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
Peter Drucker in the 21st Century
November 25, 2024
Harvard Business Review
What Managers Get Wrong About Capital
May-June 2020
Harvard Business Review
The One Thing You Need to Know About Managing Functions
July-August 2019
Harvard Business Review
January-February 2019
Harvard Business Review
Management Is Much More Than a Science
September-October 2017
Harvard Business Review
September 2015
Harvard Business Review
Two Keys to Sustainable Social Enterprise
May 2015
Harvard Business Review
The Rise (and Likely Fall) of the Talent Economy
October 2014
HBR.org
Why Smart People Struggle with Strategy
June 12, 2014
Harvard Business Review
Saving the Planet: A Tale of Two Strategies
April 2012
Harvard Business Review
June 2011
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
Harvard Business Review
The Virtue Matrix: Calculating the Return on Corporate Responsibility
March, 2002
Medium
The Great Resignation Should be No Surprise
February 14, 2022
Medium
January 31, 2022
Medium
Don't Let Them Compel You to be Stupid
January 17, 2022
Medium
Singing the Data Analytics Blues
November 29, 2021
Medium
The Rule of Fear and the Rules for Fear
October 25, 2021
Medium
Battling our Same-Different Instinct
October 18, 2021
Medium
July 12, 2021
Medium
The Delusion of Revenue Forecasting
July 5, 2021
Medium
Balancing Exploration and Exploitation
June 28, 2021
Medium
It’s Time to Accept that Play for Performance Doesn’t Work
June 14, 2021
Medium
Manipulation of Quantities & Appreciation of Qualities
April 26, 2021
Medium
The Tragic Futility of Investing to Catch Up
March 1, 2021
Medium
The Two Rules that Monopolists Ignore at their Peril
February 8, 2021
Harvard Business Review
It’s Time to Replace the Public Corporation
Jan-Feb 2021
Medium
Is the Opposite of Your Choice Stupid on its Face?
October 12, 2020
HBR.org
Leaders Need to Harness Aristotle’s 3 Types of Knowledge
October 2, 2020
Medium
September 28, 2020
Medium
September 21, 2020
Medium
September 14, 2020
Medium
Overcoming the Pitfalls of Our Same-Different Impulse
August 17, 2020
Medium
July 23, 2020
Tsinghua Business Review
The Analytics Folly of Modern Management
Issue 6, 2020 pp. 6-10
Thrive Global
3 Final Lessons I Learned From My Mother
May 6, 2020
Brightline Project Management Institute
November 15, 2019
HBR.org
Pricing Needs to Reflect Who People Want to Be, Not Just What They Want
January 25, 2019
HBR.org
Should Mark Zuckerberg Resign?
January 8, 2019
HBR.org
Activist Hedge Funds Aren't Good for Companies or Investors, So Why Do They Exist?
August 20, 2018
HBR.org
Why the U.S. Trade Deficit Can Be a Sign of a Healthy Economy
July 27, 2018
HBR.org
GE's Fall Has Been Accelerated by Two Problems. Most Other Big Companies Face Them, Too.
June 29, 2018
HBR.org
It's Time to Make More Jobs Good Jobs
December 4, 2017
HBR.org
CEOs Should Stop Thinking that Execution is Somebody Else's Job; It Is Theirs
November 21, 2017
HBR.org
In the Workplace of the NFL, the Players Hold the Upper Hand
October 31, 2017
The Globe and Mail
How Unilever won over shareholders with its long-term approach
October 13, 2017
HBR.org
June 13, 2017
HBR.org
What If Investors Who Held Their Shares Longer Got More Voting Power?
April 27, 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
HBR.org
Use Design Thinking to Build Commitment to a New Idea
January 3, 2017
Harvard Business Review
January-February 2017
HBR.org
Are Americans Enamored with the Wrong Kinds of Entrepreneurs?
November 11, 2016
HBR.org
The False Premise of the Shareholder Value Debate
September 26, 2016
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
Harvard Business Review
December, 2015
HBR.org
How Social Entrepreneurs Make Change Happen
October 14, 2015
HBR.org
October 13, 2015
HBR.org
Yes, Short-Termism Really Is a Problem
October 9, 2015
HBR.org
Why Talking About Strategy “Execution” Is Still Dangerous
September 15, 2015
HBR.org
What Economists Get Wrong About Measuring Productivity
September 14, 2015
HBR.org
Two Words That Kill Innovation
December 9, 2014
HBR.org
The Dark Side of Efficient Markets
October 15, 2014
HBR.org
Why Monopolistic Pension Funds Undermine Capitalism
October 6, 2014
HBR.org
When Talent Started Driving Economic Growth
September 30, 2014
HBR.org
We Can’t Talk About Inequality Without Talking About Talent
September 23, 2014
HBR.org
When Star Talent Grew More Powerful than Capital
September 9, 2014
HBR.org
The Fall of the Talent Economy?
September 4, 2014
HBR.org
In America, Labor Is Friendless
August 28, 2014
HBR.org
How to Win the Argument with Milton Friedman
June 2, 2014
HBR.org
Which Strategy “Comfort Traps” Are You Falling Into?
May 3, 2014
Harvard Business Review
The Public Corporation Is Finally in Eclipse
April 2014
HBR.org
The Unexpected Benefits of Rapid Prototyping
February 11, 2014
HBR.org
The Five Rules Every New CEO Should Follow
October 14, 2013
HBR.org
The Cure for Self-Inflicted Complexity
October 4, 2013
Harvard Business Review
Rethinking the Decision Factory
October 2013
HBR.org
September 6, 2013
HBR.org
Should Barnes & Noble Turn into a Mini-Mall?
July 15, 2013
strategy+business
Leading with Intellectual Integrity
May 28, 2013
HBR.org
Trending Again: Emoting at the World Economic Forum
January 28, 2013
HBR.org
Why I Decided to Rethink Hiring Smart People
October 17, 2012
Harvard Business Review
October 2012
HBR.org
Before You Take a Risk, Lay Out the Logic
June 19, 2012
Financial Times
Is it worthwhile to advise the government?
May 29, 2012
HBR.org
Do Financial Regulators Have Principles? Wanted: Financial Regulators with Backbone
March 22, 2012
HBR.org
The U.S. Needs to Make More Jobs More Creative
February 27, 2012
Rotman Magazine
Opening up the Boundaries of the Firm
Winter 2012
Reuters.com
The Limits of the Scientific Method in Economics and the World: Part II
November 11, 2011
Reuters.com
The Limits of the Scientific Method in Economics and the World: Part I
November 10, 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
HBR.org
You Can't Analyze Your Way to Growth
September 12, 2011
HBR.org
Can Apple Survive Without Steve Jobs?
August 29, 2011
HBR.org
Are You Ready for Some Football?
July 25, 2011
HBR.org
Cool Alone Won’t Save Your Company
July 20, 2011
HBR.org
June 3, 2011
HBR.org
CEOs Should Be More Like Quarterbacks
May 3, 2011
Harvard Business Review
Don’t Get Blinded by the Numbers
March 2011
HBR.org
Finding the Hidden Gems in Your Business Model
February 22, 2011
Rotman Magazine
Building Better Decision Makers: The 3D MBA
Winter 2010
HBR.org
How I Knew AOL Time Warner Was Doomed (No, Really!)
November 2, 2010
Financial Times
The battleground that is business research
November 1, 2010
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
Harvard Business Review
July-August 2010
HBR.org
Management Is Not a Profession — But It Can Be Taught
July 1, 2010
HBR.org
It’s Time to Tax the Wall Street Casino
May 11, 2010
HBR.org
Regulators' Challenge: Correct the Error or the Cover-up?
April 19, 2010
HBR.org
The Secret to Meaningful Customer Relationships
March 24, 2010
HBR.org
Saving Stock-Based Compensation From Itself
March 22, 2010
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
Tonyloyd.com
Changing the World One Model at a Time
November 30, 2015
Rotman Magazine
Coaching High Performance: Lessons from Veterans in Two Arenas
Spring 2013
Business World
Analytical Thinking Is Stifling Innovation
March 25, 2013
Business Standard
Every new idea cannot be proven in advance: Roger L Martin
February 24, 2013
Playing to Win & Regional Strategy
Mar 31, 2025
Will Artificial Intelligence Eradicate Practitioners of Strategy?
Mar 24, 2025
Developing a Powerful How-to-Win
Mar 17, 2025
