Books like Strategy: The Indirect Approach

01

The Art of War

Sun Tzu · Philosophy

The Art of War is a Chinese military treatise attributed to Sun Tzu, a general and strategist believed to have lived in the fifth century BCE.

Both dig into leadership.

02

Good Strategy Bad Strategy

Richard Rumelt · Business

Good Strategy Bad Strategy is Richard Rumelt's indictment of the strategic planning process as it is practiced in most organizations, and his articulation of what genuine strategy actually requires.

Both dig into leadership.

03

Extreme Ownership

Jocko Willink and Leif Babin · Business

Extreme Ownership is former Navy SEAL commanders Jocko Willink and Leif Babin's argument that the single most important principle in leadership is taking total responsibility for everything that happens under your command — not just your own actions but your team's performance, your mission's failure, and the behavior of those above you when it doesn't support your mission.

Both dig into leadership.

04

The Prince

Niccolò Machiavelli · Philosophy

The Prince is Machiavelli's short treatise on how to acquire, hold, and exercise political power.

Both dig into leadership.

05

The Changing World Order

Ray Dalio · History

The Changing World Order is Ray Dalio's attempt to map the long arc of rising and declining empires through a systematic historical framework, with the explicit goal of understanding whether the United States is in decline and what a world with China as a co-dominant power would look like.

A kindred history read.

06

Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant

Ulysses S. Grant · Memoir

Ulysses S.

Shares military strategy and leadership with Strategy: The Indirect Approach.

07

American Moonshot

Douglas Brinkley · History

Douglas Brinkley's American Moonshot focuses less on the engineering triumph of Apollo 11 than on the political decision that made it possible: John F.

Both dig into leadership.

08

Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era

James M. McPherson · History

James McPherson's Battle Cry of Freedom, published in 1988, is the standard one-volume history of the Civil War era and won the Pulitzer Prize in the year of its publication.

Both dig into military strategy.

09

Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches

S. C. Gwynne · History

Empire of the Summer Moon, published in 2010, follows the rise of the Comanche empire on the southern Great Plains and the long, brutal conflict between the Comanches and the expanding United States.

Both dig into warfare.

10

Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage

Alfred Lansing · History

In 1914, Ernest Shackleton led twenty-seven men into the Weddell Sea on a ship called the Endurance with the goal of crossing Antarctica on foot.

Both dig into leadership.

11

Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq

Thomas E. Ricks · History

Thomas Ricks was the Pentagon correspondent for the Washington Post when he wrote Fiasco, and the book reflects years of direct access to the military officials, planners, and soldiers involved in the Iraq War.

Both dig into military strategy.

12

Forged in Crisis

Nancy Koehn · History

Nancy Koehn, a historian at Harvard Business School, profiles five historical leaders who were forged — not simply demonstrated — by crisis: Ernest Shackleton, Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Rachel Carson.

Both dig into leadership.