Most marketers used to the bright colors, short lists and pretty
pictures of Seth Godin, Tom Peters and Guy Kawasaki will find this list daunting to say the least. Which is why the list forms a golden
opportunity for those marketers with the hearty appetite necessary to
devour the contents. While most of your competitors are trying to paint
cows purple - you'll be out kicking ass.
MARKETING: STRATEGY
Sun Tzu- The Art of War Shambhala/Thomas Cleary version.
WHY MARKETERS SHOULD READ: Because Sun Tuz is the ultimate marketing
strategist. Learn how to win without fighting. And when you do have to
fight - how to kick ass and win.
MONEY QUOTE: Therefore
use these assessments for comparison, to find out what the conditions
are. That is to say which political leadership has the Way? Which
general has the ability? Who has the better climate and terrain? Whose
discipline is effective? Whose troops are stronger? whose officers and
soldiers are the better trained? Whose system of rewards and
punishments clearer? This is how can know who will win. (Pg. 46)
MARKETING: TACTICS
Machiavelli - The Prince Mentor Book's version with forward by Christian Gauss.
WHY MARKETERS SHOULD READ: Because Machiavelli delivers a great primer
on dealing with unethical tactics - like blog swarms, short sellers,
social activists, corrupt competitors, media relations, etc.
MONEY QUOTE: A
new prince has never been known to disarm his subjects, on the
contrary, when he has found them disarmed he has always armed them, for
by arming them, these arms become your own, those that you suspected
become faithful, and those that were faithful remain so, and from being
merely subjects become your partisans. (Pg. 105)
MARKETING: CAMPAIGNING
The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War Robert Coram's biography of John Boyd.
WHY MARKETERS SHOULD READ: Because Boyd articulates the secret to
successful campaigning. Boyd's O-O-D-A Loop and thoughts on organic
command and control should be mastered by all marketers.
MONEY QUOTE: For
a time, Boyd and Spinney were reluctant to fully explain the O-O-D-A
Loop; it was far too dangerous. If someone truly understands how to
create menace and uncertainty and mistrust, then how to exploit and
magnify the presence of these disconcerting elements, the Loop can be
vicious, a terribly destructive force, virtually unstoppable in causing
panic and confusion and - Boyd's phrase is best - "unraveling the
competition." This is true whether the Loop is applied in combat, in
competitive business practices, in sports, or in personal
relationships. (Pg. 334)
MARKETING: CRISIS
The Second World War, Volume 2: Their Finest Hour Winston Churchill's WWII chronicles.
WHY MARKETERS SHOULD READ: Because everything you read today about
crisis management is wrong. Churchill's personal experiences leading up
to and during WWII provide a practical foundation for dealing with
crisis.
MONEY QUOTE: There
never was an occasion when powers were abrogated or challenged, and
anyone in this circle could always speak his mind; but the actual war
direction soon settled into a very few hands, and what seemed so
difficult before became much more simple - apart of course, from
Hitler. In spite of the turbulence of events and the many disasters we
had to endure, the machinery worked almost automatically, and one lived
in a stream of coherent thought capable of being translated with great
rapidity into executive action. (Pg. 17)
MARKETING FUNDAMENTALS
Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors Michael Porter's classic.
WHY MARKETERS SHOULD READ: Porter provides a fundamental primer on
competition including practical tools and techniques that are even more
important today than they were 25 years ago.
MONEY QUOTES: One
broad approach is to use superior resources and capabilities to force
an outcome skewed toward the interest of the firm, overcoming and
outlasting retaliation - we might call this brute force approach. This
sort of approach is possible only if the firm possesses clear
superiorities, and it is stable only as long as the firm maintains
these superiorities, and as long as competitors do not misread them and
incorrectly attempt to change their positions. (Pg. 91)