Playing to Win
A Playing to Win/Practitioner Insights Retrospective
It all started innocently. I was getting frustrated with how long it took to get quick hit writing out. For what are hoped to be timeless pieces for the print edition of Harvard Business Review, I don’t mind the one to three years it takes to get an article ready…
Playing To Win
To Learn Faster to Win
The first 51 posts of the Playing to Win/Practitioner Insights (PTW/PI) series have concerned how to do strategy. I thought it would be fun to do one on whether to do strategy. Many executives aren’t convinced that it is a worthwhile endeavor. And they could interpret some of the things…
Playing To Win
The Four Keys to Success
Transformation is a hot topic these days, probably too hot. Putting transformation behind anything — finance transformation, go-to-market transformation, customer experience transformation, etc. — makes the thing sound cool and important. I have gotten so many questions about transformation that I thought I would dedicate my 51st Playing to Win/Practitioner…
Playing To Win
To Do, Or Not To Do?
A couple of weeks ago, I was asked by a Peruvian friend how to think about strategy in the face of the dramatic shift in his company’s operating environment due to the election of President Pedro Castillo, who is both avowedly Marxist and an admirer of Hugo Chávez’ controversial reign…
Playing To Win
It’s Both Sides, Stupid!
I am writing my 49th Playing to Win/Practitioner Insights piece on the Battle for the Soul of Strategy. While at one level, it’s an obscure academic battle, it has spilled over into the real world with challenging implications for all practitioners of strategy. …
Playing To Win
It’s About the When & the What
Frustrated executives and board members, from little non-profits all the way to Dow Jones 30 behemoths, routinely vent to me about the unsatisfying role of the board in strategy. So, I have decided to write my 48th Playing to Win/Practitioner Insights (PTW/PI) on Strategy & Boards of Directors: It’s About…
Playing To Win
You Need to Ask a Better Question
There is lots written and debated about the advisability of listening to customers when formulating strategy. I think the framing of the question as whether to listen to customers is not helpful and that is why I am writing my 47th Playing to Win/Practitioner Insights (PTW/PI) piece on Should We…
Playing To Win
It Isn’t Doing Strategy!
I find there is much uncertainty and even confusion over the role of the Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) in the modern company. It is not entirely surprising in that it is a relatively new role — compared for instance with Chief Financial Officer. Business strategy as a thing has only…
Playing to Win
Less is More & A Picture is Worth 1,000 Words
I have received several questions about articulating and communicating strategy, including one on how to make it vivid like the legendary Minard map shown above, penned in 1869 by Charles Joseph Minard to visually depict the French army casualties across the various stages of Napoleon’s ill-fated 1812 invasion of Russia…
Playing To Win
I Have a View Worth Hearing, But I Might be Missing Something
A reader recently asked me: “How should practitioners think about diversity strategy as well as the role of diversity in strategy development? I thought the question was terrific — both timely and important. So, I decided to dedicate my 44th Playing to Win/Practitioner Insights (PTW/PI) to Diversity & Strategy. …
