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
The New York Times
September 28, 2012
Harvard Business Review
The Age of Customer Capitalism
January/February 2010
Harvard Business Review
Capital vs. Talent: The Battle That's Reshaping Business
July 2003
HBR.org
December 28, 2018
HBR.org
GE's Fall Has Been Accelerated by Two Problems. Most Other Big Companies Face Them, Too.
June 29, 2018
Palgrave Macmillan UK
The Gaming of Games and the Principle of Principles
2014
Harvard Business Review
December, 2015
Harvard Business Review
The Public Corporation Is Finally in Eclipse
April 2014
WashingtonPost
January 30, 2013
Bloomberg Businessweek
A Wall Street Resolution: Stop Giving Earnings Guidance
January 2, 2013
The New York Times
Free Agency in Baseball Did Not Create Stars
November 28, 2012
WashingtonPost.com
Mitt Romney, a Symbol of the ‘Talent Economy’
October 19, 2012
Drucker Society Europe Blog
October 17, 2012
Forbes India Magazine
Roger Martin: Maximise Customer Value
May 22, 2012
WashingtonPost.com
Why We Can’t Seem to Cure CEO Pay
April 17, 2012
HBR.org
Do Financial Regulators Have Principles? Wanted: Financial Regulators with Backbone
March 22, 2012
Toronto Life
March 21, 2012
Huffington Post
Does a Trade-off Need to Stay a Trade-off?
January 19, 2012
The Huffington Post
Little Sally Learns About the Toxicity of Shareholder Value Maximization
January 18, 2012
The Huffington Post
Earning a Real Return on Real Investment
January 17, 2012
The Huffington Post
Why Chasing Expectations Is a Fool's Errand
January 16, 2012
The Huffington Post
The Circus In Which the Modern CEO Lives
January 15, 2012
The Huffington Post
What CEOs and Hedge Funds Don't Want the 99% to Understand
January 14, 2012
49th Shelf
What The Stock Market Can Learn from the NFL: An Excerpt from Roger Martin's Fixing the Game
January 8, 2012
Strategy & Leadership
The CEO's ethical dilemma in the era of earnings management
November 8, 2011
Reuters.com
Bank CEOs and the Infinite Pile of Cash
October 5, 2011
HBR.org
How to Make Companies Think Long-Term
October 3, 2011
HBR.org
CEOs Must Model the Behavior for Creating Societal Value
September 26, 2011
Reuters.com
Breaking the Government-Stock Market Feedback Loop
August 17, 2011
Toronto Star
August 16, 2011
Business Standard
August 15, 2011
Reuters.com
Why Does Anyone Take S&P Seriously?
August 9, 2011
HBR.org
Are You Ready for Some Football?
July 25, 2011
The Globe & Mail
Plausible Deniability’s Not Lack of Responsibility
July 22, 2011
TheDailyBeast.com
July 21, 2011
Bloomberg Businessweek
A Sporting Chance for Regulating Capital Markets
July 12, 2011
The Huffington Post
Why Pepsi's CEO Should Continue Speaking Out
July 7, 2011
The Conference Board Review
Summer 2011
Commpro.biz
July 2011
WashingtonPost.com
LinkedIn: A blockbuster IPO, but a big payoff is not a lock
June 4, 2011
HBR.org
June 3, 2011
Ottawa Citizen
June 1, 2011
Critical Eye
What Can American Football Teach us about Executive Compensation?
May 19, 2011
WashingtonPost.com
May 13, 2011
The Huffington Post
Fixing the Game: The Dangers of Expectation
May 10, 2011
The Daily Beast
Earnings Season: Short-Term Focus, Long-Term Harm
May 5, 2011
Forbes.com
It's Only A Matter of Time Until The Next Crash
May 5, 2011
The Huffington Post
Old CEO Pay Theories Die Hard -- and Damagingly
May 5, 2011
FastCompany.com
The NFL: A Smarter Game with a Better Business
May 5, 2011
The Huffington Post
Fixing the Game: The Problem with Expectations
May 4, 2011
HBR.org
CEOs Should Be More Like Quarterbacks
May 3, 2011
The Huffington Post
Fixing the Game: What Capitalism Can Learn from the NFL
May 2, 2011
The Globe And Mail
Flawed Economic Theories are Destroying American Capitalism
April 29, 2011
The Globe and Mail
Why are CEOs Compensated Differently than Quarterbacks?
April 28, 2011
The Huffington Post
Fixing the Game: The Unintended Consequences of an Economic Theory
April 27, 2011
The Globe and Mail
What Capitalism Can Learn from the NFL
April 27, 2011
The Globe and Mail
How an Economic Theory Changed the Way CEOs Get Paid
April 26, 2011
The Daily Beast
April 25, 2011
The Huffington Post
Fixing the Game: What the NFL Can Teach Us About Executive Compensation
April 25, 2011
The Globe and Mail
The Next Financial Crisis Could Be Right Around The Corner
April 25, 2011
HBR.org
Board Chairs Should Be More Like Judges
October 14, 2010
HBR.org
Six Ways to Tell if You Have a Bad Board
September 29, 2010
HBR.org
Why Good Boards Aren’t There When You Need Them
September 20, 2010
The Financial Times
Reward Real Growth, Not Expectations
August 2, 2010
HBR.org
It’s Time to Tax the Wall Street Casino
May 11, 2010
The Washington Post
The Business of Fleecing Others
April 26, 2010
HBR.org
Regulators' Challenge: Correct the Error or the Cover-up?
April 19, 2010
The Daily Beast
April 19, 2010
HBR.org
Saving Stock-Based Compensation From Itself
March 22, 2010
HBR.org
Why CEO’s Don’t Owe Shareholders a Return on Market Value
March 11, 2010
HBR.org
Five Ways to Heal American Capitalism
March 3, 2010
HBR.org
Why Modern Business Is Bad for Your Mental Health
February 23, 2010
HBR.org
The Inauthentic Communities of the Modern Executive
February 17, 2010
HBR.org
What We All Lost When Business Lost Respect
February 9, 2010
The Daily Beast
Obama’s Real Wall Street Scheme
January 22, 2010
The Daily Beast
January 12, 2010
HBR.org
The Goldman Bonuses: I'm Shocked, Shocked
October 16, 2009
HBR.org
Scrap Stock-Based Compensation and Go Back to Principles
July 10, 2009
The Toronto Star
Running Risks on Scoreboard and Big Board
June 5, 2009
The Globe & Mail
The CRTC’s Dial is Stuck on Failure
May 25, 2009
The Financial Times
Managers Must be Judged on the Real Score
May 11, 2009
Rotman Magazine
Undermining Staying Power: The role of Unhelpful Management Theories
Spring 2009
Rotman Magazine
Capital vs. Talent: The Battle Rages On
Fall 2008
Harvard Business Review
Forethought: Directing For All The Wrong Reasons
June 2006
Rotman Magazine
Spring/Summer 2005
Rotman Magazine
Our Love-Hate Relationship with Monetary Incentives
Fall 2004
Healthcare Quarterly
Aligning the Stars: Using Systems Thinking to (Re)Design Canadian Healthcare
Fall 2004
Barron's
December 22, 2003
Rotman Magazine
The Fundamental Problem with Stock-Based Compensation
Winter 2003
Stanford Social Innovation Review
To the Rescue: Beating the Heroic Leadership Trap
Winter 2003
The Globe & Mail
Commitment Phobia: Too Many Investors Are Treating Share Ownership Like Anonymous Sex
Oct. 2003
Rotman Magazine
Capital vs. Talent: The Battle That's Reshaping Business
Fall 2003
AFR (Australian Financial Review) Boss Magazine
September, 2003
John F. Kennedy School of Government Compass Journal
Fall 2003
The Ditchley Foundation Conference
Confidence Control and Compensation in the Modern Corporation
September 2003
The Globe & Mail
Workers and Capitalists, Unite!
July 28, 2003
The National Post
July 11, 2003
International Academy of Management
The Problem with Corporate Governance
March 2003
Harvard Business Review
January 2003
Maclean's
December 2, 2002
Maclean's
Our Dangerous Fear of Failure: An Excerpt from The Responsibility Virus
October 14, 2002
The Globe & Mail
June 18, 2002
The Walkerton Enquiry
Why do People and Organizations Produce the Opposite of What They Intend?
2002
Interviews
HBR Ideacast
July 31, 2018
Forbes
Is Everyone Nuts? P&G Now A Dog? And Unilever A Star?
January 11, 2013
Havard Business Review
What the NHL Lockout Reveals About Capital and Labor
January 11, 2013
DNA India
'Capitalism is not as Smartly Managed as Cricket'
October 8, 2012
Forbes
Fighting The Kool-Aid Of Stock-Based Compensation: Q&A With Roger Martin
January 3, 2012
Going on the Offensive with Creative Strategy
Jul 7, 2025
Power and Paralysis: Why Hierarchies Hate Innovation (Roger @ Nudgestock 2025)
Jun 27, 2025
The Writing vs. Editing Distinction
Jun 30, 2025
