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 Art of War

The Art of War

The Art of War is a book of conflict knowledge and tactics revolving around several key concepts, including: Knowing when to fight and when not to fight. Knowing how to mislead the enemy. Knowing oneself and one's enemy.

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, Greene has crafted an important addition to this ruthless and unique series. Spanning world civilization…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap ... and Others Don't

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap ... and Others Don't

he Challenge: Built to Last, the defining management study of the nineties, showed how great companies triumph over time and how long-term sustained performance can be engineered into the DNA of an enterprise from the verybeginning. But what about the company that is not born with great DNA? How can good companies, mediocre companies, even bad companies achieve enduring greatness? The Study: F…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

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

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 …

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

Strategy: A History

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…

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 been translated into more than ten languages, including Chinese, Russian, and French, and has been us…

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.

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...and Others Don't

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...and Others Don't

he Challenge: Built to Last, the defining management study of the nineties, showed how great companies triumph over time and how long-term sustained performance can be engineered into the DNA of an enterprise from the verybeginning. But what about the company that is not born with great DNA? How can good companies, mediocre companies, even bad companies achieve enduring greatness? The Study: F…

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 business, sports, the movies, politics, and gambling. It outlines the basics of good strategy making …

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind

Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind

The first book to deal with the problems of communicating to a skeptical, media-blitzed public, Positioning describes a revolutionary approach to creating a "position" in a prospective customer's mind-one that reflects a company's own strengths and weaknesses as well as those of its competitors. Writing in their trademark witty, fast-paced style, advertising gurus Ries and Trout explain how to…

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 Art of Strategy: A Game Theorist's Guide to Success in Business & Life

The Art of Strategy: A Game Theorist's Guide to Success in Business & Life

Game theory means rigorous strategic thinking. It’s the art of anticipating your opponent’s next moves, knowing full well that your rival is trying to do the same thing to you. Though parts of game theory involve simple common sense, much is counterintuitive, and it can only be mastered by developing a new way of seeing the world. Using a diverse array of rich case studies―from pop culture, TV…

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.

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 you feel like you’ve hit a wall, lost your fire, or are looking for innovative strategies to take you…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

Have any other suggestions? Add here.

Augment your Strategy books

There is no better source of accountability and motivation than having a personal mentor. What used to be impossible to find is now just two clicks away! All mentors are vetted & hands-on!

Only 3 Spots Left

Across my 16+ years in product management at Google, Microsoft, and assorted venture-backed startups, I've had the privilege of receiving mentorship from luminaries including Paul Graham, Sam Altman, and Kai Fu Lee. I know not everyone gets these mentorship opportunities, so I am here to share my experience with a …

$240 / month
  Chat
2 x Calls

Only 1 Spot Left

Is your tech strategy falling short, or do you aspire to lead as a CTO? Are you facing challenges with your development team or becoming senior? I'm here to steer you to success. Leveraging my 24-year experience as CTO and developer, I focus on your professional growth through tailored mentorship. …

$200 / month
  Chat
1 x Call

Only 5 Spots Left

As a top mentor with a proven playbook, I’ve helped countless professionals worldwide pivot careers, secure promotions, and rediscover their direction, all backed by 5/5 feedback from over 20 mentees. I'm committed to providing the tools needed to find that next job and providing ways of accountability. Some of our …

$300 / month
  Chat
Regular Calls

Only 3 Spots Left

Hi there! I have conducted numerous DS/DA interviews and thus possess a deep understanding of the qualities and skills needed to succeed for the data analyst or data scientist. Last year, I helped 10+ mentees (5 are from non-tech background) to land their jobs in the data field. Whenever you …

$140 / month
  Chat
1 x Call
Tasks

Only 1 Spot Left

Senior UX/UI designer teaching students for the last 4 years and helping them to go full time on their dream job. Whether you want to get hired into a top company or become a freelancer I can help you get there. 👇 Watch my Introduction Video to learn who am …

$150 / month
  Chat
2 x Calls
Tasks


Unlock your potential with a seasoned and multi-faceted leader! Hey, I'm Federico! I have over a decade of experience across Finance, Operations, CX, and Strategy at Amazon, where I currently lead a large organization of Business Analysts and Program Managers. Here's how I can help: 🚀 Career Transitions & Interviewing: …


Browse all Strategy mentors

Still not convinced?
Don’t just take our word for it

We’ve already delivered 1-on-1 mentorship to thousands of students, professionals, managers and executives. Even better, they’ve left an average rating of 4.9 out of 5 for our mentors.

Find a Strategy mentor
  • "Naz is an amazing person and a wonderful mentor. She is supportive and knowledgeable with extensive practical experience. Having been a manager at Netflix, she also knows a ton about working with teams at scale. Highly recommended."

  • "Brandon has been supporting me with a software engineering job hunt and has provided amazing value with his industry knowledge, tips unique to my situation and support as I prepared for my interviews and applications."

  • "Sandrina helped me improve as an engineer. Looking back, I took a huge step, beyond my expectations."