A plan is not a strategy

If you plan, that’s a way to guarantee losing. If you do strategy, it gives you the best possible chance of winning. – Roger Martin Roger Martin, former dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto and one of the world’s leading thinkers on strategy, says developing strategy means going outside an organization’s comfort zone and escaping the common traps of strategic planning. Here are key ideas from his HBR talk (note: BigIdeas newsletter by NextBigWhat brings you big ideas from world's leading books, videos, podcasts in bite-sized format). Stepping out of comfort zones Strategy requires accepting uncertainty and stepping out of comfort zones. It involves aiming for competitive outcomes that depend on customer choices, unlike planning which revolves around controlled resource spending. Avoiding the planning trap To escape the planning trap, organizations must embrace the discomfort and uncertainty of strategic decision-making. A good leader takes calculated risks for the chance of achieving greatness. If you’re trying to escape this planning trap, this comfort trap of doing something that’s comfortable but not good for you, how do you start? The most important thing to recognize is that strategy will have angst associated with it. – Roger Martin Continue [reading]( / [Subscribe to NextBigWhat]( to access 1000s of such big ideas - curated across a range of topics (from AI to mental health, communication, marketing etc). --------------------------------------------------------------- bigIdeas by nextbigwhat brings you curated insights from the world's best ideas on personal development and skills that matter to you., product and tech trends across a range of industries - ensuring you save time and be the most well informed person in the room. Contact [nextbigwhat team](mailto:team@nextbigwhat.com?subject=from%20newsletter) | [unsubscribe]( Follow nextbigwhat on [LinkedIn]( | [Twitter]( | [Insta]( | [Facebook]( | [YouTube](