I’m going to make the bold statement that Roger Martin is this era’s Peter Drucker as a prolific business writer. Roger has co-authored my favorite book on strategy, Playing to Win which is simple, concise, pragmatic, and has plenty of sticky concepts. Roger’s newest book is A New Way to Think. If you like Adam Grant, Dan Pink, the Heath brothers, or Matthew May, this book belongs in your book queue, the topic in this conversation.
Interview Highlights
- The willingness to pay good money to hear Patrick Lencioni, Matthew May, or Dan Pink interview Roger Martin
- My David Letterman opinion and Robert Caro
- The difference between OKRs and strategy
- The pragmatism of Playing to Win
- The best quote I’ve ever read on coaching – the words of A.G. Lafley regarding his good friend, Roger Martin
- The common thread between Lafley and Agassi
- Why most leaders attack culture the wrong way
- The decoupling of strategy and planning
- ” $10 spent on planning for every dollar spent on strategy.”
- We had the best year ever when we abolished revenue planning
- Revisiting Aristotle’s message on happiness
A.G. Lafley’s Quote on Selecting a Coach
I loved the book, Playing to Win by Roger Martin and his friend, A.G. Lafley. Lafley has written one of the most compelling and meaningful comments I’ve ever read on picking a coach. Remember, this is a professional stalwart who once ran P&G.
“… I wanted someone without an agenda (at least, without an inside P&G political agenda). I needed someone whom I could trust implicitly and who could trust me–someone I could work with informally and in complete confidence, someone with intellectual integrity to go with moral integrity, emotional intelligence to go with IQ, and the courage to tell the emperor when he was wearing no clothes.” A.G. Lafley
Key Terms in A New Way to Think
Sorry, no spoilers allowed. Here are some of my favorite big ideas and terms in Roger’s new book:
- The school of falsification
- How not to change a firm’s culture
- Cost-based thinking
- M&A, “targets not jewels to be mined.”
- Reinforcing rods
- Familiar solutions vs. perfect ones
- Decision factories
- Flow-to-work strategy
- Knowledge work vs. heuristics
- Far-outside-in
Books Mentioned by Roger Martin
- Art as Experience by John Dewey
- Overcoming Organizational Defenses by Chris Argyris
- The Reflective Practitioner by Donald Schon
- Any book by Peter Drucker
Roger Martin Relevant Links
- Roger’s Website
- Roger’s Medium Platform (76k followers)
- Twitter Account
- 30+ Articles at HBR
Your Next Thought-Provoking Listen
I started my conversation with Roger Martin by saying I’d pay good money to listen to Patrick Lencioni, Matthew May, or Dan Pink interview him.
Similarly, I’d love to be a fly on the wall listening to Ron Baker and Roger Martin discussing many of the great nuggets in Ron’s vastly underrated book, Mind Over Matter.
If you liked the show above, consider listening to our interview with Ron on the value of intellectual property.
You can check out the rest of the podcast catalog here.
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