a firm creates a sustainable competitive advantage over its rivals by “deliberately choosing a different set of activities to deliver unique value.”

Why is it so important to make winning an explicit aspiration? Winning is worthwhile; a significant proportion (and often a disproportionate share) of industry value-creation accrues to the industry leader. But winning is also hard. It takes hard choices, dedicated effort, and substantial investment. Lots of companies try to win and still can’t do

To determine how to win, an organization must decide what will enable it to create unique value and sustainably deliver that value to customers in a way that is distinct from the firm’s competitors. Michael Porter called it competitive advantage—the specific way a firm utilizes its advantages to create superior value for a consumer or a customer an

people demonstrate extremes of skepticism largely because they don’t feel heard. In a typical buy-in process, concerns are roadblocks to be pushed out of the way as quickly and thoroughly as possible. The reverse-engineering process, by contrast, makes sure that individuals with concerns feel heard and actually are heard.

The people at Olay aren’t harder working, more dedicated, bolder, or luckier than everyone else. But their way of thinking about the choices they made was different.

These are the choices that actually define what you will do, and where you will do it, so as to generate competitive advantage.

Consumer and Market Knowledge (CMK),

Action consistent with the how-to-win choice is vital.

Ultimately, this is a story about choices, including the choice to create a discipline of strategic thinking and strategic practice within an organization.