.
3. The Innovators Solution
Whereas many approaches to strategy (BCG 2x2, anyone?) rely on frameworks that are primarily useful for organizing information, The Innovators Solution by Clayton Christensen and Michael Raynor focuses on theories that offer predictive power. This book presents a wide array of theories and examples of their application that can be used to analyze and predict strategic moves, especially for industries that are changing or transforming.
4. The Hard Thing About Hard Things
Ben Horowitz’s The Hard Thing About Hard Things is an exceptionally practical guide to leading a startup, with a particular focus on surviving hard times and getting the right team working in the right way. Read it when you’re new, and then read it a year later and it will feel like a new book. Ignore the lessons at your own peril.
5. Working Backwards
Colin Bryar and Bill Carr give us the best of Amazon’s management practices in Working Backwards. Amazon’s growth and ability to scale is due in no small part to their commitment to a thoughtful and coherent strategy empowered by a set of reinforcing management practices. Even if you don’t adopt all of their practices, it is worth considering how to create your own management system.
Honorable mentions
- High Output Management (Grove)
- On Grand Strategy (Gaddis)
- A New Way to Think (Martin)
- Value: The Four Cornerstones of Corporate Finance (Koller, Dobbs, Huyett)
- Made to stick (Heath & Heath)
- How Will You Measure Your Life (Christensen, Allworth, Dillon)
- Zero to One* (Thiel & Masters)