I have often been asked what book I would suggest to someone wanting an introduction to the world of strategy. This is always the book I suggest. The eminent strategist Henry Mintzberg and his associates, Ahlstrand and Lampel, do a masterful job of explaining, in plain language, the various approaches to strategy. My favorite section is the authors' treatment of Michael Porter's "Positioning School" of strategic thought. You can almost taste Mintzberg's poor regard for such a deliberate and plodding approach, which stands antithetical to Mintzberg's own bent to strategy: the Emergent Approach.
