Non-fiction
Here we face reality. Strategy is not always strategy, growth does not happen by itself, and people are influenced – often more than we like to admit. These are the books that give you insight into what actually happens, not just what we hope will happen.
The site is updated continuously – a bit like digitization: you're never quite done.
Non-fiction – GI
Richard P. Rumelt explains why successful organisations create competitive advantage through clear priorities, long-term thinking and the ability to confront challenges directly. The book shows how strategy is about choices, direction and understanding the market – particularly during periods of significant change and economic pressure.
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Ryan Holiday describes how modern digital businesses use data-driven testing, experimentation and continuous optimisation to achieve rapid growth. The book shows how growth hacking combines marketing, product development and analytics to understand user behaviour and improve digital services through small, rapid iterations. Growth Hacker Marketing has become a key introduction to growth-driven digital marketing and startup culture.
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This classic business novel explains how bottlenecks and inefficient processes affect value creation in organisations. Through a story about leadership and continuous improvement, Eliyahu M. Goldratt introduces the principles behind the ‘Theory of Constraints’ – showing how organisations can identify constraints and improve flow, collaboration and productivity. The book has had a significant influence on manufacturing, service design, logistics and digital process improvement.
This book shows how modern organisations systematically pursue growth through testing, data analysis and rapid improvements. Sean Ellis and Morgan Brown describe how companies such as Airbnb, Facebook and Dropbox used experimentation, user insight and cross-functional teams to develop products and services that grew rapidly in the market. The book combines marketing, product development and analytics in a practical approach to digital growth and innovation.
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In this book, Nir Eyal explains how products and services can be designed to create habits among users. Through the so-called ‘Hook Model’, he shows how triggers, rewards and user behaviour can be combined to develop digital solutions that people return to again and again. The book has had a significant influence on product development, UX, app design and digital services.
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Byron Sharp challenges traditional marketing theories and, drawing on extensive research, shows what actually drives brand growth. He argues that broad availability, mental availability and continuous presence are often more important than loyalty programmes and narrow segmentation alone. The book has become highly influential in modern marketing and brand strategy.
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Ben Horowitz shares candid experiences of leadership, startups and difficult decision-making in the technology industry. The book describes challenges that are rarely discussed in traditional management literature – such as uncertainty, crises, redundancies and the pressures of building businesses in rapidly changing environments. Through practical advice and personal experience, Horowitz provides insights into modern leadership, entrepreneurship and organisational development.
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This article places innovation in a broader societal context. Ahlstrom argues that innovation is not just about economic growth, but also about how businesses contribute to social development, jobs, and improved living conditions. The perspective is interesting because it moves innovation away from pure technology and towards societal value and human development.
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A pivotal book about innovation, creativity and how new ideas emerge through connections between existing knowledge, people and technology. Andrew Hargadon challenges the myth of the lone genius and shows how innovation is often created through collaboration, networking and the ability to combine ideas in new ways.
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One of the most influential books on innovation and technological change, Clayton Christensen explains why established businesses often struggle to cope with disruptive change, even when they do “everything right.” The book has gained significant traction in the fields of innovation, digitalization, and strategic management.
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A follow-up to The Innovator's Dilemma, Christensen focuses more on how businesses can actually work strategically with innovation and disruptive change. The book combines theory with practical advice on organization, growth, and innovation strategy.
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A key book on what characterises innovative people and organisations. Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregersen and Clayton Christensen explore how observation, curiosity, networking, experimentation and the ability to ask questions provide the foundation for innovation and new ideas.
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In this book, Jonah Berger explains how people are influenced by others – often without even realising it. Drawing on research in psychology, social influence and consumer behaviour, he shows how our choices, preferences and decisions are shaped by the people and environment around us. The book provides insights into how social dynamics influence everything from marketing and innovation to digital services and customer experiences.
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Robert Cialdini’s classic book on influence and the psychology of decision-making explains why people say yes – and the mechanisms that influence us in everyday life. Through principles such as social proof, authority, scarcity and reciprocity, he shows how influence works in marketing, leadership and interpersonal communication. The book is regarded as one of the most influential works in psychology and marketing.
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This book shows how the lack of data about women affects design, technology, urban development, health and decision-making across society. Caroline Criado Perez documents how many products, services and systems have been developed based on male standards, and why better user understanding and representative data are essential for creating more inclusive solutions. The book has had a significant influence on design, technology, the public sector and wider societal development.
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A seminal book from the early eMarketing era written by Ward Hanson and Kirthi Kalyanam , the book shows how the Internet began to transform marketing, CRM, and digital commerce through new digital business models and customer journeys.
This book is considered one of the most important introductions to how the internet began to transform marketing, customer service, and commerce at the dawn of the digital economy. Hanson and Kalyanam combine theory and practice to explain how businesses had to rethink customer data, relationships, personalization, and digital channels. The book also describes how e-commerce and CRM evolved from technological experiments to key strategic tools for modern businesses. The perspectives in the book are particularly interesting today because they show the early thinking behind many of the solutions and customer journeys that later became standard in digital commerce and omnichannel strategy.
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