“This book is meant to describe a new approach/strategy to marketing. The ‘blue ocean’ strategy means that you find some aspect of your market that no one is doing, and try to dominate that, rather than fighting it out with other vendors in your space – which is a ‘red ocean’ strategy. It’s a good…”
“This is a classic business strategy book by the author of ‘Crossing the Chasm.’ It’s not really practical advice – the author concedes that it’s a ‘framework of frameworks’ that help you think about your company’s future. More specifically, he talks about ‘power’ in several domains: Category Power:…”
“This is a history book that answers the question: what did librarians do to help the war effort during World War II? Well, a lot it turns out. They amassed foreign periodicals and scoured them for intelligence information They captured and cataloged information left behind in German facilities…”
“This book is a legendary examination of how companies handle ‘innovation,’ by which the author means new aspects of their business that come out of nowhere and eventually come to dominate their markets. The problem: you can’t just give customers what they ask for. Because lots of customers actually…”
“I struggled with this book. The author admits that it’s about almost everything except a direct comparison of the legion and the phalanx. After a short introduction to ancient military tactics, it pretty quickly launches into a long history of ancient warfare and battles. About halfway through…”
“ Turns out, ‘strategy’ is fairly new in business. This is the story of the Big Three business strategy firms – Bain, BCG, and McKinsey – how they created a new industry throughout the 20th century. ”
“A book about the rise of ‘platforms’ – systems that don’t do anything except connect other people. Think AirBnB, Facebook, Uber, etc. A good look at all the challenges, especially things like network effects, how to get people on the platform to start with, and how to keep them on the platform over…”
“A book I will remember for the edict that to completely own a category, you need to create it. Salesforce owns cloud CRM because it created cloud CRM. It is the ‘category king.’ And once you create a category, you ‘mine’ it for value. The book is a little over-the-top and breathless in places. Also…”
“The basic concept here is that ‘networks’ are the Next Big Thing. Everything in the world is interconnected, and ‘the seventh sense’ is our ability to sense those connections, and think in terms of networks, rather than just isolated things. I think. It’s tough to tell. First of all, the author was…”
“The book is what it claims to be: a comprehensive history of RAND. The problem is that it’s just not that interesting. RAND (short for ‘Research and Development’) is a company created by the U.S. Air Force. During the Cold War, we were scared that the Russians were winning the military technology…”
“This book forced me to think about books about wars in general. I think I’ve identified four levels, in descending order of scope. Geopolitical: These books discuss the large-scale political reasons and ramifications of the war. Strategic: These books talk about large battles, and where the…”
“The book is about all the large-scale economic players and theatrics that happen behind the scenes. This is the world of George Soros and Long-Term Capital Management and Bilderberg and Davos and the IMF and the World Bank. It’s the world where billionaires make moves and countermoves that make…”