Critical to the success of every organization, strategy is not a long planning exercise or document. Strategy can be simple, fun and effective and is founded on a set of five interrelated and powerful choices that positions an organization to win.
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Integrative thinking is a form of reasoning which allows you to constructively face the tensions of opposing models. Instead of choosing one at the expense of the other, you generate a creative solution. Your solution contains elements of the individual models, but is superior to each.
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Organizations need to incorporate the best of design thinking into their ways of working to unleash innovation and creativity. An organization will be able to counter-balance analytical thinking with intuitive thinking – to enable it to both exploit existing knowledge and create new knowledge.
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While prevailing theory holds that stock-based compensation perfectly aligns corporate executives’ incentives with those of shareholders, it does the opposite. As a consequence, executives have done brilliantly while shareholders have become increasingly frustrated. Incentives and governance practice needs to be transformed to enable corporations to prosper in a way that better serves society.
More on Incentives & Governance
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The combination of the stagnation of medium incomes and the rapid rise of high incomes is threatening the future of democratic capitalism. Its predictive future requires building a more robust knowledge, transactional and physical infrastructure for broadly shared prosperity.
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For both social entrepreneurs and corporations, the key tenet of social innovation is finding ways to make the world a better place. My work focuses on building tools for social entrepreneurs to create more powerful models for creating value for society and developing models to guide corporations on a path of productive corporate citizenship.
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Thinker Author Advisor Speaker
Meet Roger
Meet the Team
Let's Read
A New Way to Think
When More is Not Better
Creating Great Choices
The Rise (and Likely Fall) of the Talent Economy
Getting Beyond Better
Playing To win
Canada: What it is, what it can be
Fixing the Game
The Design Of Business
The Opposable Mind
The Responsibility Virus
Dia-Minds
The Future of the MBA
Rotman on Design
Let's Engage
Thought Pillars
Thinker Author Advisor Speaker
In 2017, Roger was named the world’s #1 management thinker by Thinkers50, a biannual ranking of the most influential global business thinkers.
Roger is a trusted strategy advisor to the CEOs of companies worldwide including Procter & Gamble, Lego, Ford, BHP & Verizon
Roger Martin is a Professor Emeritus at the Rotman School of Management at University of Toronto where he served as Dean from 1998-2013, Academic Director of the Michael Lee-Chin Family Institute for Corporate Citizenship from 2004-2019 and Institute Director of the Martin Prosperity Institute from 2013-2019. In 2013, he was named global Dean of the Year by the leading business school website, Poets & Quants.
His newest book is A New Way to Think: Your Guide to Superior Managerial Effectiveness (Harvard Business Review Press, 2022). His previous twelve books include When More is Not Better (HBRP, 2020), Creating Great Choiceswritten with Jennifer Riel (HBRP, 2017) Getting Beyond Betterwritten with Sally Osberg (HBRP, 2015) and Playing to Win written with A.G. Lafley (HBRP, 2013), which won the award for Best Book of 2012-13 by the Thinkers50. He has written 30 Harvard Business Review articles.
Roger received his BA from Harvard College, with a concentration in Economics, in 1979 and his MBA from the Harvard Business School in 1981. He lives in South Florida with his wife, Marie-Louise Skafte.
Contact Roger through Twitter or email. Call us to book a speaking engagement or other services.
Roger is available for keynote and other speaking engagements. Advisory services and team workshops can also be booked with Roger.
Articles
Harvard Business Review
The One Thing You Need to Know About Managing Functions
July-August 2019
HBR.org
Why Smart People Struggle with Strategy
June 12, 2014
Harvard Business Review
The Big Lie of Strategic Planning
January–February 2014
Harvard Business Review
Bringing Science to the Art of Strategy
September 2012
Harvard Business Review
The Real Secret to Retaining Talent
March-April 2022
Medium
The Great Resignation Should be No Surprise
February 14, 2022
Medium
Are You Building a Strategy Tower of Babel
February 7, 2022
Medium
January 31, 2022
Medium
January 24, 2022
Medium
Don't Let Them Compel You to be Stupid
January 17, 2022
Medium
Strategy in High-Growth Industries
January 10, 2022
Medium
Business Strategy and/or Military Strategy?
January 3, 2022
Medium
Competing Against Big New Entrants
December 27, 2021
Medium
December 20, 2021
Medium
How to Make Your Partnerships Strategic
December 13, 2021
Medium
December 6, 2021
Medium
Singing the Data Analytics Blues
November 29, 2021
Medium
The Secret to Knitting Strategy Together Corporate-Wide
November 22, 2021
Medium
Stop Letting OKRs Masquerade as Strategy
November 15, 2021
Medium
November 8, 2021
Medium
The Role of Industry in Strategy
November 1, 2021
Medium
The Rule of Fear and the Rules for Fear
October 25, 2021
Medium
Battling our Same-Different Instinct
October 18, 2021
Medium
October 4, 2021
Medium
September 27, 2021
Medium
September 20, 2021
Medium
Strategy in the Face of Discontinuity
September 13, 2021
Medium
The Battle for the Soul of Strategy
September 6, 2021
Medium
Strategy & Boards of Directors
August 30, 2021
Medium
Should We Listen to Customers?
August 23, 2021
Medium
The Proper Role of the Chief Strategy Officer
August 16, 2021
Medium
Compelling Communication for Your Strategy
August 9, 2021
Medium
August 2, 2021
Medium
July 26, 2021
Medium
Can Your Strategy Pass its Most Important Test?
July 19, 2021
Medium
July 12, 2021
Medium
The Delusion of Revenue Forecasting
July 5, 2021
Medium
Balancing Exploration and Exploitation
June 28, 2021
Medium
June 21, 2021
Medium
It’s Time to Accept that Play for Performance Doesn’t Work
June 14, 2021
Medium
Asking Great Strategy Questions
June 7, 2021
Medium
May 31, 2021
Medium
Your Personal Playing to Win Strategy
May 24, 2021
Medium
Overcoming the Pervasive Analytical Blunder of Strategists
May 17, 2021
Medium
What is Digital Strategy, Anyway?
May 10, 2021
Medium
Strategists: Stop Obsessing about Averages
May 3, 2021
Medium
Manipulation of Quantities & Appreciation of Qualities
April 26, 2021
Medium
It’s Time to Accept that Marketing and Strategy are One Discipline
April 19, 2021
Medium
It’s Time to Toss SWOT Analysis into the Ashbin of Strategy History
April 12, 2021
Medium
Can You Be Both Cost Leader & Differentiator?
April 5, 2021
Medium
The Shift from Pre-Competitive to Competitive
March 29, 2021
Medium
Where’s the Business Model in Playing to Win?
March 22, 2021
Medium
Reliability versus Validity in Strategy
March 15, 2021
Medium
The Role of Strategy in Achieving Managerial Effectiveness
March 8, 2021
Medium
The Tragic Futility of Investing to Catch Up
March 1, 2021
Medium
February 22, 2021
Medium
Strategy vs. Planning: Complements, not Substitutes
February 15, 2021
Medium
The Two Rules that Monopolists Ignore at their Peril
February 8, 2021
Medium
Distinguishing How-to-Win from Capabilities in Your Strategy Choice
February 1, 2021
Medium
Playing to Win and Scenario Planning
January 25, 2021
Medium
My Business is Too Fast-Moving for Strategy
January 18, 2021
Medium
Is Strategy in B2B Dramatically Different than in B2C?
January 11, 2021
Medium
The Trap of Presiding Over Strategy
January 4, 2021
Medium
On the Inseparability of Where-to-Play and How-to-Win
December 28, 2020
HBR.org
Pricing Needs to Reflect Who People Want to Be, Not Just What They Want
January 25, 2019
HBR.org
Remembering Jack Bogle and Herb Kelleher, Two Great Strategists
January 18, 2019
HBR.org
December 28, 2018
Rotman Magazine
Fall 2018
HBR.org
GE's Fall Has Been Accelerated by Two Problems. Most Other Big Companies Face Them, Too.
June 29, 2018
HBR.org
CEOs Should Stop Thinking that Execution is Somebody Else's Job; It Is Theirs
November 21, 2017
HBR.org
Strategic Choices Need to Be Made Simultaneously, Not Sequentially
April 3, 2017
HBR.org
The 3 Simple Rules of Managing Top Talent
February 24, 2017
HBR.org
A Little Competition Could Improve Your HR, IT, and Legal Departments
February 21, 2017
HBR.org
How the Attacks on Trump Reinforce His Strategy
January 12, 2017
Harvard Business Review
M&A: The One Thing You Need to Get Right
June 2016
HBR.org
Strategy and Execution Are the Same Thing
January 12, 2016
HBR.org
Why Talking About Strategy “Execution” Is Still Dangerous
September 15, 2015
HBR.org
The First Question to Ask of Any Strategy
May 5, 2015
HBR.org
Strategy Is About Both Resources and Positioning
April 27, 2015
HBR.org
There Are Still Only Two Ways to Compete
April 21, 2015
HBR.org
Stop Distinguishing Between Execution and Strategy
March 13, 2015
The European Business Review
Strategic Transformation at Tennis Canada
January - February 2015
HBR.org
Strategy Isn’t What You Say, It’s What You Do
June 18, 2014
HBR.org
Strategy Is Iterative Prototyping
June 6, 2014
HBR.org
Strategize First, Analyze Later
May 29, 2014
HBR.org
Adaptive Strategy Is a Cop-Out
May 23, 2014
HBR.org
Three Quick Ways to Improve Your Strategy-Making
May 22, 2014
HBR.org
Help Leaders Be Less Useless at Strategy
May 16, 2014
HBR.org
A Simple Nuance that Produces Great Strategy Discussions
May 8, 2014
HBR.org
Which Strategy “Comfort Traps” Are You Falling Into?
May 3, 2014
HBR.org
Are You Confusing Strategy with Planning?
May 2, 2014
Financial Review
The Big Lie of Strategic Planning - reposted
March 17, 2014
HBR.org
Strategy in a World of Constant Change
February 3, 2014
The Globe & Mail
Six ways to tell if your strategy is a trap, or a winner
April 17, 2013
HBR.org
The Best Companies Combine Marketing and Strategy
March 14, 2013
HBR.org
J.C. Penney Desperately Needs a Strategy
March 11, 2013
Business Standard
February 24, 2013
HBR.org
Strategy Is All About Practice
February 20, 2013
Fast company
WHAT P&G LEARNED FROM THE DIAPER WARS
February 8, 2013
HBR.org
Don't Let Strategy Become Planning
February 5, 2013
HBR.org
Placing Strategic Bets in the Face of Uncertainty
January 22, 2013
HBR.org
Strategy and the Uncertainty Excuse
January 8, 2013
Financial Post
The 5 essential questions at the heart of any winning strategy – Part 2
January 8, 2013
Financial Post
The 5 essential questions at the heart of any winning strategy – Part 1
January 7, 2013
Interviews
Stitcher
Demystifying Organizations: Balancing Stakeholder Interests
June 21, 2019
HBR Ideacast
July 31, 2018
The Reading Lists
Roger Martin: Reading to Unlock Mysteries
May 31, 2018
The Learning Leader
Episode 190: Roger Martin - Playing to Win: Strategy Is A Choice
February 12, 2017
Tonyloyd.com
Changing the World One Model at a Time
November 30, 2015
Changeboard.com
Roger Martin: Strategy is choice
November 9, 2015
Outlook Business
September 2, 2015
BFM 89.9 The Business Station
Raise your Game: Playing to Win
August 27, 2015
Val 202
December 9, 2014
Mind Tools
National Magazine
delawareonline
What I am Reading this Summer and Why You Should, Too
June 20, 2013
Odgers Berndtson
May 30, 2013
Forbes India
Strategy Needs a Mix of Data and Logic: Roger Martin
April, 16, 2013
Business World
Analytical Thinking Is Stifling Innovation
March 25, 2013
Inc.com
4 Key Things Great Strategic Thinkers Do
March 11, 2013
Business Insider
PROFESSOR: 'JC Penney Serves No Compelling Customer Purpose'
March 11, 2013
Business Standard
Every new idea cannot be proven in advance: Roger L Martin
February 24, 2013
Live Mint
Roger Martin | The Master Strategist
February 17, 2013
The Sunday Times
Win the strategy game in five steps
February 10, 2013
Business Insider
P&G's Legendary Ex-CEO Explains Why Everyone Gets Strategy Wrong
February 5, 2013
Forbes
Playing To Win: How Strategy Really Works
February 4, 2013
Inc.com
Rule for Success: Choose Your Playing Field
February 2013
Why the How-to-Win Strategy Choice is So Hard
Nov 3, 2025
Oct 27, 2025
How to Define True Strategy and Make Real Choices (Ivy.com interview clip)
Oct 22, 2025
