Books like Competing in the Age of AI

01

The Innovator's Dilemma

Clayton M. Christensen · Business

Christensen's argument, published in 1997, is deceptively simple: the very practices that make companies excellent at serving their current customers — listening carefully, investing in proven technologies, targeting the most profitable segments — are precisely what causes them to miss disruptive innovations.

Both dig into business strategy.

02

Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future

Peter Thiel · Business

Zero to One began as notes from a Stanford course Thiel taught on startups in 2012, assembled into a book with co-author Blake Masters.

A kindred business read.

03

Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies

Nick Bostrom · Science

Superintelligence is Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom's systematic analysis of what might happen if artificial intelligence systems become more capable than humans — and why that transition might represent one of the most significant risks in human history.

Both dig into artificial intelligence.

04

Power and Prediction: The Disruptive Economics of Artificial Intelligence

Ajay Agrawal, Joshua Gans, and Avi Goldfarb · Business

Power and Prediction is the second book from Ajay Agrawal, Joshua Gans, and Avi Goldfarb — the economists behind Prediction Machines — and it takes a more pointed look at what cheap AI-driven prediction actually disrupts.

Both dig into artificial intelligence.

05

7 Powers: The Foundations of Business Strategy

Hamilton Helmer · Business

7 Powers is Hamilton Helmer's attempt to distill the full landscape of business strategy into a single rigorous framework.

Both dig into business strategy.

06

AI Superpowers

Kai-Fu Lee · Business

AI Superpowers is Kai-Fu Lee's argument that the geopolitical competition to lead in artificial intelligence is primarily a two-country race between the United States and China, and that the outcome will reshape the global economy in ways most people haven't started to reckon with.

Both dig into artificial intelligence.

07

Co-Intelligence

Ethan Mollick · Business

Co-Intelligence is Ethan Mollick's argument that large language models represent something genuinely new — not a search engine, not a simple automation tool — and that the right response is not fear or hype but active, informed experimentation.

Both dig into artificial intelligence.

08

Exponential Organizations

Salim Ismail · Business

Exponential Organizations is Salim Ismail's framework for understanding why some companies — Airbnb, Uber, GitHub, Google — grew ten times faster than their peers and why traditional organizations struggle to match that pace.

Both dig into digital transformation.

09

Hegarty on Advertising: Turning Intelligence into Magic

John Hegarty · Business

John Hegarty co-founded Bartle Bogle Hegarty in 1982 and spent four decades creating advertising that, at its best, genuinely shifted how people thought about brands.

Both dig into business strategy.

10

The Forever Transaction

Robbie Kellman Baxter · Business

The Forever Transaction is Robbie Kellman Baxter's practical guide to building subscription and membership businesses — companies where the goal isn't to close a sale but to maintain an ongoing relationship.

Both dig into business strategy.

11

The New Leadership Literacies

Bob Johansen · Business

The New Leadership Literacies is Bob Johansen's forecast of the skills leaders will need for a world that is more volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous than the one most leadership frameworks were designed for.

Both dig into digital transformation.

12

The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success

William N. Thorndike · Business

The Outsiders profiles eight CEOs whose long-term returns to shareholders dramatically outperformed the S&P 500 and their industry peers, often by factors of ten to one hundred.

Both dig into business strategy.