Playing to Win--------------------------------------------------The only strategy book you'll ever need If strategy is about creatinga competitive advantage that allows a firm to win, then pinpointingyour strategy to a few critically important choices will dramaticallyincrease your chances of success. This is especially true in the volatileand complex environment that has become the norm for all of us. Yetthe authors of Playing to Win, A. G. Lafley, the former CEO of Procter& Gamble and one of the most successful business leaders of the lastcentury, and Roger Martin, Dean of the Rotman School of Management,say most firms shy away from these difficult strategic choices, settlinginstead for false approaches that can lead to irreversible blunders." Among the most common: * Mistaking tactics for strategy * Using ""the"" world is changing"" excuse to make it up as you go * Tweaking outdated"plans to minimize disruption * Leaning on strategy consultants to makethe tough choices Don't be most firms. Drawn on their years of experienceworking together and separately at P&G and the Rotman School of Management,Lafley and Martin present a deceptively simple set of exercises and" questions that can guide the decisions of anyone in an organization.The" book helps you and those who work with you to figure out the relationship of the day-to-day work to larger strategic goals--something woefully lacking from many strategy books but also from the real world. There are plenty of books written by CEOs that champion the work that, truthfully, only they could do, in their unique circumstances with their considerable resources. Playing to Win is different. It's a strategy book for everyone, that works everywhere. Once you open it you'll see why it's the only strategy book you'll ever need -------------------------------------------------- Author Biography: A.G. Lafley has been named the new Chief Executive Officer, President, and Chairman of Procter & Gamble, where he previously served as CEO from 2000-2009. Under Lafley's leadership, P&G's sales doubled, its profits quadrupled, its market value increased by morethan $100 billion, and its portfolio of billion-dollar brands--likeTide, Pampers, Olay, and Gillette--grew from 10 to 24 as a result ofhis focus on winning strategic choices, consumer-driven innovation,and reliable, sustainable growth. Roger Martin is Dean of the Universityof Toronto's Rotman School of Management and an adviser to CEOs onstrategy, design, innovation, and integrative thinking. In 2011, Rogerwas named by Thinkers50 as the sixth top management thinker in the" world. This is his eighth book" Business Review,"" the ""Financial Times,"" and the ""Washington Post,"""among others. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and an ABin economics from Harvard College.