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Feb 17, 2021Liked by Nicolas Colin

Professor Roger Martin (named the #1 management thinker in the world in 2017) has been writing in Medium a series of essays (currently 20) called the Playing to Win Practitioner Insights (PTW/PI).

They are worth a read. I believe he will bundle them and these will become a book.

His essay #20 is on the difference between Strategy and Planning:

https://link.medium.com/4DGtYa4rWdb

Roger Martin provides another definition of Strategy (and how it is different from Planning).

It is based on his book "Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works" (2013) alongside with A.G. Lafley, former CEO of Procter & Gamble.

What is the Difference? (between Strategy and Planning)

STRATEGY is the act of making an integrated set of choices, which positions the organization to win; while PLANNING is the act of laying out projects with timelines, deliverables, budgets, and responsibilities.

There are 4 important pieces to the definition of business STRATEGY:

First is choices. Strategy specifies the choice to do some things and not others. And that choice obeys the rule that if the opposite is stupid on its face, it doesn’t count as a strategy choice.

Second is integrated set. The choices must fit together and reinforce one another; they aren’t just a list.

Third is positions. The choices explicitly specify a territory in which the organization will play — and will not.

Fourth is to win. Strategy specifies a compelling theory for how the organization will be better than its competitors in the chosen territory.

Your strategy must provide a clear theory of advantage that involves making real choices that are different from those of competitors.

And on any project on which you approve the spending of time and money, you need to make certain that it contributes directly to the realization of that theory of advantage.

His HBR article (Jan-Feb 2014), "The Big Lie of Strategic Planning" is also worth reading:

https://hbr.org/amp/2014/01/the-big-lie-of-strategic-planning

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