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.
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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.
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
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
Washington Post
The virus shows that making our companies efficient also made our country weak
March 27, 2020
Harvard Business Review
The One Thing You Need to Know About Managing Functions
July-August 2019
Harvard Business Review
January-February 2019
Rotman Magazine
Creating Great Choices: Integrative Thinking for Leaders
Winter 2018
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
The Big Lie of Strategic Planning
January–February 2014
The New York Times
September 28, 2012
Harvard Business Review
Bringing Science to the Art of Strategy
September 2012
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
June 2007
Stanford Social Innovation Review
Social Entrepreneurship: The Case for Definition
Spring 2007
Harvard Business Review
Capital vs. Talent: The Battle That's Reshaping Business
July 2003
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
The Business of Building a Better World
December 14, 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
Strategy + Business
A plan for saving democratic capitalism from itself
February 10, 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
Rotman Magazine
Virtuous Capital: How to Measure Business’s Contribution to Society
Winter 2021
Harvard Business Review
It’s Time to Replace the Public Corporation
Jan-Feb 2021
Medium
On the Inseparability of Where-to-Play and How-to-Win
December 28, 2020
Medium
Strategy & Integrative Thinking
December 21, 2020
Medium
December 14, 2020
Medium
Playing to Win for Social Sector Organizations
December 7, 2020
Medium
November 30, 2020
Medium
November 23, 2020
Medium
From Laudable List to How to Really Win
November 16, 2020
Medium
November 9, 2020
Medium
November 2, 2020
Strategy & Leadership
The problematic economic efficiency mindset that threatens corporations and democratic society
November/December 2020: Volume 48, Number 6
Medium
Strategy is What You DO, not What You SAY
October 26, 2020
Medium
Why I am Skeptical of Low Market Shares
October 19, 2020
The Nine Dots Prize
A note on our anonymous judging process, by Board member Roger Martin
October 18, 2020
Medium
Is the Opposite of Your Choice Stupid on its Face?
October 12, 2020
Thrive Global
Ensuring the Future of Democratic Capitalism
October 11, 2020
Barron’s
The Pursuit of Endless Maximization Is Ruining Business
October 9, 2020
Medium
The Role of Management Systems in Strategy
October 8, 2020
Fast Company
What this 100-year-old restaurant can teach CEOs about balancing resilience and profit
October 7, 2020
MarketWatch
October 7, 2020
Strategy & Leadership
Models & Misadventures: The Perfectible Machine Fallacy
Vol. 48, No.5, 2020, pp. 3-8. (October 6, 2020)
Toronto Star
October 5, 2020
Thrive Global
Concern for the Future of Democratic Capitalism
October 4, 2020
HBR.org
Leaders Need to Harness Aristotle’s 3 Types of Knowledge
October 2, 2020
Globe and Mail
What you can do to help safeguard the future of democratic capitalism
October 1, 2020
Thrive Global
September 29, 2020
Medium
September 28, 2020
Medium
September 21, 2020
Medium
September 14, 2020
Medium
Should We ‘Follow the Science/Scientists?’
September 8, 2020
Rotman Magazine
An Agenda for Business Leaders
September 2020
Medium
Covid, Hedge Funds & Lamprey Eels
August 31, 2020
The Aspen Institute Business & Society Program
The Next Move: 10 Ways to Bring Stakeholder Capitalism into Practice
August 24, 2020
Medium
For Want of a Tool the Business Roundtable may Lose the Kingdom
August 24, 2020
Medium
Overcoming the Pitfalls of Our Same-Different Impulse
August 17, 2020
Medium
COVID-19 Across American: It’s the Geography, Stupid!
August 10, 2020
Medium
Lying to Pollsters: The Weapon du Jour
August 3, 2020
Medium
July 23, 2020
Poets & Quants
A Really Good Gig: Why B-school Faculty Are So Well Paid
June 29, 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
El Mundo
Solo hay dos modos de ganar: reducir costes o diferenciarse
March 10, 2020
Caledon Enterprise
Caledon Public Library releases economic impact report
November 25, 2019
Poets&Quants
Most Influential B-School Professors & Thought Leaders
November 26, 2019
National Magazine
October 30, 2019
GQ
February 17, 2020
Forbes.com
What This Management Guru Says Is Essential For Your Early Career Success
February 18, 2020
qz.com
How a global chemical company gave itself a corporate purpose makeover
December 16, 2019
Interviews
The Decision Lab
Creating Great Choices with Roger Martin
July 19, 2021
Life Science Leader
Do You (As A Leader) Create Great Choices?
July 31, 2019
Stitcher
Demystifying Organizations: Balancing Stakeholder Interests
June 21, 2019
ANR Newsletter
With Roger Martin – World’s #1 Management Thinker
December 21, 2018
HBR Ideacast
July 31, 2018
The Reading Lists
Roger Martin: Reading to Unlock Mysteries
May 31, 2018
Talks at Google
Roger L. Martin: "Creating Great Choices: A Leader's Guide to Integrative Thinking"
December 18, 2017
Actionable Books
The 21st Century Workplace Podcast
December 20, 2017
The Learning Leader
Episode 190: Roger Martin - Playing to Win: Strategy Is A Choice
February 12, 2017
HBR
January-February 2017 Issue
BizEd
February 23, 2016
Monocle.com
December 30, 2015
Tonyloyd.com
Changing the World One Model at a Time
November 30, 2015
Inside HR
Design Thinking 101 for HR: How to help your CEO drive strategy
November 24, 2015
Changeboard.com
Roger Martin: Strategy is choice
November 9, 2015
U of T News
Social Entrepreneurship Explained
November 2, 2015
Invetech
Taking Innovation Outcomes to the Next Level — An Interview With Roger Martin
October 29, 2015
CBC Metro Morning
October 12, 2015
Outlook Business
September 2, 2015
BFM 89.9 The Business Station
Raise your Game: Playing to Win
August 27, 2015
Innovation Hub
What Threatens the Talent Economy
December 12, 2014
Val 202
December 9, 2014
CBC - Metro Morning
November 25, 2014
Huff Post Business
Want To Make A Difference? Don't Be A Hedge Fund Manager
November 24, 2014
The Economist
April 9, 2013
Mind Tools
National Magazine
Rotman Magazine
Thought Leader Interview: Roger Martin
Fall 2013
DMI: Review
Summer 2013
delawareonline
What I am Reading this Summer and Why You Should, Too
June 20, 2013
Odgers Berndtson
May 30, 2013
Rotman Magazine
Coaching High Performance: Lessons from Veterans in Two Arenas
Spring 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
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
Innovation Excellence
Balancing Intuition with Analysis
June 15, 2012
Forbes
Fighting The Kool-Aid Of Stock-Based Compensation: Q&A With Roger Martin
January 3, 2012
The Business Times
July 26, 2011
The Straights Times
Design Thinking Gives Firms an Edge
July 20, 2011
Forbes.com
Redesigned Thinking for Diverse Brains!
February 10, 2011
Ideaconnection.com
February 6, 2011
Be You Blog
January 15, 2011
Bobmorris.biz
September 16, 2010
Steelcase Threesixty Magazine
On Innovation and Why Companies Struggle with It
June 2010
DNA Money (Mumbai, India)
Why Companies Get Trapped Into Doing What They Are Good At,
February 8, 2010
Open Forum Blog
The Design of Business, an Interview with Roger Martin
November 4, 2009
Gelatobaby Interview
2009 AIGA Make/Think Conference
October 9, 2009
AIC Institute for Corporate Citizenship
March 3, 2009
DNA (Bangalore Edition)
Great Leaders are Integrative Thinkers
January 29, 2009
Financial Times
March 25, 2008
Dealing with Intuitive, Non-Strategists
Apr 28, 2025
The Myth of Objectivity & Strategy
Apr 21, 2025
Stop Working for Loser Strategists
Apr 14, 2025
