The Strategy Sessions Reading List
On each of the Strategy Sessions shows, the guests are asked to recommend a book or blog for the listeners.
This page keeps a track of all those books, blogs and videos with handy links so you can easily and quickly find them.
Please note that some of the links on this page may be affiliate links. That means we may make a small commission if you click on the link and buy something, but the cost to you will be the same.
Nothing, not one single thing, on this page will be included for the sake of making money - anything on this page is a recommendation from a guest on the show.
The Reading List
As this list grows, it might get organised in a different way. Please send ideas on a postcard if you know the best way to do it!
Episode 7 Season 2: Antonia Cross
- New Power: How Anyone Can Persuade, Mobilize, and Succeed in Our Chaotic, Connected Age – Henry Timms and Jeremy Heimans
- The Second Curve: Thoughts on Reinventing Society– Charles Handy
- Whatever You Think, Think the Opposite – Paul Arden
- Charity Marketing (Delivering income, services and campaigns) – Ian Bruce
- The Good Guide to Campaigning and Influencing – Brian Lamb
- Relationship Fundraising: A Donor–Based Approach to the Business of Raising Money– Ken Burnett
Episode 6 Season 2: Tom Critchlow
- Legible Practises by Helsinki Design Labs
- Recipe for Systemic Change by Helsinki Design Labs
- 7 Powers: The Foundations of Business Strategy by Hamilton Helmer
Episode 5 Season 2: Kenda Macdonald
- Hack the Buyer Brain by Kenda Macdonald
- Nudge by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein
- Popcorn Psychology podcast
- Freudian Sips podcast
Episode 4 Season 2: JP Castlin
- JP’s Marketing Week musings https://www.marketingweek.com/author/jp-castlin/
- Tom Critchlow’s consulting blog https://tomcritchlow.com/
- Strategy in Praxis newsletter by JP Castlin
- Invisible Gorilla by Christopher Chabris
- How Brands Grow – Byron Sharp https://amzn.to/3bu2jX8
- Strategy Synthesis – Bob De Wit and Ron Meyer
- The Origin Of Wealth: Evolution, Complexity, and the Radical Remaking of Economics – Eric Beinhocker
- The Halo Effect – How Managers Let Themselves be Deceived by Phil Rosenzweig
Episode 3 Season 2: Aris Stamatis
- Ogilvy on Advertising
- Confessions of an Advertising Man
- The Book of Gossage (or Can Advertising Be Saved?)
- And one about Gossage from Steve Harrison: Changing the World Is the Only Fit Work for a Grown Man
- Playing to Win
- Creating Great Choices by Roger Martin
Episode 2 Season 2: Simon Bridge
- Burned: The Inside Story of the ‘Cash-for-Ash’ Scandal and Northern Ireland’s Secretive New Elite by Sam McBride
- Scale: The Universal Laws of Life and Death in Organisms, Cities and Companies by Geoffrey West
- Adapt: Why Success Always Starts With Failure by Tim Harford
- Antifragile: Things that Gain from Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
- The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
- Effectuation: Elements of Entrepreneurial Expertise by Saras Sarasvathy
- Herd: How to Change Mass Behaviour by Mark Earls
- Seed to Seed: The Secret Life of Plants by Nicholas Harberd
Episode 1 Season 2: Amy Smith
- How To Fail with Elizabeth Day
- High Performance Podcast
- Shaun Wane episode
- Shaun Wane on the BBC
That is a wrap for Season 2! We had 25 great guests from Season 1 and below is their reading list.
Episode 25: Lily Thistlewood
- Agencynomics by Spencer Gallagher
Episode 24: James Hayhurst
- Didn't leave any
Episode 23: Juliet Hodges
- Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou
- Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioural Economics by Richard Thaler
- Midnight Chicken: & Other Recipes Worth Living For by Ella Risbridger
- Burnout: Solve Your Stress Cycle by Emily and Amelia Nagoski
Episode 22: Sarah Shimmons
- Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of NIKE by Phil Knight
- Dogs of War by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Episode 21: Lizzy Knights-Ward
- The Managed Heart: Commercialization of Human by Arlie Russell Hochschild
- Series of videos about video ads on LinkedIn
- Choose your own adventure campaign
- Forrester research into sales and marketing alignment
- Lizzy performing on stage – In My Own Time and Once Upon A Time
Episode 20: Stuart Robertson
- Ottolenghi SIMPLE by Yotam Ottolenghi
- Blah! Blah! Blah!: Memoirs and advice from one of British advertising's mavericks by Dave Buonaguidi
- This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor by Adam Kay
Episode 19: Nick Baughan
Nick is all about fiction at the moment, helping him keep the space between work and home while he's WFH. Smart move.
- The War of the Poor by Éric Vuillard
- The Order of the Day by Éric Vuillard
Episode 18: Kyle Lacy
- Alchemy: The Surprising Power of Ideas That Don't Make Sense by Rory Sutherland
- The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance by Ron Chernow
- Rhythm: How to Achieve Breakthrough Execution and Accelerate Growth by Patrick Thean
- Lessons from the Hanoi Hilton: Six Characteristics of High Performance Teams by Taylor Baldwin Kiland and Peter Fretwell
Episode 17: Koen Pauwels
- Contagious: How to Build Word of Mouth in the Digital Age by Jonah Berger
- Beloved Brands: The playbook for how to build a brand your consumers will love by Graham Robertson
- Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success by Adam Grant
- The Hype Machine: How Social Media Disrupts Our Elections, Our Economy and Our Health – and How We Must Adapt Sinan Aral
- Empirical Generalizations about Marketing Impact by Mike Hanssen
- The Smart Marketing Book by Dan White
Episode 15: Mike Follett
- Paid Attention: Innovative Advertising for a Digital World by Faris Yakob
- Eye and Brain: The Psychology of Seeing by Richard L Gregory
- The Attention Merchants: The Epic Struggle to Get Inside Our Heads by Tim Wu
- Bob Hoffman’s ad contrarian blog http://adcontrarian.blogspot.com/
- Mark Ritson's Marketing Week column
Episode 14: Leticia Galdón
Episode 13: Katie Jackson
- Why Did the Policeman Cross the Road?: How to solve problems before they arise by Stevyn Colgan
- Eleven Rings by Phil Jackson
- Benedict Evans’ newsletter
Episode 12: Luke Carthy
- Blue Array's Mastering in-house SEO
Episode 11: Sedge Beswick
I forgot to ask Sedge for any recommendations, so I'll recommend her two books on social media.
Episode 10 - April Dunford
- The Challenger Sale: How To Take Control of the Customer Conversation by Matthew Dixon
- Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind by Al Reis and Jack Trout
Episode 9 - Zaid's Al-Qassab
- Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
- Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely
- Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About The World - And Why Things Are Better Than You Think by Hans Rosling
- The Perils of Perception: Why We’re Wrong About Nearly Everything by Bobby Duffy
- The Long and the Short of it: Balancing Short and Long-Term Marketing Strategies by Les Binet and Peter Field you can find the best charts from the research here: https://effworks.co.uk/ten-best-charts-binet-field/
- The award winning C4 Complaints Welcome campaign is worth 90 seconds of your time.
Episode 8: Mike Winnet
Episode 7: Mick Hogan
No recommendations, just talk to people in your industry
Episode 6: Brad Paterson
Episode 5: Michael Mitchell
- Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
- We Were Eight Years in Power by Ta-Nehisi Coates
- Brand Thinking and Other Noble Pursuits by Debbie Millman
- "Sonny's Blues" is a short story featured in his collection Going to Meet the Man by James Baldwin
- White Teeth by Zadie Smith
Episode 4: Ash McDonnell
- The Luxury Strategy: Break the Rules of Marketing to Build Luxury Brands by J N Kapferer and Vincent Bastien
- Alibaba: The House That Jack Ma Built by Duncan Clark
Episode 3: Rand Fishkin
- Obviously Awesome: How to Nail Product Positioning so Customers Get It, Buy It, Love It by April Dunford
- No Hard Feelings: Emotions at Work and How They Help Us Succeed by Liz Fosslien and Mollie West Duffy
- Great By Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos and Luck - Why Some Thrive Despite Them All by Jim Collins
- And Rand’s own book, which I’m recommending not him! Lost and Founder A Painfully Honest Field Guide to the Startup World
Episode 2: Dan Rubel
Episode 1: Jen Hoffman
- Pour Your Heart Into It by Howard Schultz
- Setting the Table by Danny Meyer
- What You Do is Who You Are by Ben Horowitz
- Nevertheless She Persisted by Pratima Rao Gluckman
- Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg
- Definitely check out the Scarlet Letter post and Jen's thoughts on Leadership & Team Building.
Andi's Favourite Books
- Creativity, Inc - Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration by Ed Catmull
- Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini
- Inside the Nudge Unit: How small changes can make a big difference by David Halpern
- The Chimp Paradox - Dr Steve Peters
- The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande
- Mark Ritson's Marketing Week column
How Can I Listen To The Strategy Sessions Podcast?
The Strategy Sessions drops every fortnight and can be downloaded from all your favourite podcast places. Listen now on Apple, Spotify, Google or find links to everywhere else with Anchor.
Or you can get special bonus content (me pulling faces when I don't like the answer I hear) by watching it on the Eximo Marketing YouTube channel (or just clicking below).
And if all of that seems like too much hassle, give me your email address and I'll send it to you every fortnight.
