Recommendations based on Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevantby W. Chan Kim

* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans

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

    by James C. Collins
    A guide to building a successful company, examining the practices and values of leading organizations.

    To find the keys to greatness, Collins's 21-person research team read and coded 6,000 articles, generated more than 2,000 pages of interview transcripts and created 384 megabytes of computer data in ... (Goodreads)

  2. Think and Grow Rich

    by Napoleon Hill
    A step-by-step guide to personal success and wealth creation.

    This is the original 1937 version of Napoleon Hill's Classic Book: Think and Grow Rich . To the greatest extent possible, the text and formatting have been kept exactly the same as in the original ... (Goodreads)

  3. Rework

    by Jason Fried
    A guide to starting and running a successful business with unconventional advice and practical tips.

    Most business books give you the same old advice: Write a business plan, study the competition, seek investors, yadda yadda. If you're looking for a book like that, put this one back on the shelf. ... (Goodreads)

  4. Rich Dad, Poor Dad

    by Robert T. Kiyosaki
    A financial literacy guide that explores the power of financial education and investment.

    Rich Dad Poor Dad is Robert's story of growing up with two dads — his real father and the father of his best friend, his "rich dad" — and the ways in which both men shaped his thoughts about money ... (Goodreads)

  5. Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors

    by Michael E. Porter
    A guide to analyzing industries and competitors to develop effective business strategies and gain a competitive advantage.

    Now nearing its sixtieth printing in English and translated into nineteen languages, Michael E. Porter's Competitive Strategy has transformed the theory, practice, and teaching of business strategy ... (Barnes & Noble)

  6. The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses

    by Eric Ries
    Systematic approach to launching and managing successful businesses in an ever-changing market.

    Most startups fail. But many of those failures are preventable. The Lean Startup is a new approach being adopted across the globe, changing the way companies are built and new products are launched. ... (Goodreads)

  7. Winning

    by Jack Welch
    A guide to business success, revealing strategies to gain a competitive edge.

    A champion manager of people, Jack Welch shares the hard-earned wisdom of a storied career in what will become the ultimate business bible With Winning, Jack Welch delivers a wide-ranging, in-depth, ... (Goodreads)

  8. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

    by Robert B. Cialdini
    An analysis of the psychology of persuasion and how to use it to influence people.

    Influence, the classic book on persuasion, explains the psychology of why people say "yes"—and how to apply these understandings. Dr. Robert Cialdini is the seminal expert in the rapidly expanding ... (Goodreads)

  9. The 4-Hour Workweek

    by Timothy Ferriss
    A guide to creating a lifestyle of financial and personal freedom by optimizing work and lifestyle.

    What do you do? Tim Ferriss has trouble answering the question. Depending on when you ask this controversial Princeton University guest lecturer, he might answer: "I race motorcycles in Europe." "I ... (Goodreads)

  10. Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies

    by James C. Collins
    Analysis of successful companies and their long-term strategies, identifying key habits and practices that lead to enduring success.

    "This is not a book about charismatic visionary leaders. It is not about visionary product concepts or visionary products or visionary market insights. Nor is it about just having a corporate vision. ... (Goodreads)

  11. Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose

    by Tony Hsieh
    A business leader's journey from success to significance, showing how to build a corporate culture of happiness.

    You want to learn about the path that we took at Zappos to get to over $1 billion in gross merchandise sales in less than ten years. You want to learn about the path I took that eventually led me to ... (Goodreads)

  12. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable

    by Patrick Lencioni
    An exploration of the dynamics of team-building, and how to overcome five common pitfalls.

    In The Five Dysfunctions of a Team Patrick Lencioni once again offers a leadership fable that is as enthralling and instructive as his first two best-selling books, The Five Temptations of a CEO and ... (Goodreads)

  13. Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action

    by Simon Sinek
    A guide to inspiring and motivating others to take action through understanding the power of why.

    Why do you do what you do? Why are some people and organizations more innovative, more influential, and more profitable than others? Why do some command greater loyalty from customers and employees ... (Goodreads)

  14. The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business

    by Charles Duhigg
    Uncovering the science of habit formation and how to use it to achieve success.

    A young woman walks into a laboratory. Over the past two years, she has transformed almost every aspect of her life. She has quit smoking, run a marathon, and been promoted at work. The patterns ... (Goodreads)

  15. Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind: How to Be Seen and Heard in the Overcrowded Marketplace

    by Al Ries
    A guide to using marketing strategies to stand out in today's competitive marketplace.

    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 ... (Goodreads)

  16. The Innovator's Dilemma: The Revolutionary Book that Will Change the Way You Do Business

    by Clayton M. Christensen
    Examines disruptive innovation and how to manage it in a business setting.

    Harvard professor Clayton M. Christensen says outstanding companies can do everything right and still lose their market leadership – or worse, disappear completely. And he not only proves what he ... (Goodreads)

  17. Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future

    by Peter Thiel
    A guide to launching a startup, exploring the power of entrepreneurship.

    If you want to build a better future, you must believe in secrets. The great secret of our time is that there are still uncharted frontiers to explore and new inventions to create. In Zero to One, ... (Goodreads)

  18. The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable

    by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
    A study of the role of randomness in life, and how it can lead to unexpected events.

    A black swan is a highly improbable event with three principal characteristics: It is unpredictable; it carries a massive impact; and, after the fact, we concoct an explanation that makes it appear ... (Goodreads)

  19. Thinking, Fast and Slow

    by Daniel Kahneman
    An exploration of the two systems of the mind, and how they influence decision-making.

    In the highly anticipated Thinking, Fast and Slow , Kahneman takes us on a groundbreaking tour of the mind and explains the two systems that drive the way we think. System 1 is fast, intuitive, and ... (Goodreads)

  20. Business Model Generation

    by Alexander Osterwalder
    A guide to crafting business models and creating new sources of value.

    Business Model Generation is a practical, inspiring handbook for anyone striving to improve a business model or craft a new one. 1) Change the way you think about business models Business Model ... (Goodreads)

  21. Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers

    by Geoffrey A. Moore
    A guide for high-tech companies to successfully market and sell their products to mainstream customers.

    Here is the bestselling guide that created a new game plan for marketing in high-tech industries. Crossing the Chasm has become the bible for bringing cutting-edge products to progressively larger ... (Goodreads)

  22. Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us

    by Seth Godin
    A practical guide to successful leadership, emphasizing the importance of connection with others.

    A tribe is any group of people, large or small, who are connected to one another, a leader, and an idea. For millions of years, humans have been seeking out tribes, be they religious, ethnic, ... (Goodreads)

  23. The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement

    by Eliyahu M. Goldratt
    A business novel that follows a manufacturing plant's attempts to optimize production.

    Written in a fast-paced thriller style,, The Goal, is the gripping novel which is transforming management thinking throughout the Western world. Alex Rogo is a harried plant manager working ever more ... (Goodreads)

  24. Strengths Finder 2.0

    by Tom Rath
    Discover your top five strengths and learn how to leverage them for personal and professional success.

    Do You Do What You Do Best Every Day? Chances are, you don't. From the cradle to the cubicle, we devote more time to fixing our shortcomings than to developing our strengths. To help people uncover ... (Goodreads)

  25. Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future

    by Ashlee Vance
    A revealing look into the life and accomplishments of tech innovator Elon Musk.

    Elon Musk, the entrepreneur and innovator behind SpaceX, Tesla, and SolarCity, sold one of his internet companies, PayPal, for $1.5 billion. Ashlee Vance captures the full spectacle and arc of the ... (Goodreads)

  26. Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike

    by Phil Knight
    The story of one man's dream to start a business and the obstacles he encountered along the way.

    In this candid and riveting memoir, for the first time ever, Nike founder and CEO Phil Knight shares the inside story of the company’s early days as an intrepid start-up and its evolution into one of ... (Goodreads)

  27. The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It

    by Michael E. Gerber
    A guide to harnessing the power of entrepreneurial thinking to create a thriving small business.

    E-Myth \ 'e-,'mith\ n 1: the entrepreneurial myth: the myth that most people who start small businesses are entrepreneurs 2: the fatal assumption that an individual who understands the technical work ... (Goodreads)

  28. Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

    by David Allen
    A guide to improving efficiency and productivity through better organization.

    The book, Lifehack, calls ,"The Bible of business and personal productivity.","A completely revised and updated edition of the blockbuster bestseller from 'the personal productivity guru'",—,Fast ... (Barnes & Noble)

  29. The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit

    by Seth Godin
    A guide to help readers identify when to quit and when to persevere in their pursuits, in order to achieve success.

    A, New York Times,, USA Today, and, Wall Street Journal, bestseller In this iconic bestseller, popular business blogger and bestselling author Seth Godin proves that winners are really just the best ... (Barnes & Noble)

  30. The Art of War

    by Sun Tzu
    Ancient Chinese military treatise outlining strategies for success in battle.

    Twenty-Five Hundred years ago, Sun Tzu wrote this classic book of military strategy based on Chinese warfare and military thought. Since that time, all levels of military have used the teaching on ... (Goodreads)