Playing to Win

The TL;DR

Strategy is not a vision, a plan, or a set of objectives — it is five integrated choices. Drawing from P&G's turnaround, Lafley and Martin show that strategy requires answering: what is our winning aspiration? where will we play? how will we win? what capabilities must be in place? and what management systems are required? The where-to-play choice is as important as how-to-win; picking the right field matters more than playing perfectly on the wrong one. Capabilities must reinforce each other into a system that rivals cannot easily copy. Most importantly, strategy is a hypothesis to be tested and refined, not a plan to be blindly executed.

Core ideas

• 1Strategy is an integrated set of five choices — none in isolation.
• 2Where to play is as important as how to win. Pick the field.
• 3How to win requires a real competitive advantage, not just 'be better'.
• 4Capabilities must reinforce each other into a system rivals can't copy.
• 5Strategy is a hypothesis to be tested, not a plan to be executed.

Key quotes

Apply it this week

• →Run the five-question cascade on your product or team.
• →List the segments you will explicitly NOT serve this year.
• →Define the 2-3 capabilities that uniquely let you win and invest there.