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A New Way to Think: Your Guide to Superior Management Effectiveness
If you could imagine the ultimate guide to the essentials of strategy and management, from one of the world's top business thinkers, what would that look like?
It would look like this book. Over a stellar career, Roger Martin has advised CEOs of some of the world's most successful companies. From the beginning, he noted that almost every executive he talked to had a "model"—a framework or way of thinking that guided their strategy and activities. But these models tended to become automatic, so much so that when one didn't work, the response was typically to just apply it again—with greater enthusiasm.
Martin took a fresh, critical approach to helping. When company leaders came to him with fundamental questions—How do you decide where to play and how to win? What is the key to shaping and changing corporate culture? How can you design a successful, sustainable innovation process?—his first response was to break the spell of the current model with a memo articulating a new way to think about the problem at hand, and a more powerful and effective way to successfully overcome it.
Over time, these ideas worked their way into Martin's many Harvard Business Review articles. Now, for the first time, they appear together in A New Way to Think. With his trademark incisive intellect and clarity, Martin covers the entire breadth of the management landscape—illuminating the true nature of competition, explaining how company success revolves around customers, revealing how strategy and execution are really the same thing, and much more.
Reading like a series of one-on-one sessions with one of the world's leading business thinkers, A New Way to Think is an essential primer for any current or aspiring business leader.
It would look like this book. Over a stellar career, Roger Martin has advised CEOs of some of the world's most successful companies. From the beginning, he noted that almost every executive he talked to had a "model"—a framework or way of thinking that guided their strategy and activities. But these models tended to become automatic, so much so that when one didn't work, the response was typically to just apply it again—with greater enthusiasm.
Martin took a fresh, critical approach to helping. When company leaders came to him with fundamental questions—How do you decide where to play and how to win? What is the key to shaping and changing corporate culture? How can you design a successful, sustainable innovation process?—his first response was to break the spell of the current model with a memo articulating a new way to think about the problem at hand, and a more powerful and effective way to successfully overcome it.
Over time, these ideas worked their way into Martin's many Harvard Business Review articles. Now, for the first time, they appear together in A New Way to Think. With his trademark incisive intellect and clarity, Martin covers the entire breadth of the management landscape—illuminating the true nature of competition, explaining how company success revolves around customers, revealing how strategy and execution are really the same thing, and much more.
Reading like a series of one-on-one sessions with one of the world's leading business thinkers, A New Way to Think is an essential primer for any current or aspiring business leader.
254 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 3, 2022
336 people are currently reading
3351 people want to read
About the author
Roger L. Martin
31 books221 followersRoger Martin is the Institute Director of the Martin Prosperity Institute and the Michael Lee-Chin Family Institute for Corporate Citizenship at the Rotman School of Management and the Premier’s Chair in Productivity & Competitiveness. From 1998 to 2013, he served as Dean. Previously, he spent 13 years as a Director of Monitor Company, a global strategy consulting firm based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he served as co-head of the firm for two years.
His research work is in Integrative Thinking, Business Design, Strategy, Corporate Social Responsibility and Country Competitiveness. He writes extensively and is a regular contributor to: Harvard Business Review’s The Conversation blog, the Financial Times’ Judgment Call column, and the Guardian Sustainable Business. He has written 24 Harvard Business Review articles and published 10 books: Getting Beyond Better (with Sally Osberg); Harvard Business Review Press (HBRP, 2015); Playing to Win (with A.G. Lafley) (HBRP, 2013); Fixing the Game (HBRP, 2011); The Design of Business (HBRP, 2009); The Opposable Mind (HBRP, 2007); The Responsibility Virus (Basic Books, 2002); Canada: What It Is, What It Can Be (with Jim Milway, Rotman-UTP Publishing, 2012); and Diaminds (with Mihnea Moldoveanu, University of Toronto Press, 2009), and The Future of the MBA (with Mihnea Moldoveanu, Oxford University Press, 2008). In addition, he co-edited Rotman on Design (with Karen Christensen, Rotman-UTP Publishing, 2013).
In 2013, Roger placed 3rd on the Thinkers50 list, a biannual ranking of the most influential global business thinkers, moving up from 6th in 2011 and 32nd in 2009. In 2010, he was named one of the 27 most influential designers in the world by Business Week. In 2007 he was named a Business Week 'B-School All-Star' for being one of the 10 most influential business professors in the world. Business Week also named him one of seven 'Innovation Gurus' in 2005.
He serves on a number of public service boards: Skoll Foundation, Canadian Credit Management Foundation, Tennis Canada (past chair), and Bridgespan Group (academic advisory board chair).
A Canadian from Wallenstein, Ontario, Roger received his AB from Harvard College, with a concentration in Economics, in 1979 and his MBA from the Harvard Business School in 1981.
His research work is in Integrative Thinking, Business Design, Strategy, Corporate Social Responsibility and Country Competitiveness. He writes extensively and is a regular contributor to: Harvard Business Review’s The Conversation blog, the Financial Times’ Judgment Call column, and the Guardian Sustainable Business. He has written 24 Harvard Business Review articles and published 10 books: Getting Beyond Better (with Sally Osberg); Harvard Business Review Press (HBRP, 2015); Playing to Win (with A.G. Lafley) (HBRP, 2013); Fixing the Game (HBRP, 2011); The Design of Business (HBRP, 2009); The Opposable Mind (HBRP, 2007); The Responsibility Virus (Basic Books, 2002); Canada: What It Is, What It Can Be (with Jim Milway, Rotman-UTP Publishing, 2012); and Diaminds (with Mihnea Moldoveanu, University of Toronto Press, 2009), and The Future of the MBA (with Mihnea Moldoveanu, Oxford University Press, 2008). In addition, he co-edited Rotman on Design (with Karen Christensen, Rotman-UTP Publishing, 2013).
In 2013, Roger placed 3rd on the Thinkers50 list, a biannual ranking of the most influential global business thinkers, moving up from 6th in 2011 and 32nd in 2009. In 2010, he was named one of the 27 most influential designers in the world by Business Week. In 2007 he was named a Business Week 'B-School All-Star' for being one of the 10 most influential business professors in the world. Business Week also named him one of seven 'Innovation Gurus' in 2005.
He serves on a number of public service boards: Skoll Foundation, Canadian Credit Management Foundation, Tennis Canada (past chair), and Bridgespan Group (academic advisory board chair).
A Canadian from Wallenstein, Ontario, Roger received his AB from Harvard College, with a concentration in Economics, in 1979 and his MBA from the Harvard Business School in 1981.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
December 5, 2022
Essentially the book consists of a series of HBR articles, there are those that I found very insightful and there were also some that did not provide much to me and could have been left out.
The ideas/keywords that I marked down:
*Strategy is the framework how an organization is choosing what to do and what not to do.
*Culture — you can only change it by altering how individuals work with one another.
*The discussion about company functions and espectially imperial functions about monopolies.
*The rationale for successful M&A.
*The concepts that are described in length in "Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works" (reminder to reread this book).
“No business can compete on the front line with one hand tied behind its back by a layer above that is not creating enough value to counterbalance its cost.”
“The primary purpose of a business is to acquire and keep customers” — Peter Drucker
7 step process for generating strategic possibilities:
1) Move from issue to choice.
2) Generate strategic possibilities.
3) Specify the conditions for success.
4) Identify the barriers to choice.
5) Design tests for the barrier conditions.
6) Conduct the tests.
7) Make the Choice.
From “What should we do?” to “What might we do?”
From “What do I believe?” to “What would I have to believe?”
From “What is the right answer?” to “What are the right questions? What specifically must we know in order to make a good decision?”
“Any strategy not predicated on a company’s existing culture will fail — unless the culture can be changed, which is challenging in the extreme.”
“The two critical drivers of productivity in any production process are the way the work is structured and the company’s ability to capture the lessons of experience.”
Three phases of learning from experience:
Mystery — where everything is unknown and learning happens as part of the problem solving.
Heuristics — where a body of knowledge exists, and it is employed by experienced knowledge workers, based on their judgment.
Algorithm — where the knowledge has been developed into an easy-to-use recipe for success, that is also continuously improved.
Value is created in all three phases, but it is the ability to turn knowledge into algorithms that ensures scalability and turns a knowledge organization into a ‘decision factory’.
“Planning may be an excellent way to cope with fear of the unknown, but fear and discomfort are an essential part of strategy-making.”
“Very few M&A deals create value and those that do generally require careful management and a very good understanding of what drives the value of the acquired company.”
The best M&As are the ones where the acquirer is uniquely positioned to extract value from the transaction, and that this to a large degree requires them to increase the value-creation ability of the acquisition. The acquirer can:
*Be a smarter provider of growth capital, by thoroughly understanding the market and domain.
*Provide better managerial oversight — strategic direction, organization and process disciplines.
*Transfer valuable skills that are weaker in the acquisition and critical to competitive advantage.
*Share valuable capabilities, to let the acquisition benefit from the acquirer’s special, valuable functions and/or economies of scale.
The ideas/keywords that I marked down:
*Strategy is the framework how an organization is choosing what to do and what not to do.
*Culture — you can only change it by altering how individuals work with one another.
*The discussion about company functions and espectially imperial functions about monopolies.
*The rationale for successful M&A.
*The concepts that are described in length in "Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works" (reminder to reread this book).
“No business can compete on the front line with one hand tied behind its back by a layer above that is not creating enough value to counterbalance its cost.”
“The primary purpose of a business is to acquire and keep customers” — Peter Drucker
7 step process for generating strategic possibilities:
1) Move from issue to choice.
2) Generate strategic possibilities.
3) Specify the conditions for success.
4) Identify the barriers to choice.
5) Design tests for the barrier conditions.
6) Conduct the tests.
7) Make the Choice.
From “What should we do?” to “What might we do?”
From “What do I believe?” to “What would I have to believe?”
From “What is the right answer?” to “What are the right questions? What specifically must we know in order to make a good decision?”
“Any strategy not predicated on a company’s existing culture will fail — unless the culture can be changed, which is challenging in the extreme.”
“The two critical drivers of productivity in any production process are the way the work is structured and the company’s ability to capture the lessons of experience.”
Three phases of learning from experience:
Mystery — where everything is unknown and learning happens as part of the problem solving.
Heuristics — where a body of knowledge exists, and it is employed by experienced knowledge workers, based on their judgment.
Algorithm — where the knowledge has been developed into an easy-to-use recipe for success, that is also continuously improved.
Value is created in all three phases, but it is the ability to turn knowledge into algorithms that ensures scalability and turns a knowledge organization into a ‘decision factory’.
“Planning may be an excellent way to cope with fear of the unknown, but fear and discomfort are an essential part of strategy-making.”
“Very few M&A deals create value and those that do generally require careful management and a very good understanding of what drives the value of the acquired company.”
The best M&As are the ones where the acquirer is uniquely positioned to extract value from the transaction, and that this to a large degree requires them to increase the value-creation ability of the acquisition. The acquirer can:
*Be a smarter provider of growth capital, by thoroughly understanding the market and domain.
*Provide better managerial oversight — strategic direction, organization and process disciplines.
*Transfer valuable skills that are weaker in the acquisition and critical to competitive advantage.
*Share valuable capabilities, to let the acquisition benefit from the acquirer’s special, valuable functions and/or economies of scale.
January 30, 2023
Набор свежих идей от Роджера Мартина, декана бизнес школы Торонто и советника по стратегии в P&G. В основном для крупного бизнеса. Не со всем смог согласиться, но чтение интересное и по делу
June 19, 2023
3.5 / 5
While 'A New Way to Think' still mostly tailors to an audience of executives at Fortune 500, especially non-tech sector - like many other HBR publications do, it does provide concise, practical frameworks , as well as point out common pit falls about people and business management for business and functional organization decision makers of all sizes (*Excluding seed stage companies or start-ups still trying to prove product-market fit).
A few highlights/food for thoughts:
- Part Three 'Structuring Work': the author advocate individual contributors ('knowledge workers') shall be projects, rather than task/functionality ('job) based.
I agree there are benefits maintaining certain level of fluidity/flexibility of team structures (the Squad Team structure at Spotify first comes to mind), including maximizing resources allocation, business adaptability and agility and providing new learning, collaboration opportunities internally etc. However, this model usually does not work well for more complex, longer term (12+ months) initiatives where cross functional alignments, cohesion of product and company strategies are required.
- Part Four, which I am half way through, touches on a few common traps for strategy planning. Specifically, it exposes the 'false comfort' in strategy planning exercise, and the deeper root in human and organizational psychology. After all, companies are made up of groups of humans.
There is simple yet effective practice to approach product and corporate strategies. But if you are already familiar with the concept of OKR and iterative testing, this chapter won't offer that much net new ideas for you.
While 'A New Way to Think' still mostly tailors to an audience of executives at Fortune 500, especially non-tech sector - like many other HBR publications do, it does provide concise, practical frameworks , as well as point out common pit falls about people and business management for business and functional organization decision makers of all sizes (*Excluding seed stage companies or start-ups still trying to prove product-market fit).
A few highlights/food for thoughts:
- Part Three 'Structuring Work': the author advocate individual contributors ('knowledge workers') shall be projects, rather than task/functionality ('job) based.
I agree there are benefits maintaining certain level of fluidity/flexibility of team structures (the Squad Team structure at Spotify first comes to mind), including maximizing resources allocation, business adaptability and agility and providing new learning, collaboration opportunities internally etc. However, this model usually does not work well for more complex, longer term (12+ months) initiatives where cross functional alignments, cohesion of product and company strategies are required.
- Part Four, which I am half way through, touches on a few common traps for strategy planning. Specifically, it exposes the 'false comfort' in strategy planning exercise, and the deeper root in human and organizational psychology. After all, companies are made up of groups of humans.
There is simple yet effective practice to approach product and corporate strategies. But if you are already familiar with the concept of OKR and iterative testing, this chapter won't offer that much net new ideas for you.
June 20, 2023
Decent information, structured, not too long, and each chapter is telling a proper story.
I liked the fact that it is grouped into 4 parts - context, making choices, structuring work, and key activities. The introduction is a great summary of the reasons we need to lean to new ways of thinking and how each chapter is relevant and important for leaders.
On the downside, it feels like a hand-picked collection of HBR articles (which at least in part is, for example, part 2 stakeholders is adapted from the HBR 2010 The Age of Customer Capitalism). Articles of wisdom but nothing out-of-the-ordinary, new or revolutionary. For example, thinking customer-first rather than shareholder-first (still chapter 2) is in no way news and it was in no way news in 2010 when the corresponding article was written.
It makes me think the title is more a of but-bait in retrospect.
I do not agree with the fact that it was named one of the "10 Must-Read Career and Leadership Books For 2022" by Forbes.
I liked the fact that it is grouped into 4 parts - context, making choices, structuring work, and key activities. The introduction is a great summary of the reasons we need to lean to new ways of thinking and how each chapter is relevant and important for leaders.
On the downside, it feels like a hand-picked collection of HBR articles (which at least in part is, for example, part 2 stakeholders is adapted from the HBR 2010 The Age of Customer Capitalism). Articles of wisdom but nothing out-of-the-ordinary, new or revolutionary. For example, thinking customer-first rather than shareholder-first (still chapter 2) is in no way news and it was in no way news in 2010 when the corresponding article was written.
It makes me think the title is more a of but-bait in retrospect.
I do not agree with the fact that it was named one of the "10 Must-Read Career and Leadership Books For 2022" by Forbes.
March 15, 2023
In A New Way to Think: Your Guide to Superior Management Effectiveness, Roger Martin presents new ways to think about some common business situations. Those lessons should shake up your thinking and lead you to try new methods so that your knowledge expands, and your organization’s results improve.
See my full review at
https://www.threestarleadership.com/b...
See my full review at
https://www.threestarleadership.com/b...
August 24, 2022
Jeg er en stor Roger Martin fan. Denne bog er lidt en greatest hits af hans tanker om nye og bedre måder at adressere problemstillinger. Martins hovedpointe er, at vi handler ud fra modeller uden at forholde os kritisk til om modellerne virker - og at der ofte ligger en mere præcis og bedre model og venter på at blive opdaget.
Synes dog stadig bedre om Playing to Win og Creating Better Choices.
Synes dog stadig bedre om Playing to Win og Creating Better Choices.
September 16, 2024
Starts well but gets boring
August 17, 2022
Skippable
June 11, 2023
Is it possible to flawlessly execute a crappy idea and get good results? Not likely. Roger Martin has written an incredibly thought-provoking book on the models that most businesspeople use. Here’s how he sets it up:
“When executives find that a given framework, general practice, theory, or way of thinking—what I will call a “model” for short—doesn’t lead to the desired outcome, they almost automatically assume that the model in question wasn’t applied rigorously enough. The prescription, therefore, is to apply the model again, more vigorously. And when that produces the same unsatisfactory result, the prescription is to try even harder.
“…human beings don’t consciously make a choice of whether to model; “it is only a question of which model.”
Business education teaches many models: 4Ps, Five Forces, CAPM, EOQ, Black Scholes, GAAP, WACC, on and on. When these models don’t produce desired results, we rarely challenge the model, but rather that we incorrectly applied it. It’s socially risky to question an established model. Try it. I have with hourly billing, tracking time, cost accounting, GAAP, auditor independence. Not a route to popularity. But sometimes the model is not up to the task. Martin points out that market data is not relevant for breakthrough innovations. He quotes American pragmatist philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce (pronounced purse, I believe) “observation that no new idea in the history of the world has been proven in advance analytically, which means that if you insist on rigorous proof of the merits of an idea during its development, you will kill it if it is truly a breakthrough idea, because there will be no proof of its breakthrough characteristics in advance. A better model is one that has you assess them on the strength of their logic—the theory of why the idea is a good one—not on the strength of the existing data.” Martin covers 14 models that he believes are flawed and posits better ones he thinks are superior, based on his experience, consulting work, and collective wisdom. I concur with his approach:
"I come from the Karl Popper/Imre Lakatos school of falsificationism. Like them, I don’t believe there are right answers or wrong answers, just better ones and worse ones."
His hero is Peter Drucker and his goal is to make executives more effective (not more efficient). As he writes in the Afterword: Frequent saying: “A mediocre idea well executed is superior to a great idea poorly executed.” How would they know that an idea was “great” if it was “poorly executed”? You could well imagine how you would know if you had “a mediocre idea that was well executed.” The results would be as expected and would be mediocre. But it’s an important principle to ensure action orientation one executive assured him? “Unfortunately, it didn’t occur to her that the principle would guarantee an action orientation focused on mediocre ideas.”
I will only explain one model’s improvement, it is on strategy: In strategy, what counts is what would have to be true—not what is true. This is a fantastic book, well worth reading.
“When executives find that a given framework, general practice, theory, or way of thinking—what I will call a “model” for short—doesn’t lead to the desired outcome, they almost automatically assume that the model in question wasn’t applied rigorously enough. The prescription, therefore, is to apply the model again, more vigorously. And when that produces the same unsatisfactory result, the prescription is to try even harder.
“…human beings don’t consciously make a choice of whether to model; “it is only a question of which model.”
Business education teaches many models: 4Ps, Five Forces, CAPM, EOQ, Black Scholes, GAAP, WACC, on and on. When these models don’t produce desired results, we rarely challenge the model, but rather that we incorrectly applied it. It’s socially risky to question an established model. Try it. I have with hourly billing, tracking time, cost accounting, GAAP, auditor independence. Not a route to popularity. But sometimes the model is not up to the task. Martin points out that market data is not relevant for breakthrough innovations. He quotes American pragmatist philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce (pronounced purse, I believe) “observation that no new idea in the history of the world has been proven in advance analytically, which means that if you insist on rigorous proof of the merits of an idea during its development, you will kill it if it is truly a breakthrough idea, because there will be no proof of its breakthrough characteristics in advance. A better model is one that has you assess them on the strength of their logic—the theory of why the idea is a good one—not on the strength of the existing data.” Martin covers 14 models that he believes are flawed and posits better ones he thinks are superior, based on his experience, consulting work, and collective wisdom. I concur with his approach:
"I come from the Karl Popper/Imre Lakatos school of falsificationism. Like them, I don’t believe there are right answers or wrong answers, just better ones and worse ones."
His hero is Peter Drucker and his goal is to make executives more effective (not more efficient). As he writes in the Afterword: Frequent saying: “A mediocre idea well executed is superior to a great idea poorly executed.” How would they know that an idea was “great” if it was “poorly executed”? You could well imagine how you would know if you had “a mediocre idea that was well executed.” The results would be as expected and would be mediocre. But it’s an important principle to ensure action orientation one executive assured him? “Unfortunately, it didn’t occur to her that the principle would guarantee an action orientation focused on mediocre ideas.”
I will only explain one model’s improvement, it is on strategy: In strategy, what counts is what would have to be true—not what is true. This is a fantastic book, well worth reading.
March 29, 2024
The book explores 14 existing concepts and frameworks in business and challenges them. IT claims that the new way to think about them is neigh but I feel like most of the things the books talk about are common wisdom.
I'd talk about 2 of the 14 concepts.
In chapter 11, Talent, the Author claims that the common idea is to treat everyone the same but he recommends treating your star performers differently and making them feel special by how you treat them and money is not what excites people and makes them feel special. How is that a new way to think? I would have thought that it was common wisdom. Wasn't it Napolean who said that “A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon”, meaning that it's not the money that drives people?
Again in chapter 14, M&A, the author talks about giving value to get value and even quotes Adam Grant (where Adam Grant talks about give and take in personal relationships in his book Give and Take) which I thought was absurd because of how drawing parallels between personal relationships and M&A doesn't make sense to me. I felt like the author quotes Grant because it connects to his story and not necessarily because it makes sense. Furthermore, I mean why would a company buy another company (or indulge in M&A) if they do not see value or do not find synergies in either operation or strategy (unless the buyer is either batshit crazy or incompetent or is shady) or some other business attribute.
3 out of 5 stars because everything the book talks about does make sense but I felt like many points were contrived. Additionally, it was not an easy book to read.
I'd talk about 2 of the 14 concepts.
In chapter 11, Talent, the Author claims that the common idea is to treat everyone the same but he recommends treating your star performers differently and making them feel special by how you treat them and money is not what excites people and makes them feel special. How is that a new way to think? I would have thought that it was common wisdom. Wasn't it Napolean who said that “A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon”, meaning that it's not the money that drives people?
Again in chapter 14, M&A, the author talks about giving value to get value and even quotes Adam Grant (where Adam Grant talks about give and take in personal relationships in his book Give and Take) which I thought was absurd because of how drawing parallels between personal relationships and M&A doesn't make sense to me. I felt like the author quotes Grant because it connects to his story and not necessarily because it makes sense. Furthermore, I mean why would a company buy another company (or indulge in M&A) if they do not see value or do not find synergies in either operation or strategy (unless the buyer is either batshit crazy or incompetent or is shady) or some other business attribute.
3 out of 5 stars because everything the book talks about does make sense but I felt like many points were contrived. Additionally, it was not an easy book to read.
September 24, 2022
What's the big idea and/or unique approach of this book?
This book is actually a series of articles that were in the Harvard business review. The articles are all about strategy, specifically approaching areas of the business that have a standard way of doing things and how he has discovered a different approach that works better. It is all focused on very large companies end it is very academic and its style (citing other authors, using lots of elevated and technical language, and limiting emotional language).
How am I smarter, better, or wiser because of it?
I happen to work with large companies like this and there were three different points where I made notes on either what his strategy was or how he explained it. I think it will actually help me with my consulting practice. Those three things were: going from empowering employees to cascading choice, using “what would have to be true” in strategy sessions, and organizations around projects not job titles.
Was I entertained/did it keep my attention?
Not really. I almost quit reading it twice because I was getting bored. Then I would run across another nugget that would actually be useful with my clients, so I would keep going. But it wasn’t easy.
Would I recommend it to others?
Only for consultants who work with large companies.
This book is actually a series of articles that were in the Harvard business review. The articles are all about strategy, specifically approaching areas of the business that have a standard way of doing things and how he has discovered a different approach that works better. It is all focused on very large companies end it is very academic and its style (citing other authors, using lots of elevated and technical language, and limiting emotional language).
How am I smarter, better, or wiser because of it?
I happen to work with large companies like this and there were three different points where I made notes on either what his strategy was or how he explained it. I think it will actually help me with my consulting practice. Those three things were: going from empowering employees to cascading choice, using “what would have to be true” in strategy sessions, and organizations around projects not job titles.
Was I entertained/did it keep my attention?
Not really. I almost quit reading it twice because I was getting bored. Then I would run across another nugget that would actually be useful with my clients, so I would keep going. But it wasn’t easy.
Would I recommend it to others?
Only for consultants who work with large companies.
April 11, 2022
I got a digital galley copy of the book from NetGalley. One of the things that the book tries to do (as the title suggests) is to break frames of references and thinking around key areas of running a large corporation - from thinking about talent to culture, from strategy to planning to execution, from how to value capital to mergers and acquisitions.
While every one of the chapters is based on a previously written HBR articles, the combination turns out to create the possibility of thinking about running / leading large corporations in new light.
The book is an easy read and the beauty is that we can read the chapter that we are currently struggling with and stop there, if we are pressed for time.
As always, the quality of thinking that has went into the book is really top notch.
This book comes highly recommended if you are leading or wanting to lead a large corporations in any capacity.
While every one of the chapters is based on a previously written HBR articles, the combination turns out to create the possibility of thinking about running / leading large corporations in new light.
The book is an easy read and the beauty is that we can read the chapter that we are currently struggling with and stop there, if we are pressed for time.
As always, the quality of thinking that has went into the book is really top notch.
This book comes highly recommended if you are leading or wanting to lead a large corporations in any capacity.
August 28, 2022
Wanted to give this 3.5 stars.
Pros: Challenges traditional thinking around Strategy, Planning & Management. Gives some insight into the history of business strategy and schools of thought that were de rigeur at various times. I liked how the book organized topics into distinct areas. I also liked his perspective on M&A.
Cons: Like other books that merge or pull from author articles from different periods, it didn't always flow well. Some of his anecdotes felt made-up, or at least suffered from retelling-to-fit-the-narrative. Main irksome point was that many of his business examples suffered from confirmation bias, where citing a company as an example of a point he's making, he viewed the cause-and-effect as ironclad, when in reality its hypothesis on his part.
Cons aside, I got something out of the book and am better off for having read it.
Pros: Challenges traditional thinking around Strategy, Planning & Management. Gives some insight into the history of business strategy and schools of thought that were de rigeur at various times. I liked how the book organized topics into distinct areas. I also liked his perspective on M&A.
Cons: Like other books that merge or pull from author articles from different periods, it didn't always flow well. Some of his anecdotes felt made-up, or at least suffered from retelling-to-fit-the-narrative. Main irksome point was that many of his business examples suffered from confirmation bias, where citing a company as an example of a point he's making, he viewed the cause-and-effect as ironclad, when in reality its hypothesis on his part.
Cons aside, I got something out of the book and am better off for having read it.
July 18, 2024
"A New Way to Think: Your Guide to Superior Management Effectiveness" by Roger L. Martin is an essential guide for business leaders. Martin, a top business thinker, compiles insights from his career advising successful CEOs, addressing fundamental management questions. He critiques common executive models and offers fresh strategies to enhance effectiveness. Covering topics from corporate culture to innovation, Martin's book combines clarity and depth, providing practical advice on competition, customer focus, and the interplay of strategy and execution. This book is like having a series of one-on-one sessions with a leading expert, making it a must-read for current and aspiring business leaders.
January 11, 2023
A misnomer - very little that is new, either to me or the author as it is a collection of edited articles from Harvard Business Review dating back 12 years or so. Also much of what is billed as counterintuitive didn't feel that way. That said, I did find some invigorating nuggets, it is very clear and well written, and it does not suffer from labouring the point as many of these sorts of books do. Perhaps those who do doggedly follow received wisdom rather than experimenting and learning will get a lot from it.
December 10, 2024
This is a thought-provoking book that challenges and encourages leaders to adopt new ways of thinking. Martin argues that some business models are flawed and offers alternative approaches to managing corporate operations. The book is filled with practical advice on various aspects of business management, including strategy, execution, talent management, and innovation. Each chapter is an individual lesson, focusing on historical context and examples of how corporations have dealt with various issues. Read this if you are interested in business strategies and management techniques.
July 31, 2024
Read this with my employee as part of a development book club at work. The book carries useful insights for reframing how to approach larger strategic work issues. It encourages leaning into human-centered design while calling out common pitfalls in workplace thinking.
We used a couple chapters to foster retreat discussions, utilizing the anecdotal examples Martin provides as use cases. We found that to be a useful tool for our coworkers to observe other companies before examining our own.
We used a couple chapters to foster retreat discussions, utilizing the anecdotal examples Martin provides as use cases. We found that to be a useful tool for our coworkers to observe other companies before examining our own.
October 28, 2024
This book is actually a series of essays that exemplify the teachings of Roger Martin. I suspect it will not have the impact of "Playing to Win" because it is not such a coherent whole but in some ways I think it is more useful.
It is very much worth reading to support the other books like "Creating Great Choices", "Playing to Win" and "The Design of Business". Taken together they form a kind of business framework that is useful for anyone in business to think about and use.
It is very much worth reading to support the other books like "Creating Great Choices", "Playing to Win" and "The Design of Business". Taken together they form a kind of business framework that is useful for anyone in business to think about and use.
July 6, 2023
Initially it seems like it will focus on FMCG strategy specifically with P&G (given its author was an advisor to their CEO for 10 years) but rewards with much beyond that. For an entrepreneur - a great eye opener to the world of big corporate. Initially I thought I wouldn't get much, but walked away with dozens of insights. Solid read, and a good challenge to how we typically approach strategy.
January 24, 2024
This book feels like a summary of the author’s life’s work in the form of HBR-style articles. I don’t really like the format, but I do like Roger L. Martin’s thinking and work, which made this an interesting read for me. Also included some new ideas and food for thought I had not run into previously.
August 22, 2024
This was required reading for work and I listened to the whole thing during a day of work travel. There’s some interesting ideas in here, but a lot of it was B-School Thought Leadery, which just doesn’t make sense for my role or my industry. Also, I got very weary of the relentless capitalism of it all.
April 12, 2025
Looking for a book on creativity, across A New Way to Think through Thinker 50. The opening really caught, he challenges whether the modules and frameworks we use today are actually the “right” ones, which trigger my curiosity. The book is well structured, with each chapter focusing clearly. However, feel the book more suited for big corporation, seniors rather than average reader.
March 5, 2022
This book came highly touted and is chocked full of specific topics so I was very excited about reading it as a supervisor in coaching my team. It was written in such a textbook fashion that, at least for me, made it less accessible. My favorite part was actually the analysis of the NFL's Aaron Rogers' career. I will say that it is full of specific detailed examples and explores 14 unique management models. If you are looking for a work that dives so deep into such models, then this book is perfect. It is well written and displays extensive experience in command of the management models. I was provided an advance copy through NetGalley without any obligation of positive review comments.
June 15, 2022
Solid offering on management effectiveness from Roger Martin, former Dean of the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management. I particularly enjoyed the segment on strategy, and how it is frequently misunderstood and often divorced from execution.
September 6, 2022
I felt like this book was full of decent advice, but it was geared to a very specific audience. There was many aspects that I just kept thinking "yes that would be great... if I worked with a larger company." If you work in management for a very large corporation, this book will be more for you.
December 1, 2022
Roger Martin challenges conventional business thinking on the basis of the mistakes he’s seen being made in his years of consulting. Definitely thought provoking and actionable in our careers, businesses and personal management.
January 3, 2023
A good book to pause and re-think of accepted/status quo positions/models. Enjoyed most of the chapters and will be applying many of them in practice, in particular the ideas around strategy, stakeholders, execution and talent management.
April 19, 2023
Not as groundbreaking as the title would lead you to believe as some of the ideas here are already widely known. Regardless, some insights here have taught me to reconsider how I look at things, particularly strategy, data, and even talent.
July 14, 2022
I am a Roger Martin fan. The ideas in this book resonated with me based on my experience.
August 7, 2022
If there is one book one should read in management if they want to become a game changing leader. Simply phenomenal!
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