# playing-to-win > This skill defines the strategic framework used in this repository. All strategy work follows the Playing to Win methodology developed by A.G. Lafley and Roger Martin. - Author: Adam Hede - Repository: AdamHede/StrategyOStemplate - Version: 20251211194945 - Stars: 0 - Forks: 0 - Last Updated: 2026-02-07 - Source: https://github.com/AdamHede/StrategyOStemplate - Web: https://mule.run/skillshub/@@AdamHede/StrategyOStemplate~playing-to-win:20251211194945 --- # Playing to Win Framework This skill defines the strategic framework used in this repository. All strategy work follows the Playing to Win methodology developed by A.G. Lafley and Roger Martin. --- ## Core Philosophy **Strategy is choice.** It is not a vision, a plan, or a set of goals. Strategy is an integrated set of choices that positions an organization to win. > "A strategy is a coordinated and integrated set of five choices: a winning aspiration, where to play, how to win, core capabilities, and management systems." The key word is *integrated*. These choices reinforce each other. They form a cascade where each level constrains and enables the next. **Playing to win vs. playing to play.** Many organizations set out to "participate" in a market rather than win. This leads to hedged bets, diffuse efforts, and mediocre outcomes. Strategy requires the courage to make hard choices that could be wrong—but that focus resources on actually winning. --- ## The Strategy Choice Cascade The five questions, answered in sequence: ### 1. What is our Winning Aspiration? The purpose of the enterprise and its motivating aspiration. Not a mission statement—a definition of what winning looks like. **Good winning aspirations are:** - Specific about who you serve and how they benefit - Ambitious but achievable - Customer-centric, not internally focused - Clear about what "winning" means (market position, impact, value creation) **Common mistakes:** - Defining winning as financial metrics (revenue, profit) without connecting to customer value - Vague statements that could apply to any company - Aspirations that don't require hard choices **Questions to ask:** - What does winning look like for our customers? - What would the world look like if we won? - Is this aspiration specific enough to guide choices? --- ### 2. Where will we Play? The playing field: markets, segments, customers, channels, geographies, and product categories where you will compete. **Dimensions of "where":** - **Geography:** Which regions, countries, markets? - **Customer segments:** Which types of customers? Which needs? - **Channels:** How do you reach customers? Direct, retail, digital? - **Product/service categories:** What offerings? - **Vertical stages:** Where in the value chain do you operate? **The discipline is in choosing where NOT to play.** Every "where" is also an implicit "where not." **Questions to ask:** - Where can we realistically win, given our capabilities? - Where is the competition weakest or most complacent? - Where do our existing strengths translate? - What would we have to believe to think we can win here? --- ### 3. How will we Win? The value proposition and competitive advantage that will allow you to win in your chosen playing field. **Two fundamental approaches (per Porter):** - **Cost leadership:** Winning by being the low-cost provider - **Differentiation:** Winning by providing unique value customers will pay a premium for Most sustainable strategies involve a differentiation focus. Pure cost leadership is hard to maintain and invites races to the bottom. **How to win must be:** - Specific to your where-to-play choices - Difficult for competitors to replicate - Grounded in real capabilities (not wishful thinking) - Clear about the value equation for customers **Questions to ask:** - Why will customers choose us over alternatives? - What can we do that competitors cannot easily copy? - Is our advantage structural or executional? - How long can we sustain this advantage? --- ### 4. What Capabilities must we have? The reinforcing set of capabilities required to execute the strategy. Not a list of "nice to haves"—the specific capabilities that are *necessary* to win in your chosen way. **Capabilities are:** - Activities and competencies that underpin where-to-play and how-to-win - Mutually reinforcing (the combination matters) - Built over time through investment and focus **P&G's five core capabilities (as example):** 1. Deep consumer understanding 2. Brand building 3. Innovation 4. Go-to-market ability 5. Global scale **Questions to ask:** - What must we be world-class at to execute this strategy? - Which capabilities do we have? Which must we build or acquire? - How do our capabilities reinforce each other? - What capabilities should we explicitly NOT invest in? --- ### 5. What Management Systems are required? The systems, structures, and measures that support the strategy and build the required capabilities. **This includes:** - Organizational structure - Performance metrics and incentives - Planning and budgeting processes - Talent and culture systems - Information and decision-making systems **The systems must:** - Reinforce strategic choices (not undermine them) - Measure what matters for the strategy - Enable the required capabilities - Create feedback loops for learning and adaptation **Questions to ask:** - Do our metrics reward strategic behavior or undermine it? - Does our structure support or hinder our how-to-win? - Are we investing in building the required capabilities? - Do we have the information needed to track strategic progress? --- ## The Integration Requirement **The cascade must be internally consistent.** Each level must reinforce the others: - Winning Aspiration defines what winning means - Where to Play selects the arena where you can achieve that aspiration - How to Win determines the approach to winning in that arena - Capabilities enable the how-to-win in the where-to-play - Management Systems build and deploy those capabilities **Test for integration:** - Does each choice flow logically from the one above? - Does each choice enable the choices below? - Would changing one choice require changing others? - Could a competitor copy one element without copying the whole system? --- ## The Reverse Engineering Test **"What would have to be true?"** This is the most powerful question in strategy development. Rather than debating whether a strategic choice is right or wrong, ask: *What would have to be true for this to be a winning choice?* This reframes strategy discussions from advocacy to inquiry. It surfaces hidden assumptions and identifies the key uncertainties. **How to use it:** 1. Articulate a strategic possibility (a potential where-to-play or how-to-win) 2. Ask: "What would have to be true about our industry, customers, capabilities, and competition for this to be our winning move?" 3. List the conditions—be specific and testable 4. Assess: Which conditions are most uncertain? Which are most critical? 5. Focus energy on validating or invalidating the key uncertain conditions **See:** `/skills/playing-to-win/what-would-have-to-be-true.md` for detailed methodology. --- ## Big Questions Strategy often requires answering fundamental questions before specific choices can be made. These "Big Questions" guide strategic inquiry. **Big Questions are different from hypotheses:** - Big Questions are open-ended and require judgment ("Who should we serve?") - Hypotheses are testable conditions that support specific choices ("Enterprise will pay a premium") Big Questions often generate multiple hypotheses as potential answers are explored. **See:** `/skills/playing-to-win/big-questions.md` for methodology on working with Big Questions. --- ## Strategy is Never "Done" Strategy requires ongoing attention: - **External changes** (competitors, technology, regulation) can invalidate choices - **Internal learning** reveals what's working and what's not - **Capability building** takes time and may unlock new possibilities The strategy cascade should be revisited regularly—not abandoned for a new strategy, but tested and refined based on new information. --- ## Applying This Framework When analyzing materials for strategic implications: 1. **Locate the impact:** Which element(s) of the cascade does this affect? 2. **Check Big Questions:** Does this relate to any fundamental questions we're exploring? 3. **Trace the cascade:** If this changes X, what are the implications for elements above and below? 4. **Test integration:** Does the change maintain internal consistency? 5. **Identify assumptions:** What would have to be true for this to be right? When the strategy files are empty, the job is to populate them through dialogue and analysis. When they're populated, the job is to test, refine, and maintain them.