Fans pick 99 books like On Strategy

I am a firm believer that you never stop learning, and you learn from everybody.

I was very impressed by Nike. As a young athlete in the 60s, I sometimes had to run barefoot because I could not afford shoes, and I was a keen athlete. Phil Knight’s remarkable book was first published in 2016. I thought it was fascinating because he talked all about the tenacity, determination and commitment and the fact that you have to stand up to people because 99% of people will tell you you will never get there. He got there brilliantly, and, of course, Nike is a phenomenal success.

I was inspired by Phil Knight’s vision, courage, tenacity, and determination to overcome many enormous obstacles to build a great global brand. I sincerely believe this book will be very helpful to any entrepreneur.

I discovered marketing and was motivated by an amazing man called Theodore Levitt. I actually visited him at Harvard when he helped me with the Malibu launch in 1979. Levitt was an inspirational marketer, well ahead of his time.

This, his first book, was published in 1962. He rightly said in the book, “Every major industry was once a growth industry,” but as we know (and Levitt said it), there are some that are now riding a wave of growth enthusiasm very much in the shadow of decline.

You have to understand why things develop. The failure is usually at the top because the executives responsible for the company do not understand the changing environment or respond positively to it. For example, Hollywood barely escaped being totally ravished by television before the film companies went through drastic reorganisation but initially, they did not see television as a competitor. They did… show more.

I love this book because it made me really think about my own Purple Cow! I wondered what makes me remarkable and likely to stand out from the competition. Reading it, made me question whether I was getting that across in my marketing or not. I love Seth Godin’s writing style. I like his creativity and his point you are either remarkable or invisible. 

After reading this book, I began questioning myself and my clients more, and I started noticing businesses that have a clear purple cow. Putting a Purple Cow into everything you do is something that I found easy to remember. I love the simple genius of this message.  

Neville Isdell, who retired as Chairman of Coca-Cola in 2009, whilst born in Ireland, grew up in Zambia, as I did, and by coincidence, we were both at Cape Town University, and we worked together at Coca-Cola in Johannesburg for a year in 1969.

Neville is very direct and cannot stand sycophantic behaviour, which I respect. He lived and worked in 11 countries on 5 continents in his 43 years at Coca-Cola, and he placed a great deal of importance on understanding and respecting local culture. He believed much of his success came from selecting strong people who focused on the importance of positive action over words. He also states that the majority of views often mean that something has happened, but more importantly, it is the minority view and ideas where breakthrough growth and success lie.

Between 2004 and 2009, when he took over as the CEO of Coca-Cola… show more.

For readers who are interested in learning how to think about international relations, strategy, security, and history.

The collection of essays discusses US foreign policy, nuclear politics, and the Cold War. My favorite is Trachtenberg’s critical reassessment of the origins of the First World War, a destructive conflict no one wanted to happen but still walked into.

I always assign this book to my students.

This book made me think differently about air war, arguably the defining element of 20th and 21st-century conflicts. Grayzel traces its evolution and experience for Britain from the first bombing raids of the First World War to the start of the blitz in the Second. Unlike most other studies, which focus on military strategy and state policy, she interweaves the stories and experiences of the civilians who were to be the targets of this new technology. The book reminds us (if we needed reminding) of the shock of air raids, and the way that these impacted every aspect of life.

Of the many books explaining the success of the Roman Empire, this is by far the best in that it shows how Rome continually adapted its strategy in building and sustaining its empire. Rome's strategy was not ceaseless fighting but comprehensive strategies that unified force, diplomacy, and an immense infrastructure. Initially relying on client states to buffer attacks, Rome moved to permanent frontier defense. Finally, as barbarians began to penetrate the empire, Rome fielded large armies in a strategy of defense-in-depth. This book's lesson for business strategy is that companies need to constantly adapt their strategies as their circumstances change. The book also has powerful implications for modern geopolitical strategy—be flexible in both means and ends.

While not as focused on strategy as the title implies, this book’s short offers an entertaining discussion of various military issues within the context of the Star Wars films and television shows. Among the standouts are a plea for nation-building on Endor by Max Brooks, best known for his novel World War Z (2006), and M.L. Cavanaugh’s “A Strategist Yoda was Not.” As Cavanaugh points out, there is no evidence of any strategic education in Jedi training, which shows. 

This remains one of my go-to texts for my World Wars class and is well-received by my students, whose ideas about the Second World War and its outcome are transformed by Overy’s brilliant book. It is a masterpiece of analytical history presenting a very different take on the war—one of industry, economics, technology, and production.

As a strategy consultant for over two decades, let me tell you: the world is full of bad strategy. This book lays out so clearly what makes bad strategy bad, as well as what good strategy consists of. Rumelt uses examples from business, of course, but he goes far beyond that realm, too.

The book opens with a description of how Admiral Horatio Nelson defeated Napoleon’s forces in the Battle of Trafalgar. Rumelt, a Professor at UCLA, gives recommendations that are specific, tied to examples, and actionable. I walked away with a clear set of takeaways and wonderful stories to back them up.