This book is considered the go to reference for Stuart Kauffmans exploration of complexity and systems theory as it applies to the origins of life and evolutionary development. He lays the foundation of a future of cross disciplinary exploration of network science and complexity theory to understand, analysis, design, and develop the myriad of complex systems we humans take part in. It’s a dense read, I’ll admit, with mathematics and diagrams to back up the framework he is putting together. I read this as a part of deeper research into complexity science and network theory and I’ve found it a valuable exploration and reference guide for applying the science to complex problems in aerospace and in my thinking about other challenges facing other industries. I recommend this book to anyone interested in the science of complexity but also evolutionary development and design principles and for engineers looking to broaden their understanding if this unfolding field.
Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future
Peter Thiel is more famously known for his part as a founder at PayPal as well as his work as a Venture Capitalist at Thiel Capital but this book is a great resource and insight into his thinking not only about business but history, political science, and his thoughts on the trajectory of history. This book is a collection lectures he gave at Standford on Startups, compiled by a student of his and then collaboratively edited into the final book. This book is probably in many of the Top 10 books for startups and entrepreneurs out there and for good reason. It’s choc full of macro, strategic thinking models as well as integration of fundamental aspects of nature like Power Laws and Network theory. Additionally, he brings into play societal level patterns and paradigms to help the reader understand what true change and earth shattering products, services, and business models really are. He has a straight forward style backed up with a thorough understanding of business, systems theory, economics, political science, and much more. I recommend this book for startups, entrepreneurs, innovators, strategists and more.
Crossing the Chasm, 3rd Edition: Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers
Crossing the Chasm is a fundamental business and technology classic. Timeless in its analysis and understanding of human and societal change and adoption, this book will layout out the core elements of product marketing but also change management in general. This book has proven and well researched strategies to create massive adoption curves for new products, services, and organizational change. I recommend this book for technologists, product developers, marketers, and change agents.
Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance
Competitive Advantage is another classic from the great Michael Porter. This book is more internal and organizational focused than Competitive Strategy and provides the reader a rigorous and well thought out method for understanding the core of your advantage as an organization. He gets down to the simple truths of competitive advantage in this work. In the age of endless business school, executive, and consulting jargon on whatever dressed up version of technology, methods or tools are claimed to be competitive advantage, Porter will dispel all the myths for you and provide you a clear and cogent understand of the structure of your organization and how it delivers value in a sustainable and effective way. I recommend this book for leaders, strategy analysts, organizational effectiveness consultants, and also continuous improvement professionals. It is actually a great accompaniment to the “Value Stream Mapping” approach that will expand on that method and tool set to an organization wide and financial model point of view.
Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors
This book is truly a tome of Strategic Analysis and Strategy in general but it is also an incredible guide and reference for ongoing work. Michael Porter is considered the Grandfather of Strategy and Strategic Analysis in the 21st century. His various works are considered, in some form or another, as required reading in any MBA course on Strategy and leadership. I was first exposed in my Master’s of Science program at Purdue, through their partnership with Thunderbird School of Global Management. His article, included in Harvard Business Reviews “Top 10 Must Reads” On Strategy, titled “What is Strategy?” merely glosses the surface. Porter my brother as an Industrial & Systems Engineer by another Mother as this book is a thorough “systems thinking” analysis and framework of industry’s, markets, business structures, and ultimately understanding their evolution as well as where the profit (and power) currently resides in a market and where it is likely to reside in the future. I recommend this book for anyone seriously interested in the foundations of Strategic Thinking but also Industrial & Systems Engineers, Innovation Leaders and Leaders in General, as well as entrepreneurs looking to have a framework from which to understand the current and long term structure of their industries.
Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction
Tetlock and Gardner have created an endlessly entertaining but deeply practical work in Superforecasting. They each cover the fields of psychology, political science, and journalism and describe in detail the results of their analysis of historical research as well as applied experimentation to uncover what truly are the characteristics of people that can predict aspects of the future to a remarkable degree of accuracy, the timeframes predictions usually stay relevant, what makes for bad predictions, and what are the cognitive characteristics that defy common perspectives and use of so called “experts” in any given field. This book is a great read to understand our current time of endless “Talking Head Analysts” on cable television doling out political, financial, and other various forms of predictions but also as a useful guide in strategy planning, future forecasting, and risk management. I recommend this book for people generally interested in psychology and cognitive biases, but also to leaders, strategic planners, and innovators as well.
Value Proposition Design: How to Create Products and Services Customers Want
This book is an essential component of a three part collection of the Startup Owners Manual and Business Model Generation. I’m reviewing this book first because it is the most widely applicable to varying roles and endeavors in the world of business and organizational development. Value Proposition Design provides a systematic and proven method to design, prototype, develop, and improve your value proposition from a product or service perspective. I’ve used this method and it’s toolkit extensively in my consultations, collaborations, as well as my pro-bono consulting work helping to improve local non-profit value propositions. This book helps you deconstruct and reconstruct your customers “Pains, Gains, and Job’s to be Done” by accompanying and addressing them with “Pain Alleviators, Gain Generators, and Products/Services”. I’ve used this method when designing new processes, services, and products in higher education, outdoor product development, business process design and improvement, and community health services organizations. I believe it helps do really get deep into the details of effectively and successfully serving your customers needs. It’s as close to an engineered approach I’ve seen but with a central component of relationship development and psychology as well. I recommend this book for change agents, continuous improvement experts, product developers, entrepreneurs, and leaders wanting to have deep insight into their customers, from the CUSTOMERS perspective (central to Lean thinking).
On Strategy from Harvard Business Review's "10 Must Reads"
This compendium on Strategy from the Harvard Business Review is a classic, must read selection of their top articles on Strategy. Many of these authors have since gone on to publish books built from the core theses’ of their articles. Michael Porter’s “What is Strategy?” is a fundamental explanation of Strategy in a business industry setting, where the power is and where the profit is held. Each author lays out their framework for developing, understanding, analyzing, and implementing strategy in any organization, business, non-profit, or otherwise. If you want a clear and approachable primer to the fundamentals of strategic thinking, look no further than this classic as a launching point.
Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation
Johnson’s book “Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation” is a book that started and went in a direction I completely unanticipated. It is highly readable, with numerous references and examples to great minds and thinkers of history, but that brings network science, psychology, sociology, organization design, and much more to develop a deep understanding of how good ideas are discovered, developed, and brought to use in our lives. He has 7 key drivers that bring about Good Ideas and with clear examples, elaborations, and an approachable style he brings a difficult scientific subject and applies it with ease to this much sought after subject of creativity and good ideas. I recommend this book for any creatively minded person, no matter the discipline or interests, for innovative business leaders, for engineers as well as entrepreneurs. It’s on my lists of “fundamentals” to learning, creativity and innovation, and successful structure for life and organizations in an increasingly competitive and changing world.
Scale: The Universal Laws of Life, Growth, and Death in Organisms, Cities, and Companies
Geoffrey Wests book “Scale” is an amazing exploration of the science of complexity, network theory, and how scaling relationships amongst all kinds of systems permeate our world. With enough technical detail to be a useful reference in future applications and research but accompanied by a highly readable literary style, West explores scaling fundamentals in organisms, organizations, and cities. These sets of mathematical relationships underpin not only the growth rates of these varying systems but also resource consumption, energy production, maximum and minimum size limitations, and eventual death and decay. I recommend this book to anyone interested in the science of complexity and networks, systems theory, and industrial and systems engineering, but also for futurists and strategic thinkers grasping for fundamental principles of nature that can help guide their visions, strategies, and predictions for the future.