This Much I Learned: Professor Roger Martin on the importance of challenging received wisdom

Professor Roger Martin is one of the world’s most influential thought leaders on strategy. Author of bestselling business books such as The Opposable Mind and The Design of Business, he has helped guide CEOs at some of the world’s most renowned marketing organisations to be better at their jobs.

His 2013 book in particular, Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works, cowritten with former P&G CEO Alan G Lafley, is a manual for many marketers and business leaders alike.

Some of what he has asserted has proven controversial, with his thoughts on the false distinction between marketing and strategy in particular attracting attention. He tells host and editor-in-chief at Marketing Week, Russell Parsons: “I don’t intend to provoke, but I can’t stand people using models that produce an outcome other than what they want, and then they just keep using it over and over.”

In this edition of the podcast, Martin, who teaches strategy on Marketing Week’s Mini MBA in Business Management, imparts wisdom on everything from what a great leader should be and the role of AI to how marketing and strategy can intersect and work together.

From breaking taboos to how a brand’s past can inform its present, you can listen to previous episodes of Marketing Week’s This Much I Learned podcast on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud and Spotify.