Top Strategy books recommended by experts

At MentorCruise, we are all about making the most out of the experience of others. As part of that, we've connected and asked dozens of experts and professionals about their favourite Strategy books – and here are the answers.

Table of Contents

Fundamentals of Strategy

Understanding the concepts of Strategy starts with understanding the fundamentals. On your way to mastery, it's crucial for you to understand how certain concepts were derived, and why things work like they do. Starting with these resources is the best way to do so.

The Prince

"Il Principe" (titolo originale in lingua latina: "De Principatibus", lett. "Sui Principati") è un trattato di dottrina politica scritto da Niccolò Machiavelli nel 1513, nel quale espone le caratteristiche dei principati e dei metodi per mantenerli e conquistarli. Si tratta senza dubbio della sua opera più nota e celebrata, quella dalle cui massime (spesso superficialmente interpretate) sono n…

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HBR's 10 Must Reads on Strategy (including Featured Article "What Is Strategy?" by Michael E. Porter)

Is your company spending too much time on strategy development—with too little to show for it? If you read nothing else on strategy, read these 10 articles (featuring “What Is Strategy?” by Michael E. Porter). We've combed through hundreds of Harvard Business Review articles and selected the most important ones to help you catalyze your organization's strategy development and execution. HBR's …

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Traction: Get A Grip On Your Business

Do you have a grip on your business, or does your business have a grip on you. All entrepreneurs and business leaders face similar frustrations—personnel conflict, profit woes, and inadequate growth. Decisions never seem to get made, or, once made, fail to be properly implemented. But there is a solution. It's not complicated or theoretical.The Entrepreneurial Operating System® is a practical …

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Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters

Good strategy identifies the key challenge to overcome. Bad strategy fails to identify the nature of the challenge. If you don't know what the problem is, you can't evaluate alternative guiding policies or actions to take, and you can't adjust your strategy as you learn more over time.

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Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business

All entrepreneurs and business leaders face similar frustrations—personnel conflict, profit woes, and inadequate growth. Decisions never seem to get made, or, once made, fail to be properly implemented. But there is a solution. It's not complicated or theoretical.The Entrepreneurial Operating System® is a practical method for achieving the business success you have always envisioned. More than…

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Dare to Disrupt: A Playbook for Transformational Business Growth

Fearless Disruption is not just for the Apples, Amazons, and Teslas of the world, and Keegan is here to prove it. True business transformation—the revolutionary changes that enable a company to outpace its competitors and innovate rapidly to attain exponential growth—is achievable by every business if they have the right formula for successful scalability and sustainability and the fortitude, …

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Additional Strategy Reading

These books are not required for you to learn Strategy, but they are highly recommended for you to deepen your knowledge.

The 33 Strategies of War

Robert Greene’s groundbreaking guides, The 48 Laws of Power, The Art of Seduction, and Mastery, espouse profound, timeless lessons from the events of history to help readers vanquish an enemy, ensnare an unsuspecting victim, or become the greatest in your field. In The 33 Strategies of War, Greene has crafted an important addition to this ruthless and unique series. Spanning world civilization…

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Strategy: A History

In Strategy: A History, Sir Lawrence Freedman, one of the world's leading authorities on war and international politics, captures the vast history of strategic thinking, in a consistently engaging and insightful account of how strategy came to pervade every aspect of our lives. The range of Freedman's narrative is extraordinary, moving from the surprisingly advanced strategy practiced in prima…

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A Colonel & A Cowboy: Mission, Mindset, Process Strategies of the Elite

An inspirational tale of triumph over extraordinary setbacks, A Colonel & A Cowboy tells the remarkable story of rodeo great Stran Smith and retired U.S. Army Colonel J. Craig Flowers. Stran Smith’s journey to becoming a World Champion rodeo cowboy is woven together with Colonel Flowers’ experiences supporting some of the most elite teams in the world. Through dramatic, real-life storytelling …

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The Lean Startup

Eric Ries defines a startup as an organization dedicated to creating something new under conditions of extreme uncertainty. This is just as true for one person in a garage or a group of seasoned professionals in a Fortune 500 boardroom. What they have in common is a mission to penetrate that fog of uncertainty to discover a successful path to a sustainable business. The Lean Startup approach f…

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On War

Carl von Clausewitz’s On War is the most significant attempt in Western history to understand war, both in its internal dynamics and as an instrument of policy. Since the work's first appearance in 1832, it has been read throughout the world, and has stimulated generations of soldiers, political leaders, and intellectuals. First published in 1976 and revised in 1984, Michael Howard and Peter P…

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Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works

Playing to Win, a noted Wall Street Journal and Washington Post bestseller, outlines the strategic approach Lafley, in close partnership with strategic adviser Roger Martin, used to double P&G’s sales, quadruple its profits, and increase its market value by more than $100 billion when Lafley was first CEO (he led the company from 2000 to 2009). The audiobook shows leaders in any type of organi…

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Specializations and Deeper Strategy Knowledge

You've got your basics in order – time to move on to some advanced and specialized concepts. Strategy is evolving every day, these books can help you master it.

THE ART OF WAR: Ancient Wisdom & Modern Applications - A Practical Guide to Strategic Mastery (2025 Great Classics)

For over two millennia, Sun Tzu’s legendary work The Art of War has inspired leaders, entrepreneurs, and strategists to achieve unparalleled success. This timeless masterpiece goes beyond the battlefield, offering profound lessons in strategic thinking, overcoming obstacles, and achieving your goals in every area of life—from business to personal growth.

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Your Next Five Moves: Master the Art of Business Strategy

Both successful entrepreneurs and chess grandmasters have the vision to look at the pieces in front of them and anticipate their next five moves. In this book, Patrick Bet-David translates this skill into a valuable methodology that applies to high performers at all levels of business. Whether you feel like you’ve hit a wall, lost your fire, or are looking for innovative strategies to take you…

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This list is curated by MentorCruise and can include Amazon affiliate links. Have any other suggestions? Add here.

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Hi there! I'm currently a Senior UX Designer at Apple. I've got 7+ years of design experience in both the consumer and enterprise space. I started my career in medical school and worked in the world of business, before finally pursuing my childhood dream of becoming a designer. Being a …

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I am a seasoned HR executive with 20+ years of experience driving transformative people strategies that enhance organizational performance and employee engagement. I have had the pleasure of holding executive leadership roles across the service industry where I am responsible for aligning talent strategies with business goals to fuel growth …

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