The Book of Five Rings: how to compete as the smallest one in the room A duelling manual from 1645 that has no business helping anyone sell software, and yet its Book of Wind is the best writing on positioning I read this year. Strategy 22 sept 2026
Money Unlocked: a book that gave me little, and why I say so It presents a supercar as an appreciating asset. That sets the level for the rest. Two ideas still survived, and one of them reordered what I sell. Strategy 22 sept 2026
The Automatic Customer: turning monitoring into a subscription A book about subscription businesses that settled one very concrete decision: which part of what I do can be billed monthly without being a retainer of hours in disguise. Pricing Strategy 16 sept 2026
Traction: nineteen channels and the habit of considering two Its contribution is a method for not falling in love with the first channel that comes to mind. The per-channel chapters are shallow; the framework on top is what earns its keep, and it earns quite a lot. Advertising Strategy 2 sept 2026
Thinking in Systems: the number they ask you to change is rarely the problem The best thing I read this year about why companies resist improvement. Its list of leverage points explains, better than any methodology, why so many projects change everything and change nothing. Architecture Strategy 30 ago 2026
The ROI of AI in Financial Services: how to read a report that is also a sales document A survey of five hundred-odd financial executives, published by the company selling the technology being measured. The numbers need the fine print beside them, and the fine print is there, which is something. AI Strategy 20 ago 2026
The Generative AI Career Masterplan: two books glued together, and only one was needed Half of it is a technical primer other books do better; the other half is a map of roles you will not find anywhere else. It is worth it for the second, written by people who hire for those jobs. AI Strategy 14 ago 2026
The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook: six hundred pages of exercises, of which I use three The companion workbook to a famous management book: nearly a hundred pieces by different authors, wildly uneven. Two exercises in that pile still work unchanged in a discovery meeting, thirty years on. Craft Strategy 11 ago 2026
The AI Act Handbook: the European regulation does not apply to me, and I read it anyway Nearly five hundred pages by lawyers and consultants on how the European AI regulation is complied with, sector by sector. Uneven, machine-translated, and still the best checklist of questions I know. AI Strategy 5 ago 2026
My own reading path for an AI architect, and what building it taught me Three pages I wrote to settle what to read and in what order. It is here because building the list taught me more than several of the books on it, and because it has a flaw worth admitting. AI Strategy 21 jul 2026
Roadmap to Become an Agentic AI Engineer: flashcards, not a roadmap Twenty-three pages, ten sections and a hundred questions with model answers. The only part that outlives the year is the learning order; the tools it names are already moving. AI Strategy 14 jul 2026
Product-Led SEO: ranking first is not the same as selling A search book written against the content factory. Its claim is that search is answered with product, not with articles, and that traffic with no demand behind it is worth nothing. Advertising Strategy 13 jun 2026