My Pick for Best Non-Fiction in 2013

This year it was easy - Strategy: A History by Sir Lawrence Freedman.  I started in the back and worked my forward.  The last section of the book highlights the chapters that are most applicable to engineers and managers.  This is a list of the chapters related to business:

• The Rise of the Management Class
• The Business of Business
• Management Strategy
• Business as War
• The Rise of Economics
• Red Queens and Blue Oceans
• The Sociological Challenge
• Deliberate or Emergent

As you read Freedman's work, also look at the article by Roger Martin (read everything by Martin!) in the current issue of Harvard Business Review - The Big Lie of Strategic Planning: A detailed plan may be comforting, but it's not a strategy.  Consider some of Martin's points (that Freeman would agree with):

"In an effort to get a handle on strategy, managers spend thousands of hours drawing up detailed plans that project revenue far into the future.  These plans may make managers feel good, but all too often they matter very little to performance."

This is another great point from Martin:

"Strategy making is uncomfortable; it's about taking risks and facing unknowns.  Unsurprisingly, managers try to turn it into a comfortable set of activities.  But reassurance won't deliver performance."

Martin recommends the following - and I am sure the Duke of Wellington would love these:

• Capture your strategy in a one-pager that addresses where you will play and how you will win.
• Strategy isn't about finding answers.  It's about placing bets and shortening odds.
• Be  clear about what must change for you to achieve you strategic goal.