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strategy+business's Best Books of 2014

Ryan Schleicher

November 05, 2014

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The s+b yearly list is always decidedly and refreshingly different than most others.

If you're a regular 800-CEO-READ reader or follower, you know that we always look forward to strategy+business revealing their picks for best business books of the year, in part because the s+b list is decidedly different than most other lists. Their categories often change to reflect the most important business topics of the year, and instead of relying solely on an internal editorial team to choose the winners, they reach out to experts in each category's field. But what we most appreciate in the s-b list is that each book is accompanied by an essay explaining the the book's importance. Lists tell us something. Lists combined with hundreds of words of copy tell us even more. This year's categories are Strategy, Marketing, Executive Self-Improvement, Organizational Culture, Innovation, Sustainability, and Economics. Choosing the best Strategy books, Strategy& senior partner Ken Favaro "picks the three books that offer new thinking about strategy that is practical and compelling." Marketing expert Catharine Taylor focuses on books that get straight to the heart of brand experience in picking her Marketing winners. Specifically targeted at executive decision making (with or without an assist from big data), Karen Dillon (co-author of How Will You Measure Your Life) selects the Executive Self-Improvement winners. Covering Organizational Culture, distinguished author of a number of business books James O'Toole selects books from the field he has helped shape. Longtime s-b business book reviewer David Hurst tackles Innovation, picking the books that go beyond the how-to of innovation by discussing how tech is "driving innovation in every sphere of our lives." John Elkington, author of another 2014 book, The Break-Through Challenge, was tabbed to select books in the category so close to his heart - Sustainability. And finally, economic columnist (Slate, The Daily Beast) and author of Better, Stronger, Faster: The Myth of American Decline and the Rise of a New Economy, Daniel Gross chooses the best book in Economics. The overall winners of the categories, s+b's top shelf, were:

We've been following this list since 2003. You can browse strategy + business's previous picks below.

2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013

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