Luke Hartsock

“I find that most teams consider three to five possibilities in depth. On one aspect of this question, I am adamant: the team must produce more than one possibility. Otherwise, it never really started the strategy-making process because it didn’t see itself as facing a choice. Analyzing a single possibility is not conducive to producing optimal action—or, in fact, any action at all.”
― Roger L. Martin, A New Way to Think: Your Guide to Superior Management Effectiveness

“Having recognized that a choice needs to be made, you can now turn to the full range of possibilities you should consider. These might be versions of the options already identified.”
― Roger L. Martin, A New Way to Think: Your Guide to Superior Management Effectiveness

“This insight prompted Lafley to switch the bonus metric from TSR to something called operating TSR, which is based on a combination of three real operating performance measures—sales growth, profit margin improvement, and increase in capital efficiency. His belief was that if P&G satisfied its customers, operating TSR would increase, and the stock price would take care of itself over the long term. Moreover, operating TSR is a number that P&G’s business unit presidents can truly influence, unlike the market-based TSR number.”
― Roger L. Martin, A New Way to Think: Your Guide to Superior Management Effectiveness

“Constructing strategic possibilities, especially ones that are genuinely new, is the ultimate creative act in business. No one in the rest of the beauty industry would have imagined P&G’s completely reinventing Olay and boldly going head-to-head against leading prestige brands. To generate such creative options, you need a clear idea of what constitutes a possibility. You also need an imaginative yet grounded team and a robust process for managing debate.”
― Roger L. Martin, A New Way to Think: Your Guide to Superior Management Effectiveness