5 essential questions to craft a winning strategy | Roger Martin (author, advisor, speaker)

Roger Martin is one of the world’s leading experts on strategy and the author of Playing to Win , one of the most beloved books on strategy. He’s written extensively for the Harvard Business Review ; consulted for dozens of Fortune 500 companies, including P&G, Lego, and Ford; and written 11 other books. In our conversation, we discuss: • The five key questions you need to answer to develop an effective strategy • Why most companies get strategy wrong • How to avoid “playing to play” instead of playing to win • Real-world strategy examples from Procter & Gamble, Southwest Airlines, Lego, and Figma • How to think about differentiation vs. low cost • Shortcomings of current strategy education • Much more — Correction: Roger pointed out that he made an error during our chat. When I asked him about Richard Rumelt (~16 mins), he thought I said Richard D'Aveni. — Brought to you by: • Webflow —The web experience platform • WorkOS —Modern identity platform for B2B SaaS, free up to 1 million MAUs • Cycle —Your feedback hub, on autopilot — Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-ultimate-guide-to-strategy-roger-martin — Where to find Roger Martin: • X: https://x.com/RogerLMartin • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roger-martin-9916911a9/ • Website: https://rogerlmartin.com/ — Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • X: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ — In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Roger’s background (02:20) The importance of strategy (07:00) Challenges in developing strategy (08:30) Critique of modern strategy education (14:00) Hamilton Helmer and Richard Rumelt (17:40) Defining strategy (19:12) The Strategy Choice Cascade (23:20) Playing to win vs. playing to play (24:57) Examples of strategic success (30:49) Differentiation and moats (40:23) Applying strategy to real-world scenarios (43:47) Customer-centric strategy (44:45) Defining the market and product (45:59) Value chain and distribution (48:28) Cost leadership vs. differentiation (53:16) Capabilities and management systems (57:14) Competitive advantage and market positioning (01:02:41) Counterpositioning and fault lines (01:05:53) Adapting to AI and market changes (01:14:11) Betterment over perfection (01:18:42) Final thoughts on strategy — Referenced: • Nearly 10% of S&P 500 CEOs are alumni of Procter & Gamble: https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2023/02/06/10-of-s-p-500-ceos-pg.html • FigJam: https://www.figma.com/figjam/ • Figma: https://www.figma.com/ • What Is Resource-Based Theory?: https://www.igi-global.com/dictionary/the-impact-of-technological-governance-and-political-capabilities-on-firms-performances-under-economic-turbulence/67915 • Michael Porter on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/professorporter/ • Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors : https://www.amazon.com/Competitive-Strategy-Techniques-Industries-Competitors/dp/0684841487 • VRIO Framework Explained: https://strategicmanagementinsight.com/tools/vrio/ • Business strategy with Hamilton Helmer (author of 7 Powers): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/business-strategy-with-hamilton-helmer • Good Strategy, Bad Strategy | Richard Rumelt: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/good-strategy-bad-strategy-richard • 7 Powers: The Foundations of Business Strategy : https://www.amazon.com/7-Powers-Foundations-Business-Strategy/dp/0998116319 • Boston Consulting Group: https://www.bcg.com/ • Bruce Henderson: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Henderson • Lego: https://www.lego.com • Vanguard: https://investor.vanguard.com/ • Southwest Airlines: https://www.southwest.com/ • How Amazon Managed to Dethrone Walmart: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/08/20/technology/how-amazon-beat-walmart.html • GM Lost a 10-Year Battle with Tesla, Pulling the Plug on a Long Line of EVs: https://www.forbes.com/sites/brookecrothers/2023/07/09/gm-killed-its-electric-cars-and-lost-a-10-year-battle-with-tesla/ • Westlaw: https://www.westlawinternational.com/ • What Is an Economic Moat? Why Warren Buffett Says It Matters for Investors: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/economic-moat-why-warren-buffett-160046125.html • Salomon Brothers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salomon_Brothers • US Airways: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_Airways • Four Seasons: https://www.fourseasons.com/ • Michael Dell on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mdell/ • Bill Gates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/williamhgates/ • Mandarin Oriental: https://www.mandarinoriental.com/en/ • Continental Lite: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_Lite • Ted (airline): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_(airline) • Case Study: Oil of Olay: https://www.studocu.com/es/document/universidad-de-murcia/estrategia-de-marketing/case-study-old-of-olay/95079369 • AG Lafley on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ag-lafley-2381b3201/ • Jack Bogle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_C._Bogle • Seven Ways Windows 95 Changed the World: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ianmorris/2015/08/24/windows-95-changed-the-world/ • Where to Start with Strategy? Focus on Betterment: https://rogermartin.medium.com/where-to-start-with-strategy-bae40506304c • Brick by brick: The man who rebuilt the house of Lego shares his leadership secrets: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/on-leadership/wp/2016/12/08/brick-by-brick-the-man-who-rebuilt-the-house-of-lego-shares-his-leadership-secrets/ • A New Way to Think: Your Guide to Superior Management Effectiveness : https://www.amazon.com/New-Way-Think-Management-Effectiveness/dp/164782351X/ • Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works : https://www.amazon.com/Playing-Win-Strategy-Really-Works/dp/142218739X • The Design of Business: Why Design Thinking Is the Next Competitive Advantage : https://www.amazon.com/Design-Business-Thinking-Competitive-Advantage/dp/1422177807 • The Opposable Mind: How Successful Leaders Win Through Integrative Thinking : https://www.amazon.com/Opposable-Mind-Successful-Integrative-Thinking/dp/1422118924 • When More Is Not Better: Overcoming America’s Obsession with Economic Efficiency : https://www.amazon.com/When-More-Not-Better-Overcoming/dp/1647820065 — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/ . For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com . — Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe