Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works

Strategy is not complex. But it is difficult. It's hard because it forces people and organizations to make concrete decisions about their future - something that doesn't happen in most companies.

Two of the best-known thought leaders in business today get to the heart of strategy - explaining what it's for, how to think about it, why you need it, and how to implement it. And they use one of the most successful corporate turnarounds of the last century, which they did together, to prove their point.

A.G. Lafley, former CEO of Procter & Gamble, working closely with strategic advisor Roger Martin, doubled P&G's sales, quadrupled its profits, and increased its market value by more than $100 billion in just ten years. Drawing on her years of experience at P&G and at the Rotman School of Management, where Martin is dean, this book shows how leaders in companies of all sizes can align their day-to-day actions with larger strategic goals that align with the clear, essential elements that drive business success - where to play and how to win.

The result is a playbook for winning. Lafley and Martin have come up with a set of five essential strategic choices that, if approached in an integrated way, will give you an edge over your competitors. They are:

- What is our goal to win?
- Where are we going to play?
- How are we going to win?
- What skills do we need to have in order to win?
- What management systems are needed to support our decisions?

The stories of how P&G has won repeatedly by applying this methodology to iconic brands like Olay, Bounty, Gillette, Swiffer, and Febreze clearly demonstrate how deciding on a strategic approach - and then making the right decisions to support it - can make the difference between just playing the game and actually winning.

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