A Plan Is Not a Strategy episode artwork

EPISODE · Jul 27, 2026 · 13 MIN

A Plan Is Not a Strategy

from Harvard Business Review · host HBR

A Plan Is Not a Strategy 29 Jun 2022 --- A comprehensive plan—with goals, initiatives, and budgets–is comforting. But starting with a plan is a terrible way to make strategy. 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. 00:00 Most strategic planning has nothing to do with strategy. 01:00 So what is a strategy? 02:08 Why do leaders so often focus on planning? 04:05 Let's see a real-world example of strategy beating planning. 06:33 How do I avoid the "planning trap"? For more from Roger Martin on this topic, read, "A New Way to Think: Your Guide to Superior Management Effectiveness": https://www.amazon.com/New-Way-Think-Management-Effectiveness-ebook/dp/B09KHKWB7B Follow Harvard Business Review: https://hbr.org/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/harvard-business-review/ https://www.facebook.com/HBR/ https://twitter.com/HarvardBiz https://www.instagram.com/harvard_business_review Sign up for Newsletters: https://hbr.org/email-newsletters #HarvardBusinessReview #Strategy #RogerMartin Copyright © 2022 Harvard Business School Publishing. All rights reserved. #StrategicPlanning #Planning #Business #Explainer #Success #HowTo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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