Strategy - An Essential Reading Guide

STRATEGY:
THE ESSENTIAL
READING GUIDE
2019
THE ESSENTIAL READING GUIDE 2019
To bastardize Philip Larkin, books are where we live, where
we come from. As a teenager, your record collection was
Fore-
perhaps a more telling indication of who you are, but as an
adult, your books define you, or who you want to be.
word
On occasion an uber-planner will be asked on Twitter what to read to get up to speed by a
young or hoping-to-be planner and will receive the snappy “anything except a planning or
advertising book” in response. As the author of one, I simply cannot agree. One must read by
closely for the accumulated insights of those who came before, lest we make the same
mistakes and discoveries every generation. Then we must consume more widely.
Planning sits at the intersection of some of the most complex ideas in the human Faris
experience. Decision making and behavioral economics, creativity, commerce, culture,
organization and management, communication and media theory, technology, design and
Yakob
public speaking. We can begin there.
Contributors
The Team
Kyle Duckitt Julian Cole Faris Yakob Garrett Michaels

Creative Strategy Director Strategy Consultant Founder & Principal Business & Marketing
BBDO Group Germany Planning Dirty Genius Steals Strategist

This guide serves as a resource
for strategists, and the
strategically-minded, at all
levels.
The books listed in this guide will not only help
them find their voice in the world of strategy;
but also in the topics of creativity, psychology,
philosophy, leadership and more.

The guide has been
divided into four
convenient sections
that correspond to
the stage of your Junior Strategist
career, or the stage
Strategist
you aspire to move
up to. Senior Strategist
Strategy Director
2019 Essential Reading List
Strategy
Director
Senior
Strategist
Strategist
Junior
Strategist
Junior Strategist
The Fundamentals

Marketing Theory
JWT Planning Guide

1974
Stephen King, JWT
Stephen King is the godfather of modern strategic planning, or

‘account planning’ as it was referred to then.
This guide was created to help others in ’70s JWT understand

the process of marketing and brand building. The document was
typed out and photocopied, and has resurfaced in the last few
years.
It’s eerily accurate and still incredibly applicable to the modern

problems brands face.

Marketing Theory
Truth, Lies & Advertising

The Art of Account Planning
Jon Steel
Account planning exists for the sole purpose of creating

advertising that truly connects with consumers. While many in
the industry are still dissecting consumer behavior, extrapolating
demographic trends, developing complex behavioral models, and
measuring Pavlovian salivary responses, Steel advocates an
approach to consumer research that is based on simplicity,
common sense, and creativity--an approach that gains access to
consumers' hearts and minds, develops ongoing relationships
with them, and, most important, embraces them as partners in
the process of developing and advertising.

Theory
How Brands Grow

Byron Sharp
This is as close as you’ll get to a marketers new testament. A

scientific look at how advertising actually works. It also has a
number of theories that are counter to popular opinion in
marketing in the last 20 years. He helps to disprove loyalty and
the importance of going after light buyers.
A dense read that will take you two to three reads before it all
seeps in.
@ProfByron

Creativity
Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This
Luke Sullivan, Edward Boches
Hey Whipple, Squeeze This has helped generations of young

creatives make their mark in the field. From starting out
and getting work, to building successful campaigns, you
gain a real-world perspective on what it means to be great
in a fast-moving, sometimes harsh industry. You'll learn
how to tell brand stories and create brand experiences
online and in traditional media outlets, and you'll learn
more about the value of authenticity, simplicity,
storytelling, and conflict.

Marketing Theory
Ogilvy on
Advertising
David Ogilvy
A candid and indispensable primer on all aspects of advertising

from the man Time has called “the most sought after wizard in
the business.”
Told with brutal candor and prodigal generosity, David Ogilvy

reveals:
• How to get a job in advertising

• How to choose an agency for your product
• The secrets behind advertising that works
• How to write successful copy—and get people to read it
• Eighteen miracles of research
• What advertising can do for charities
And much, much more.

Marketing Theory
Under Think It:

A marketing strategy guidebook for everyone
Adam Pierno
Strategy should be the beating heart of an ad agency or

marketing team. So much pumps through the team that there's
little time for training. Plus, people on the inside have been
making it overly complicated for years. For those trying to break
into strategy or improve at the craft, (and it is a craft) there's no
way to learn - besides getting thrown in the fire or on piddly
starter assignments.
Finally, someone has put together a comprehensive set of tools

for planners and strategists that won't bore you to sleep. Adam
Pierno brings real-world examples, sharp wit and experience to
keep topics bright and engaging.
@apierno

Marketing Theory
how not to plan:

66 ways to screw it up
Les Binet, Sarah Carter
In the sink or swim world of planners, strategists and their clients,

now more than ever, there is a need for a practical handbook to
guide us through all the main parts of the process. And thanks to
Les Binet and Sarah Carter at Adam&eveDDB we now have just
that. The original inspiration for the book was a set of articles
that they wrote for Admap over 6 years. In these they set out to
bust a lot of myths and nonsense that swirl around marketing
and communications by using evidence-based approaches and
interesting examples to make their points.
The How Not to Plan of 2018 is a manageably sized handbook

which leaves room for your scribbles and notes and can be read
as a guide or used as a constant helpful reference point.
@BinetLes

Marketing Theory
A Masterclass in Brand Planning:

The Timeless Works of Stephen King
Stephen King
In 1988, on Stephen King's retirement JWT published 'The King

Papers' a small collection of Stephen King's published writings
spanning 1967-1985. They remain timelessly potentially valuable
but are an almost unexploited gold mine. This book is comprised
of a selection of 20-25 of Stephen King's most important articles,
each one introduced by a known and respected practitioner who,
in turn, describes the relevance of the particular original idea to
the communications environment of today. The worth of this
material is that, although the context in which the original papers
were written is different, the principles themselves are
appropriate to marketing communications in today's more
complex media environment. The book will serve as a valuable
reference book for today's practitioners, as well as a unique
source of sophisticated, contemporary thinking.

Writing
On Writing Well
The Classic Guide to Writing Non-Fiction
William Zinsser
On Writing Well has been praised for its sound advice, its clarity
and the warmth of its style. It is a book for everybody who wants
to learn how to write or who needs to do some writing to get
through the day, as almost everybody does in the age of e-mail
and the Internet.
Whether you want to write about people or places, science and

technology, business, sports, the arts or about yourself in the
increasingly popular memoir genre, On Writing Well offers you
fundamental principles as well as the insights of a distinguished
writer and teacher.

Marketing Theory
Tested Advertising Methods
John Caples
Caples’s marketing classic applies the “cold-blooded methods of

mail order” to general advertising to create a no-nonsense DIY
guide to crafting and testing appeals, headlines, body copy and
layouts.
Its greatest gift is to initiate us into an experimental view of

advertising that discards “all opinions, all theories, all conjectures,
all prejudices” in favor of perpetual testing and on-the-fly
optimization. With timeless advice like “test everything on a small
scale before you spend money on a large scale” Caples advocates
for a growth hacking approach to advertising.
For Caples, the secret to making our advertising dollars work

harder is “testing, testing, testing.”

Strategist
Broadening your knowledge

Marketing Theory
The Long and

the Short of It
Les Binet, Peter Field
This publication is the eagerly anticipated update of

Marketing in the Era of Accountability, examining the
impact of timescales of effect, exploring the tension
between long and short-term strategies for brands and
businesses as well as providing evidence-based
recommendations on how best to approach investment
in advertising. Les Binet and Peter Field return to
explore a vital new area: how campaign results develop
over time. This report focuses on a growing tension
that exists between short-term response activity and
long-term brand-building. Increasingly, there is a
tendency to use very short-term online metrics as
primary performance measures and this has dangerous
implications for long-term success.
@BinetLes
Marketing Theory
Eat Your Greens

Wiemer Snijders
The marketing world is awash with myths, misconceptions,

dubious metrics and tactics that bear little relation to our
actual buying behaviour.
Eat Your Greens is inspired by the genuine advances in

marketing science. It challenges us to change the way we
think, by taking the huge body of knowledge gained from
data and technology and applying the best evidence based
thinking to the practice of marketing and communications.
The papers are written by some of most respected

practitioners in the industry, offering a diverse range of
perspectives on how to do more effective marketing, and
with an intellectual generosity of spirit from which we can
all profit.
@wiemersnijders
Behavioural
Economics
The Choice Factory

25 behavioural biases that influence what we buy
Richard Shotton
If you are in the business of influencing decisions, you need to

understand what drives them. The Choice Factory is an essential
read for anyone who wants to learn.
Taking us through a typical day of decisions, from trivial food

choices to life-changing career moves, The Choice Factory
explores how our behaviour is shaped by psychological shortcuts.
The focus throughout is the marketing potential of knowing what

makes us tick. Shotton draws not only on academia, but also on
analysis of ad campaigns and his own original research,
supporting his discussion with insights from some of the smartest
thinkers in advertising.
The Choice Factory is an entertaining and highly-accessible read,
with 25 short chapters, each addressing a cognitive bias and
outlining easy ways to apply it to your own business challenges.
@rshotton THE ESSENTIAL READING GUIDE 2019

Neuroscience
Unconscious Branding:
How Neuroscience Can Empower Marketing
Douglas Van Praet
For too long marketers have been asking the wrong question. If
consumers make decisions unconsciously, why do we persist in
asking them directly through traditional marketing research why
they do what they do? They simply can't tell us because they
don't really know. Before marketers develop strategies, they need
to recognize that consumers have strategies too . . . human
strategies, not consumer strategies. We need to go beyond
asking why, and begin to ask how, behavior change occurs. Here,
author Douglas Van Praet takes the most brilliant and
revolutionary concepts from cognitive science and applies them
to how we market, advertise, and consume in the modern digital
age.
@DouglasVanPraet

Marketing Theory
Paid Attention:
Innovative Advertising for a Digital World
Faris Yakob
Rapid changes in communication technologies shifted the media

environment from one of scarcity to one characterized by
abundance. Advertisers are paying more and more money to
reach fewer and fewer people, as audiences consume endless
streams of content across different platforms. When you can no
longer buy enough attention for advertising to remain efficient --
how do brands respond?
Spanning communication theory, neuroscience, creativity and

innovation, media history, popular culture, branding, and
emerging technologies, Paid Attention explores how ideas move
people and how advertising can and should change in response
to changes in the communication landscape.
@faris

Writing
The Artful Edit:

On the Practice of Editing Yourself
Susan Bell
The Artful Edit explores the many-faceted and often

misunderstood―or simply overlooked―art of editing. The book
brims with examples, quotes, and case studies, including an
illuminating discussion of Max Perkins's editorial collaboration
with F. Scott Fitzgerald on The Great Gatsby. Susan Bell, a veteran
book editor, also offers strategic tips and exercises for self-
editing and a series of remarkable interviews, taking us into the
studios of successful authors such as Michael Ondaatje and Ann
Patchett to learn from their various approaches to revision. Much
more than a manual, The Artful Edit inspires readers to think
about both the discipline and the creativity of editing and how it
can enhance their work.

Behavioural
Economics
Thinking, Fast and Slow
Daniel Kahneman
In the international bestseller, Thinking, Fast and Slow,

Daniel Kahneman, the renowned psychologist and
winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, takes us on a
groundbreaking tour of the mind and explains the two
systems that drive the way we think. System 1 is fast,
intuitive, and emotional; System 2 is slower, more
deliberative, and more logical. The impact of
overconfidence on corporate strategies, the difficulties
of predicting what will make us happy in the future, the
profound effect of cognitive biases on everything from
playing the stock market to planning our next
vacation―each of these can be understood only by
knowing how the two systems shape our judgments
and decisions.

Writing
On Writing:
A Memoir of the Craft
Stephen King
Immensely helpful and illuminating to any aspiring writer, this

special edition of Stephen King’s critically lauded, million-copy
bestseller shares the experiences, habits, and convictions that
have shaped him and his work.
Part memoir, part master class by one of the bestselling authors

of all time, this superb volume is a revealing and practical view of
the writer’s craft, comprising the basic tools of the trade every
writer must have. King’s advice is grounded in his vivid memories
from childhood through his emergence as a writer, from his
struggling early career to his widely reported, near-fatal accident
in 1999—and how the inextricable link between writing and
living spurred his recovery.

Advertising
History
Where The Suckers Moon

The Life and Death of an Advertising Campaign
Randall Rothenberg
The true-story battle between agencies pitching a car account and

how the winner serviced the client. In the course of this riveting tale
you’ll learn the history of advertising theory and the inner workings
of the industry.
Reading this book is a litmus test to see if you have the right
constitution for advertising. Rothenberg’s perspective on this
profession presents both its emotional highs and lows: at its highs
advertising is a dynamic and creative industry where you can do
your best work; at its lows advertising sucks the soul out of even the
most brilliant people, who, serving at the client’s whim, are always
“surrounded by The Fear.” If, after reading this, the heroic actions and
the heroic suffering of advertising hold allure for you in equal
measure, then you know you’ve found your calling.
@r2rothenberg
Behavioural
Economics
Contagious:
Why Things Catch On
Jonah Berger
In Contagious, Berger reveals the secret science behind

word-of-mouth and social transmission. Discover how
six basic principles drive all sorts of things to become
contagious, from consumer products and policy
initiatives to workplace rumors and YouTube videos.
Learn how a luxury steakhouse found popularity
through the lowly cheesesteak, why anti-drug
commercials might have actually increased drug use,
and why more than 200 million consumers shared a
video about one of the most seemingly boring products
there is: a blender.
@j1berger

Marketing Theory
Brain Surfing
The Top Marketing Strategy Minds in the World
Heather LeFevre
Heather LeFevre set out on an expedition to apprentice herself with

today's most brilliant marketing strategists, traveling from Beijing to
Seattle. The twist? She lived with each of these mentors, in their
homes, commuting to work with them each day, and uncovering
their principles for building many of the world's most respected and
profitable brands.
Brain Surfing is a book that combines marketing know-how with life

philosophy. One minute you’ll learn about smart brands on the other
side of the world, the next you’ll be inspired to take off on your own
adventure. LeFevre guides you through today’s complex marketing
landscape, uncovering the secret ways of working of each of her
coaches. Brain Surfing will surprise you with how much you learn
while thoroughly enjoying the journey.
@hklefevre THE ESSENTIAL READING GUIDE 2019

Senior Strategist
Deep understanding

Creativity
A Beautiful Constraint:
How To Transform Your Limitations Into
Advantages, And Why It’s Everyone’s Business
Adam Morgan
A book about everyday, practical inventiveness, designed for the

constrained times in which we live. It describes how to take the
kinds of issues that all of us face today—lack of time, money,
resources, attention, know-how—and see in them the opportunity
for transformation of oneself and one's organization's fortunes. The
ideas in the book are based on the authors' extensive work as
business consultants, and are brought to life in 35 personal
interviews from such varied sources as Nike, IKEA, Unilever, the U.S.
Navy, Formula One race car engineers, public school teachers in
California, and barley farmers in South Africa. Underpinned by
scientific research into the psychology of breakthrough, the book is a
practical handbook full of tools and tips for how to make more from
less. Beautifully designed and accessible, A Beautiful Constraint will
appeal beyond its core business audience to anyone who needs to
find the opportunity in constraint.
@eatbigfish
Creativity and
Design
The Art of Looking

Sideways
Alan Fletcher
The Art of Looking Sideways is a primer in visual intelligence, an

exploration of the workings of the eye, the hand, the brain and
the imagination. It is an inexhaustible mine of anecdotes,
quotations, images, curious facts and useless information,
oddities, serious science, jokes and memories, all concerned with
the interplay between the verbal and the visual, and the limitless
resources of the human mind. Loosely arranged in 72 chapters,
all this material is presented in a wonderfully inventive series of
pages that are themselves masterly demonstrations of the
expressive use of type, space, colour and imagery.

Marketing Theory
Where Did It All Go Wrong?

Adventures at the Dunning Kruger Peak of
Advertising
Eaon Pritchard
'Every planner (aka strategist) should read this' - Dave Trott. A

proto-meme is beginning to ‘go critical’. If you’re looking at this
book you might even be a part of that meme. Somewhere the
advertising business kinda lost the plot, we’re not sure exactly
sure where. So many incompetents, who can’t know we are
incompetent because the skills we need to produce the right
answers are exactly the skills we lack in order to know what a
right answer is. What happens now? Who knows? But let’s tackle
it head-on with punk rock, cheap philosophy and evolutionary
psychology and take a hair-raising ride to the Dunning-Kruger
peak of advertising…
@eaonp

Behavioural
Economics
Alchemy:
The Surprising Power of Ideas That Don’t Make
Sense
Rory Sutherland
We think we are rational creatures. Economics and business rely

on the assumption that we make logical decisions based on
evidence. But we aren’t, and we don’t
Rory Sutherland is the Ogilvy advertising legend whose TED

Talks have been viewed nearly 7 million times. In his first book he
blends cutting-edge behavioural science, jaw-dropping stories
and a touch of branding magic, on his mission to turn us all into
idea alchemists. The big problems we face every day, whether as
an individual or in society, could very well be solved by letting go
of logic and embracing the irrational..
@rorysutherland

Creativity
Lateral Thinking
Edward de Bono
Why do some people always seem to have new ideas while

others of equal intelligence never do? Lateral Thinking is Edward
de Bono's original portrayal of what lateral thinking is, how it
works and how to use it to develop your own potential for
thinking and problem solving.
First published in 1967 as The Use of Lateral Thinking, this classic

international bestseller remains as relevant to learning, problem
solving and creative thinking today as it did when it was first
published. De Bono argues that conventional vertical thinking
often inhibits our ability to solve problems and come up with
new ideas. He then shows that lateral thinking is a far easier and
more natural way to generate simple, sound and effective ideas
and offers guidance on how to develop your own ability to think
laterally. Lateral thinking is a technique that anyone can learn and
benefit from and you do not have to be a genius to benefit from
it and generate ideas and solutions.

Writing
How to Write a Good

Advertisement
A Short Course In Copywriting
Victor O. Schwab
Ad Age called Schwab “the greatest mail-order copywriter of all
time.” With this book, Schwab wants to make you a “good
copywriter,” meaning “one whose all-absorbing aspiration is the
production of sales, not the production of compliments.”
The book is dense with sage advice consolidated in one easy-to-

read manual. Schwab’s straightforward 5-step method is a
versatile tool that is relevant to producing any type of marketing
copy and that will give you the confidence to start writing
immediately.
The book’s copywriting is itself a master-class geared to make

your writing as to the point, concise and results-oriented as it is.

Creativity
One Plus One Equals Three:

A Masterclass in Creative Thinking
Dave Trott
Up your game with this masterclass in creative thinking.

Combining Dave Trott's distinctive, almost Zen-like storytelling,
humour and practical advice, One Plus One Equals Three is a
collection of provocative anecdotes and thought experiments
designed to light a fire under your own creative ambitions.
From the First World War sailor who survived being sunk three
times in one day to the one-time 'merchant of death' who made
his name a byword for peace, and the gypsy who lost two fingers
and then reinvented jazz. From boardroom to battlefield, these
stories of unconventional wisdom from one of the world's true
advertising greats are a rallying cry for anyone who wants to
think differently, stand out and truly innovate.
@davetrott

Marketing
Theory
Cultural Strategy
Using Innovative Ideologies to Build
Breakthrough Brands
Douglas Holt, Douglas Cameron
This landmark book posits a new marketing paradigm of ‘cultural innovation’ as the
solution to mindshare marketing’s failure to exploit innovation opportunities arising
from changes in society, culture, and politics.
Cultural Strategy debunks the dominant perspective that market success requires a
‘better’ product, which, the Dougs suggest, can only win niche markets: whereas,
brands achieve mainstream success by championing a ‘better’ ideology.
After reading this book you may find it hard (in good conscience) to generate
strategy any other way—this book challenges planners to implement ‘cultural
innovation’:
● do our cultural homework on every project
● make brands authentic, credible and visible champions of their subculture
● help the companies we work with think, work, and decide differently.
@douglasbholt @IDCameronNY
Creativity
A Technique for Producing

Ideas
James Webb Young
"James Webb Young conveys in his little book something more

valuable than the most learned and detailed texts on the subject of
advertising. Mr. Young is in the tradition of some of our greatest
thinkers when he describes the workings of the creative process"
--William Bernbach
This concise book demystifies ideation showing it to be a

discipline that can be mastered to reliably produce creative
breakthroughs; step by step instruction makes it easy for
planners, copywriters, designers, artists, engineers and scientists
to get started producing ideas.

Creativity
Where Good Ideas Come

From
Steven Johnson
The printing press, the pencil, the flush toilet, the battery--these
are all great ideas. But where do they come from? What kind of
environment breeds them? What sparks the flash of brilliance?
How do we generate the breakthrough technologies that push
forward our lives, our society, our culture? Steven Johnson's
answers are revelatory as he identifies the seven key patterns
behind genuine innovation, and traces them across time and
disciplines. From Darwin and Freud to the halls of Google and
Apple, Johnson investigates the innovation hubs throughout
modern time and pulls out the approaches and commonalities
that seem to appear at moments of originality.
@stevenbjohnson

Strategy Director
Leadership and more

Data Bias
Invisible Women
Data Bias in a World Designed for Men
Caroline Criado Perez
Data is fundamental to the modern world. From

economic development, to healthcare, to education
and public policy, we rely on numbers to allocate
resources and make crucial decisions. But because
so much data fails to take into account gender,
because it treats men as the default and women as
atypical, bias and discrimination are baked into our
systems. And women pay tremendous costs for this
bias, in time, money, and often with their lives.
Built on hundreds of studies in the US, the UK, and

around the world, and written with energy, wit, and
sparkling intelligence, this is a groundbreaking,
unforgettable exposé that will change the way you
look at the world.
@CCriadoPerez
Advertising
Madison Avenue
Manslaughter
Michael Farmer
The advertising industry has reached a critical, dangerous point

in its development. Agencies are destroying themselves with
growing workloads and declining fees — a recipe for disaster.
Madison Avenue Manslaughter outlines the hows and whys of

steadily declining fees, increased workloads, diminishing industry
morale, kickback scandals and opacity characterizing
relationships among advertisers, holding companies, media
buying companies and creative ad agencies. Not only does
Michael Farmer's exposé offer the world's first effective
definition of the real agency problem, it's the first time an
advertising expert has offered corrective solutions to avoid
inevitable disaster.

Leadership
The Effective
Manager
Mark Horstman
The Effective Manager is a hands-on practical guide to

great management at every level. Written by the man
behind Manager Tools, the world's number-one
business podcast, this book distills the author's 25
years of management training expertise into clear,
actionable steps to start taking today. First, you'll
identify what "effective management" actually looks
like: can you get the job done at a high level? Do you
attract and retain top talent without burning them out?
Then you'll dig into the four critical behaviors that make
a manager great, and learn how to adjust your own
behavior to be the leader your team needs. You'll learn
the four major tools that should be a part of every
manager's repertoire, how to use them, and even how
to introduce them to the team in a productive, non-
disruptive way.
@mahorstman

Philosophy
Man’s Search for

Meaning
Viktor Frankl
Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl's memoir has riveted generations of

readers with its descriptions of life in Nazi death camps and its
lessons for spiritual survival. Between 1942 and 1945 Frankl
labored in four different camps, including Auschwitz, while his
parents, brother, and pregnant wife perished. Based on his own
experience and the experiences of others he treated later in his
practice, Frankl argues that we cannot avoid suffering but we can
choose how to cope with it, find meaning in it, and move forward
with renewed purpose. Frankl's theory-known as logotherapy,
from the Greek word logos ("meaning")-holds that our primary
drive in life is not pleasure, as Freud maintained, but the
discovery and pursuit of what we personally find meaningful.

Leadership
Agency:
Starting a Creative Firm in the Age of Digital
Marketing
Rick Webb
In Agency, Rick Webb provides a comprehensive guidebook -

giving readers the knowledge, strategies, and understanding
they'll need to make the exciting transition into a modern
creative services firm. Drawing from his experience running his
own digital ad agency and working with countless innovative
tech start-ups, Webb focuses not just on how to get started, but
how to survive in a competitive marketplace. This is a hands-on
master class in everything that the agency manager needs to
know. Agency provides everything from basic business and
leadership skills to insider tips and industry information. Webb
outlines the shape of the ecosystem in which new agencies will
be finding their place. Packed with personal anecdotes from his
time starting and running the highly successful Barbarian Group,
Webb provides practical techniques for building an agile
company.
@RickWebb
Leadership
Tribe of Mentors:
Short Life Advice from the Best in the World
Tim Ferriss
Tim Ferriss, the #1 New York Times best-selling author of The 4-

Hour Workweek, shares the ultimate choose-your-own-adventure
book—a compilation of tools, tactics, and habits from 130+ of the
world's top performers.
From iconic entrepreneurs to elite athletes, from artists to

billionaire investors, their short profiles can help you answer life's
most challenging questions, achieve extraordinary results, and
transform your life.
@tferriss

Category Design
Play Bigger
How Pirates, Dreamers, and Innovators Create
and Dominate Markets
Al Ramadan, Dave Peterson, Christopher Lochhead, Kevin Maney
This primer on category design refutes Silicon Valley’s holiest precepts:

● firstly, ‘disruption’ is a by-product of creation, not a company’s goal;
● secondly, “the best product doesn’t always win the market. Different wins,
great category thinking wins.”
● thirdly, ‘first-mover advantage’ is a misnomer; while first inventors deserve
our thanks, it’s the first company to simultaneously develop, define and
popularize a new category, while building a great product and company, that
ultimately dominates the market.
Category design is a powerful tool for initiating ideas that transform markets,
companies and products—those who master this new discipline will earn influence in
executive decision-making and dominate markets.
@alramadan @daveptrs @lochhead @kmaney

Leadership
The First 90 Days:

Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster
and Smarter, Updated and Expanded
Michael D. Watkins
Transitions are a critical time for leaders. In fact, most agree that
moving into a new role is the biggest challenge a manager will face.
While transitions offer a chance to start fresh and make needed
changes in an organization, they also place leaders in a position of
acute vulnerability. Missteps made during the crucial first three
months in a new role can jeopardize or even derail your success.
Michael D. Watkins offers proven strategies for conquering the

challenges of transitions—no matter where you are in your career.
Watkins, a noted expert on leadership transitions and adviser to
senior leaders in all types of organizations, also addresses today’s
increasingly demanding professional landscape, where managers
face not only more frequent transitions but also steeper
expectations once they step into their new jobs.
@MichaelDWatkins
Leadership
High Output Management
Andrew S. Grove
The essential skill of creating and maintaining new businesses—

the art of the entrepreneur—can be summed up in a single word:
managing. Born of Grove’s experiences at one of America’s
leading technology companies, High Output Management is
equally appropriate for sales managers, accountants, consultants,
and teachers, as well as CEOs and startup founders. Grove
covers techniques for creating highly productive teams,
demonstrating methods of motivation that lead to peak
performance—throughout, High Output Management is a practical
handbook for navigating real-life business scenarios and a
powerful management manifesto with the ability to revolutionize
the way we work.

Psychology
Seducing the
Subconscious:
The Psychology of Emotional Influence
in Advertising
Robert Heath
Our relationship with ads: it's complicated
A must-read for anyone intrigued by the role and

influence of the ad world, Seducing the Subconscious
explores the complexities of our relationship to
advertising. Robert Heath uses approaches from
experimental psychology and cognitive neuroscience to
outline his theory of the subconscious influence of
advertising in its audience’s lives. In addition to looking
at ads’ influence on consumers, Heath also addresses
how advertising is evolving, noting especially the
ethical implications of its development.

Philosophy
This is Water:
Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant
Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life
David Foster Wallace
Only once did David Foster Wallace give a public talk on his
views on life, during a commencement address given in 2005 at
Kenyon College. The speech is reprinted for the first time in book
form in THIS IS WATER. How does one keep from going through
their comfortable, prosperous adult life unconsciously? How do
we get ourselves out of the foreground of our thoughts and
achieve compassion? The speech captures Wallace's electric
intellect as well as his grace in attention to others. After his
death, it became a treasured piece of writing reprinted in The
Wall Street Journal and the London Times, commented on
endlessly in blogs, and emailed from friend to friend.

For more useful strategy information check out
the resources linked below. Epi-
Subscribe to the Planning Dirty newsletter
Subscribe to the Genius/Steals newsletter
logue
100 ideas on Tiny Budgets
Strategy Mate
Planning Hype
Brand Actions Library 2019
Day 1 Advice for New Planners
Day 1 Advice for New Heads of Strategy
What Clients Want
Data Sources Cheatsheet

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STRATEGY:

Kyle Duckitt Julian Cole Faris Yakob Garrett Michaels

THE ESSENTIAL READING GUIDE 2019

THE ESSENTIAL READING GUIDE 2019

THE ESSENTIAL READING GUIDE 2019

JWT Planning Guide

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Account planning exists for the sole purpose of creating

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Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This

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The Artful Edit: