Top Strategy books curated by experts

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

  • Curated by industry experts
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Top Strategy books recommended by experts
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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.

Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It... and why the Rest Don't

Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It... and why the Rest Don't

This is the first major revision (2022) to Scaling Up since it was published in 2014. With over 500,000 copies in print, it’s become the standard for scaling any for-purpose or for-profit organization. In Scaling Up, Harnish and his contributors share practical tools and techniques for scaling a…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

Traction: Get A Grip On Your Business

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…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

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

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’ experie…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters

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.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

The 33 Strategies of War

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, Gree…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't (Rockefeller Habits 2.0 Revised Edition)

Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't (Rockefeller Habits 2.0 Revised Edition)

It’s been over a decade since Verne Harnish’s best-selling book Mastering the Rockefeller Habits was first released. Scaling Up (Rockefeller Habits 2.0) is the first major revision of this business classic which details practical tools and techniques for building an industry-dominating business.…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

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 Lords of Strategy: The Secret Intellectual History of the New Corporate World

The Lords of Strategy: The Secret Intellectual History of the New Corporate World

Remarkably, fifty years ago that's the way it was. Businesses made plans, certainly, but without understanding the underlying dynamics of competition, costs, and customers. It was like trying to design a large-scale engineering project without knowing the laws of physics. But in the 1960s, four …

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works

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…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

Thinking Strategically

Thinking Strategically

A major bestseller in Japan, Financial Times Top Ten book of the year, Book-of-the-Month Club bestseller, and required reading at the best business schools, Thinking Strategically is a crash course in outmaneuvering any rival. This entertaining guide builds on scores of case studies taken from b…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

Strategy Safari: A Guided Tour Through the Wilds of Strategic Management

Strategy Safari: A Guided Tour Through the Wilds of Strategic Management

No other book synthesizes the entire history and evolution of strategic management in so lively and entertaining a fashion. Since the initial publication of Strategy Safari, managers, consultants, and academics all over the world have found this book an indispensable and delightful tool—it has b…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

Blue Ocean Strategy

Blue Ocean Strategy

In this perennial bestseller, embraced by organizations and industries worldwide, globally preeminent management thinkers W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne challenge everything you thought you knew about the requirements for strategic success. Recognized as one of the most iconic and impactful str…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

Dare to Disrupt: A Playbook for Transformational Business Growth

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 busin…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

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)

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 g…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

Your Next Five Moves: Master the Art of Business Strategy

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 y…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise.

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