MEMO TO THE CEO

Playing to Win

The final book I recommend is Playing to Win by A. G. Laffey and Roger Martin. It blends two approaches to strategic thinking: stories from the trenches and theories from Academia. The core of the book introduces the framework that P&G has uses to create successful brands, products, and new product categories. The authors identify strategy as a coordinated and integrated set of five choices:

  1. A winning aspiration
  2. Where to play
  3. How to win
  4. Core Capabilities
  5. Management systems

This is a terrific book to review when you have some basic strategic challenges. It poses a set of questions associated with each choice.