Resources · Books
The books that changed how I see the work.
Not a reading list to look impressive. The handful that actually rewired something — grouped by what they’ll change in how you work.
Read for the argument, not the summary — a book you can reduce to three bullet points wasn’t worth reading. These are grouped by the shift they cause, because the right book at the wrong time does nothing. Pick the shift you need now.
A summary gives you the conclusion. A book gives you the reasoning — which is the part you can reuse.
On how brands actually work
The evidence-led school — how brands really grow, why mental and physical availability beat persuasion, why most differentiation is imagined. This is the reading that most changed how I brief.
On behaviour and decisions
The behavioural-economics canon on how people actually decide — badly, quickly, and not as they’ll later claim. It’s the antidote to trusting what a focus group tells you.
On positioning and strategy
The classics on choosing what not to do — positioning as sacrifice, strategy as a coherent set of choices rather than a list of goals. Short books, long half-lives.
On craft and persuasion
The books on writing, story and idea-spread — because a strategy that can’t be communicated simply isn’t finished. Craft is not decoration; it’s distribution.
Related: the arguments these reading shaped · how I think.