For Business Strategy, ChatGPT Is Worse Than The $6 "Rich Dad Poor Dad" Book.

If you read those 5 books, you won't need business strategy from ChatGPT.

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We’re in that age where a person reading a book is something “interesting” rather than the norm. It differs from region to region of course. Yet, it’s true that Gen Z’ers and Generation Alpha don’t need books like we did. There was a time that I used to search encyclopedias and dictionaries for words. Nowadays, this makes no sense. Future generations will use ChatGPT (or alternative tools) to read books about everything, including business strategy.

Now after using multiple AI tools for over 3 years now, I can safely tell you that there is a paradox which leads all the way back to book reading being essential.

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ChatGPT - The Business Strategy Reader

In this article, we’ll talk about the case of business strategy - what should you do in particular cases where you want to start or grow a business. Many nowadays would simply ask ChatGPT, and they’d be satisfied with the response.

In all honesty, the response is not wrong. But the game is bigger than that. ChatGPT has over 400 million users on weekly basis, and they send over 1 billion messages per day. The answers might be different from one user to another. But the training set when it comes to “business strategy” is the same. It’s as if everyone is asking the same person for the same advice. The language and tone might be different, but this “guru” has the same background.

Reading books, especially when it comes to business strategy, was about the perspective of different people. The most successful people in the world might be inspired from a book that is not so “highly” rated. One that GPT wouldn’t consider in its “guru” job. It wants to give the best advice after all.

The most outrageous business strategies, like Steve Jobs’ closed system with the mac would’ve been disproved by GPT back then, because it was unprecedented.

So yes, when it comes to business strategy, we’re still bound to read books. Here are 5 that I absolutely recommend, and two others that would seal the deal.

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The 5 Business Strategy Books, and Why

Launching/growing a business is a story – there are different stages.

PS. I won’t mention “Rich Dad Poor Dad” – but it is a must read, consider it number “0” to the below list. It’s generic, amusing, but has a deep lesson when it comes to human behavior around money.

1. Zero to One (Blake Masters and Peter Thiel)

You need to understand stage 0 very well, and how to reach a level that is considered proper in our days. Zero to one does this quite well. Thiel’s one of the earliest investors in Facebook. The book is critical because copying won’t work very well when it comes to true value. Yes, you can learn from the competitors. But your own fingerprint is what makes or breaks.

Following GPT’s advice would put you in a competitive environment, following Thiel’s advice might just put you in another monopolistic environment of your own.

2. Blue Ocean Strategy (W. Chan Kim & Renée Mauborgne)

But the truth is, most people won’t be able to master Theil’s advice. They’ll learn from it, but they’ll have competitors sooner or later. The logical learning in this case is to understand how to get out of a highly competitive market, and build your own. This is where Blue Ocean Strategy fits.

3. The Lean Startup (Eric Ries)

We live in a tough age, especially when we’re launching a new business strategy. The lean startup has a few concepts that fit this fast-moving age. Experiment, learn, repeat. This is critical in the startup ecosystem nowadays.

4. Hooked (Nir Eyal)

Most companies out there strive to build a product like GPT or Instagram – one that has an element of engagement for years. Nir Eyal analyses the people’s usage of such tools. When you know WHY people use Instagram that frequently, you’ll understand an idea of how to grow your product in this direction.

5. The Psychology of Money (Nir Eyal)

Finally, it’s not easy for most bureaucratic companies or new entrepreneurs to spend. Even though this book doesn’t focus much on the company aspect of a business strategy, it’s a must read to understand how people out there think of money. That’ll clarify the strategy.

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The Two Final Recommendations

There are a couple of books that I always recommend for people to actually go beyond the initial understanding of a business strategy. Would you say Warren Buffet is a good business strategist? He’s the world’s most successful investor after all. But he’s not the world’s richest.

There are things to learn from people like Bezos, and people like Buffet. The integration of both worlds will put you in the right zone.