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Recommended Reading

These are books that have shaped how I think about strategy, founder-led growth, positioning, leadership, and the practical work of turning vision into execution.

Brand Strategy, Marketing & Positioning

  • Obviously Awesome — April Dunford

    A practical framework for product positioning that helps companies define who they’re for, what category they belong in, and why they matter. Particularly influential in SaaS and emerging brands.

  • Building a StoryBrand — Donald Miller

    Uses storytelling structure to simplify brand messaging and clarify customer communication. Emphasizes making the customer the hero, not the brand.

  • This Is Marketing — Seth Godin

    Argues that effective marketing is about empathy, positioning, and creating change for a specific audience rather than mass persuasion.

  • The Brand Gap — Marty Neumeier

    Explores the intersection of strategy and design, showing how brands are built through coherent customer perception rather than logos alone.

  • Eating the Big Fish — Adam Morgan

    Introduces challenger brand thinking: how smaller brands can outmaneuver category leaders through bold positioning and distinctiveness.

  • Find Your Red Thread — Tamsen Webster

    Helps readers identify the core through-line that makes ideas compelling, memorable, and persuasive.

  • Obsessed — Emily Heyward

    Examines how modern consumer brands create emotional connection and cultural relevance through design, narrative, and experience.

  • Contagious — Jonah Berger

    Breaks down why ideas spread through social transmission and word of mouth using behavioral science research.

  • How Brands Grow — Byron Sharp

    Challenges traditional loyalty marketing assumptions and argues that brand growth comes primarily through increasing mental and physical availability.

  • Talk Triggers — Jay Baer

    Focuses on operationalized word-of-mouth marketing by creating customer experiences people naturally want to talk about.

Business Strategy, Leadership & Operations

  • Good Strategy Bad Strategy — Richard Rumelt

    Defines strategy as a focused diagnosis and coherent set of actions, contrasting real strategy with vague ambition or vision statements.

  • Playing to Win — Roger L. Martin

    Presents a practical strategic framework built around defining where to play and how to win. Draws heavily from P&G case studies.

  • Your Strategy Needs a Strategy — Martin Reeves

    Explains that different business environments require different strategic approaches rather than a single universal model.

  • This Is Strategy — Seth Godin

    Explores the intersection of strategy and design, showing how brands are built through coherent customer perception rather than logos alone.

  • Good to Great — Jim Collins

    Analyzes companies that made sustained leaps in performance and identifies recurring leadership and organizational traits.

  • Traction — Gino Wickman

    Introduces the EOS operating system for entrepreneurial businesses, emphasizing accountability, priorities, and execution discipline.

  • Rhythm — Patrick Thean

    Provides a cadence-based operating framework to align teams around goals, execution, and measurable accountability.

  • The Great Game of Business — Jack Stack

    Breaks down why ideas spread through social transmission and word of mouth using behavioral science research.

  • Well-Oiled Operations — Stacy Tuschl

    Focuses on building scalable systems, delegation, and operational structure for growing businesses.

  • The E-Myth Revisited — Michael E. Gerber

    Explores why small businesses fail when founders stay trapped in technician roles rather than building systems.

  • Another Way — Dave Whorton

    Profiles companies that prioritize sustainable growth, independence, and purpose over venture-scale hypergrowth.

  • No Bullsh*t Strategy — Alex M. Smith

    A concise, anti-corporate approach to strategic thinking focused on clarity, leverage, and practical execution.

Entrepreneurship, Consulting & Professional Growth

  • The Consulting Bible — Alan Weiss

    Covers how to build, position, price, and grow a consulting practice with an emphasis on expertise and outcomes over hourly billing.

  • Value-Based Fees — Alan Weiss

    Makes the case for pricing consulting work based on client value created rather than time spent.

  • Entrepreneurial You — Dorie Clark

    Explores how experts and professionals can diversify income streams around their expertise and reputation.

  • Stand Out — Dorie Clark

    Focuses on becoming a recognized expert by developing and consistently sharing original ideas.

  • Coach Builder — Donald Miller

    A playbook for turning expertise into a scalable coaching or advisory business.

  • Sparked — Jonathan Fields

    Helps readers identify the types of work and environments that naturally energize and motivate them.

  • The Long Game — Dorie Clark

    Encourages long-horizon thinking and relationship-building in careers increasingly dominated by short-term urgency.

  • What Color Is Your Parachute? — Richard N. Bolles

    A classic career-development guide focused on self-assessment, meaningful work, and practical job-search strategy.