Playing to Win

Why It's On My Shelf

This is the clearest strategy framework I have encountered. Lafley and Martin distill strategy into five cascading choices: what is your winning aspiration, where will you play, how will you win, what capabilities must be in place, and what management systems are required. The power is in how these choices reinforce each other and force real tradeoffs rather than vague aspirations about being the best. The Procter and Gamble examples throughout show how these concepts work at massive scale, from Olay's repositioning to the acquisition strategy for Gillette. I use this structure constantly when helping teams articulate platform strategy, particularly the discipline of defining where you will not play. Too many strategies fail because they refuse to make hard choices about focus. The book also introduced me to the concept of reverse engineering your strategy from what would have to be true, which is now a staple in how I facilitate planning sessions.