What Makes a Great Strategist with Roger Martin

Welcome to the What's Next! Podcast with Tiffani Bova. I'm thrilled to welcome you back to a series I did with my dear friend, Roger Martin. He's the author of the amazing book, Playing to Win. In this episode, we discuss what makes a great strategist. THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR…leaders, strategists, and executives who want to strengthen their strategic thinking and better understand what separates great strategists from good planners. TODAY'S MAIN MESSAGE…great strategy doesn't come from intellectual brilliance alone. Roger says the best strategists develop a mindset rooted in humility, curiosity, and practice. In this episode, Roger makes the case that great strategy starts with a deep understanding of customers and evolves through experimentation in complex systems. KEY TAKEAWAYS Strategy should begin with a deep understanding of customers and their needs. Overreliance on data analytics can limit creativity and strategic thinking. Data should inform judgment, not replace it. Great strategists invent the future rather than simply extrapolating from the past. WHAT I LOVE MOST…Roger's reminder that strategy is a skill anybody can learn. Even leaders like A. G. Lafley became great strategists through years of experimentation and learning. It's a powerful reminder that anyone can get better at strategy with practice. Running Time: 25:51

You can listen to What Makes a Great Strategist with Roger Martin online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

What Makes a Great Strategist with Roger Martin is an episode from What's Next! with Tiffani Bova by Tiffani Bova: Interviews with Seth Godin, Naomi Simson, Nancy Duarte, Whitney Johnson, Martin Lindst.

This episode is 25:52 long.

This episode was published on Mar 19, 2026.

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