I wonder often who still reads books since people tend to be so busy and missing the patience for the effort. If you are reading books that are related to your work, you also have to process the ideas and give time for digesting those. In case you do not know where to start, here are some recommendations.
In this 1st list I have selected 3 excellent books on strategy.
STRATEGY
The strategist (Cynthia A. Montgomery)
A compact, clear summary of the strategy and execution, based on strategy courses in Harward Business School.
I like the nicely set path for strategy creation and good examples that help to stay on the path. It is written in 2012, so some of the cases are somewhat aged, but then again, times are a-changing so fast that it is impossible to print on-line the newest cases.
Strategy safari (Henry Mintzberg, Bruce Ahlstrand, Joseph Lampel)
This is an excellent guide to the strategy jungle. It is a little bit heavy to read, but the chapters are built so that you can chew it chapter by chapter. When you have read this you have a solid basement on strategy and can start adapting it to your needs. This is an old book but updated in 2009.
Strategy from the outside in (George S. Day, Christine Moorman)
This book concentrates on customer value and how you can build your strategy based on that starting point. It has good examples and useful charts for opening the issue. It is from 2010 but still relevant.
These books are from the USA and many of their examples are also there. For a European reader you some of the companies are unknown. But they are well written and the additional benefit is that you can add up with the strategy jargon. It helps you shine in your company’s strategy meetings.
More book recommendations coming later. May the force of books be with you to help you read and learn.