Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works

me, right meant that P&G would focus on achievable ways to win with the consumers who mattered the most and against the very best competition.

Aspirations can be refined and revised over time. However, aspirations shouldn’t change day to day; they exist to consistently align activities within the firm, so should be designed to last for some time.

They had a clear and defined approach to strategy, a thinking process that enabled individual managers to effectively make clearer and harder choices.

industry has tools and practices that become widespread and generic. Some organizations define strategy as benchmarking against competition and then doing the same set of activities but more effectively. Sameness isn’t strategy. It is a recipe for mediocrity.

The real goal should be to create an internal discipline of strategic thinking that enables a more thoughtful approach to the current game, regardless of industry, and connects to possible different futures and opportunities.

Clarity about the winning aspirations meant that actions at the brand, category, sector, and company level were directed at delivering against that ideal.

But it is only through making and acting on choices that you can win. Yes, clear, tough choices force your hand and confine you to a path. But they also free you to focus on what matters.

Deep consumer understanding.

Core consumers were a theme too; we pushed businesses to focus on the consumer who matters most, targeting the most attractive consumer segments. Core was the first and most fundamental where-to-play choice—to focus on core brands, geographies, channels, technologies, and consumers as a platform for growth.