5 essential questions to craft a winning strategy | Roger Martin (author, advisor, speaker)

The essence of great strategy is making choices—clear, tough choices, like what businesses to be in and which not to be in, where to play in the businesses you choose, how you will win where you play, what capabilities and competencies you will turn into core strengths, and how your internal systems will turn those choices and capabilities into con

a strategy is a coordinated and integrated set of five choices: a winning aspiration, where to play, how to win, core capabilities, and management systems.

1. starts with a vision and a challenge . What is your purpose? What problem are you trying to solve?


2. is honest about the current state of your business and market - strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.


3. is a hypothesis on where you will play and how you will win. Your business and product don’t exist in a vacuum - your st

Qualities of great strategy: p roblem-oriented: clearly identifies the problem; i nsight-driven: rooted in insights, both quantitative and qualitative; actionable: outlines concrete actions/investments that will solve this problem; focused: has a small number of high-leverage bets; cohesive: create a clear path from the problem to the solution.

1. Problem-oriented : Clearly identifies the problem


2. Insight-driven : Rooted in insights, both quantitative and qualitative


3. Actionable : Outlines concrete actions/investments that will solve this problem


4. Focused : Has a small number of high-leverage bets


5. Cohesive : Create a clear path from the problem to the solution

Do play to your own, unique strengths. Reverse engineer the activity systems (and where-to-play and how-to-win choices) of your best competitors, and overlay them with yours. Ask how to make yours truly distinctive and value creating.