Playing to Win
Playing to Win
A.G. Lafley
Justin Kan
Changed my life! - Justin Kan
Ramit Sethi
Ramit Sethi mentioned this book in the "What to Read Next" newsletter.
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Playing to Win

Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works

A.G. Lafley
By
A.G. Lafley
4.0
437
ratings on Goodreads

In "Playing to Win," A.G. Lafley, the visionary former CEO of Procter & Gamble, teams up with renowned strategic adviser Roger Martin to unveil the quintessence of strategy in the competitive business world. Through the compelling narrative of P&G's remarkable turnaround—doubling sales, quadrupling profits, and boosting market value by over $100 billion in a decade—Lafley and Martin distill the essence of strategic success into a clear, actionable playbook. This isn't just about the theoretical underpinnings of strategy; it's a practical guide illuminated by the high-stakes decisions behind some of the most iconic brand transformations in recent history. At the heart of "Playing to Win" is a simple yet profound framework, comprising five critical questions that prompt leaders to make deliberate choices about their company's path to victory. From defining a winning aspiration to understanding where to play, how to win, the capabilities needed for success, and the management systems that support strategic choices, Lafley and Martin offer readers a masterclass in strategy. Their insight is more than inspirational—it's a meticulously crafted approach that has been proven to drive extraordinary outcomes. For anyone tasked with steering their organization toward greatness, "Playing to Win" is an indispensable roadmap to achieving competitive advantage and securing a place at the top.

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Released
2013
1 Jan
Length
272
Pages

2

recommendations

recommendation

Changed my life! - Justin Kan
Ramit Sethi mentioned this book in the "What to Read Next" newsletter.
Six Strategy Traps1) The do-it-all strategy: failing to make choices, and making everything a priority. Remember, strategy is choice.2) The Don Quixote strategy: attacking competitive "walled cities" or taking on the strongest competitor first, head-to-head. Remember, where to play is your choice. Pick somewhere you can have a choice to win.3) The Waterloo Strategy: starting wars on multiple fronts with multiple competitors at the same time. No company can do everything well. If you try to do so, you will do everything weakly.4) The something-for-everyone strategy: attempting to capture all consumer or channel or geographic or category segments at once. Remember, to create value, you have to choose to serve some constituents really well and not worry about the others.5) The dreams-that-never-come-true strategy: developing high-level aspirations and mission statements that never get translated into concrete where-to-play and how-to-win choices, core capabilities, and management systems. Remember that aspirations are not strategy. Strategy is the answer to all five questions in the choice cascade.6) The program-of-the-month strategy: settling for generic industry strategies, in which all competitors are chasing the same customers, geographies, and segments in the same way. The choice cascade and activity system that supports these choices should be distinctive. The more your choices look like those of your competitors, the less likely you will ever win.
— A.G. Lafley, Playing to Win

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