Best Strategy & Competition Books of 2025

The Blue Ocean Strategy, Expanded Edition is a global phenomenon that has sold over 4 million copies and is recognized as one of the most iconic and impactful strategy books ever written. The authors, W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne, challenge traditional thinking about strategy and argue that lasting success comes not from battling competitors but from creating "blue oceans" - untapped new market spaces ripe for growth. This expanded edition includes updated content, new chapters, and tools any organization can use to create and capture their own blue oceans. Overall, this book is a must-read for anyone seeking to create uncontested market space and make the competition irrelevant.

Measure What Matters by John Doerr is a #1 New York Times Bestseller that introduces the Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) goal-setting system, which has helped tech companies like Google achieve explosive growth. Doerr shares his experience of OKRs and how it can be applied to any organization. The book provides first-person behind-the-scenes case studies of companies that have implemented OKRs, including Google, Intel, and the Gates Foundation. The benefits of using OKRs are profound, including a focus on important work, fostering coordination, and boosting retention. Overall, Measure What Matters is an excellent resource for anyone looking to improve their business strategy.

The revised edition of "Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't" by Verne Harnish is a practical guide for scaling any for-purpose or for-profit organization. The book focuses on the four major decisions every company must get right: People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash. It includes a series of new One-Page tools, including the famous One-Page Strategic Plan and Rockefeller Habits Execution Checklist™. More than 80,000 firms worldwide have used these tools to scale their organizations successfully. This book is a must-read for anyone looking to grow their business.

Business Model Generation is a must-read for anyone looking to break away from traditional business models and design innovative enterprises. Co-created by 470 practitioners from 45 countries, this book offers practical innovation techniques used by leading consultants and companies worldwide. The highly visual, 4-color design makes it easy to implement the powerful strategic ideas and tools presented in the book. The reader will learn how to understand, design, and implement a game-changing business model or renovate an old one. Overall, this book is an excellent resource for executives, entrepreneurs, and leaders of all organizations looking to embrace new models of value creation.

Rewired: The McKinsey Guide to Outcompeting in the Age of Digital and AI is a comprehensive guide for leaders who are looking to rewire their businesses for long-term success. The book provides a proven playbook that McKinsey & Company's own consultants use to help companies build capabilities to outcompete in the digital age. It covers six comprehensive sections, including creating a transformation roadmap, building a talent bench, adopting a new operating model, producing a distributed technology environment, embedding data everywhere, and unlocking user adoption and enterprise scaling. The book is exemplified with demonstrated case studies and illustrated with over 100 exhibits. Overall, Rewired is a must-read for leaders ready to do the hard work needed to rewire their company for success in the digital age.

The Toyota Way, Second Edition: 14 Management Principles from the World's Greatest Manufacturer by Jeffrey K. Liker is a must-read for managers seeking to improve their organization's processes and systems. The book provides valuable insights into Toyota's world-changing processes and how to develop an improvement program that fits your conditions. The author has updated the classic guide with new frameworks for driving innovation and quality in your business, including brain science and skills for learning to think scientifically, a fresh approach to leadership models, and more. The Toyota Way offers a model of how to set a direction, continuously improve and learn at all levels, flow value to satisfy customers, improve leadership, and get quality right the first time.

Think Like a Rocket Scientist by Ozan Varol is a practical and engaging book that reveals nine simple strategies from rocket science that can be applied to everyday life. The author argues that thinking like a rocket scientist is a necessity in today's complex world, and provides insights on how to tackle unfamiliar problems. Varol's masterful analysis connects scientific principles to ordinary life, making it an accessible read for a mainstream audience. Overall, this book is a must-read for anyone seeking to make giant leaps in work and life.

Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works is a book that explains what strategy is, why it's important, and how to do it. Written by A.G. Lafley, former CEO of Procter & Gamble, and strategic adviser Roger Martin, the book draws on their successful partnership to outline five essential strategic choices that will move businesses ahead of their competitors. The authors use iconic brands such as Olay, Gillette, and Swiffer to illustrate how choosing a strategic approach and making the right choices to support it makes all the difference. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in business management and strategy.

Amp It Up: Leading for Hypergrowth by Raising Expectations, Increasing Urgency, and Elevating Intensity is a must-read for executives, entrepreneurs, managers, and leaders who want to unleash their company's growth potential. In this book, Snowflake CEO Frank Slootman shares his leadership approach, providing first principles to guide change, and tactical advice for organizing a company around them. Slootman shows that leaders can transform their organization's performance without making expensive changes to their talent, structure, or fundamental business model. The book's message is clear: break the status quo, align people around what matters, and execute with urgency and intensity every day. Amp It Up is a valuable resource that provides a roadmap for leading for hypergrowth.

The Art of War by Sun-tzu, translated by Ralph D. Sawyer, is a timeless classic of military strategy that has influenced some of the most legendary military operations. This book is not only useful on the battlefield but also in various competitive situations and is now required reading for executives of companies worldwide. Sawyer's translation is uniquely accurate and accessible, placing the treatise in its proper historical context and offering chapters of historical analysis touching on its relevance to today's corporate environment. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in ancient warfare and strategy.