Narrator: In the late 1990s, one of Procter & Gamble's most established brands was a punchline. Oil of Olay, with its signature pink cream in a simple plastic bottle, was derisively called "Oil of Old Lady." Its sales were stagnant at under $800 million in a massive $50 billion global skincare market. The brand was seen as outdated, cheap, and irrelevant to a new generation of consumers. P&G faced a critical choice: let the brand die, sell it, or attempt a seemingly impossible reinvention. What happened next transformed Olay into a $2.5 billion powerhouse, a case study in strategic success that lies at the heart of the book Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works.

Written by former P&G CEO A.G. Lafley and strategy advisor Roger L. Martin, the book argues that real strategy is not a vision, a plan, or a set of goals. It is a rigorous and integrated set of choices designed to do one thing: win. Using their direct experience turning P&G into a dominant global force, the authors provide a clear and actionable playbook for any leader or organization that wants to move beyond just competing and start playing to win.

Narrator: Many organizations mistake strategy for other things. They might have a lofty vision statement, a detailed operational plan, or a commitment to "best practices." But Lafley and Martin argue these are not strategy. True strategy is about making specific, often difficult, choices. It is, in the words of strategist Michael Porter, "deliberately choosing a different set of activities to deliver unique value." This means deciding not only what to do, but also what not to do.

The authors introduce a framework called the Strategic Choice Cascade, which consists of five interconnected questions that any winning strategy must answer: 1. What is our winning aspiration? 2. Where will we play? 3. How will we win? 4. What capabilities must we have? 5. What management systems do we need?

The difference between simply participating and playing to win is profound. The book contrasts a typical local hospital, which aims to serve its community, with the Mayo Clinic. The local hospital plays to play—it provides a necessary service. The Mayo Clinic, however, has a clear winning aspiration: to transform the world of medicine and be at the vanguard of medical research. This aspiration drives every other choice it makes, from where it focuses its research to how it structures its patient care. This mindset of winning is the essential starting point for any real strategy.

Narrator: The first question in the cascade—What is your winning aspiration?—sets the entire tone for an organization's strategy. The authors warn that a too-modest aspiration is one of the most dangerous traps a company can fall into. To illustrate this, they point to the cautionary tale of General Motors' Saturn.

In the 1980s, GM was losing ground to Japanese imports like Toyota and Honda. To fight back, it launched Saturn, a new brand designed to compete in the small-car market. GM's aspiration for Saturn was essentially to "play" in this segment—to offer a competitive alternative and stop the bleeding. It was a defensive move with a modest goal. In contrast, Toyota and Honda were playing to win. They invested relentlessly in quality, efficiency, and innovation with the goal of dominating the global auto market.

The result was predictable. Saturn, with its limited ambition, never received the sustained investment needed to build a full lineup of cars or a truly competitive national dealer network. It was always a side project, not the main event. After twenty years and $20 billion in losses, GM shuttered the brand. Saturn’s failure wasn't a failure of execution; it was a failure of aspiration. By aiming merely to participate, GM guaranteed it would never make the tough choices required to win.

Narrator: The next two questions—Where will you play? and How will you win?—are inextricably linked and form the core of any strategy. "Where to play" defines the competitive field across geographies, product categories, consumer segments, and distribution channels. "How to win" defines the method for achieving victory on that chosen field.

The story of P&G's Bounty paper towels demonstrates a masterful "where to play" choice. For decades, Bounty was a single product. But in the early 2000s, the team realized the market wasn't monolithic. Through deep consumer research, they identified three distinct segments: one that prioritized strength and absorbency above all, another that wanted a softer, more cloth-like feel, and a third that was more price-conscious.

Instead of trying to be everything to everyone, Bounty redefined its playing field. It created three distinct products: the classic Bounty, the new Bounty Extra Soft, and the value-focused Bounty Basic. This segmentation allowed P&G to win in multiple parts of the market simultaneously, dramatically increasing its overall share and profitability.

For "how to win," the Olay turnaround is the prime example. The team chose to win by creating an entirely new "masstige" category—prestige quality products sold in mass-market channels. This was a differentiation strategy. They developed superior formulas like Olay Total Effects, invested in high-end packaging, and priced the products far above traditional drugstore brands but well below department store competitors. This unique "how to win" choice, executed on their chosen "where to play" field of mass retail, was the key to Olay's historic success.

Narrator: A brilliant strategy is useless if an organization lacks the capabilities to execute it. The fourth question in the cascade forces a company to identify and build the core competencies that are essential to its "where to play" and "how to win" choices. These capabilities must be a reinforcing system that is difficult for competitors to copy.

Consider the launch of Swiffer. In the mid-1990s, P&G’s hard-surface cleaning business was struggling with outdated brands. The team was challenged to think differently. Their rallying cry became "to fundamentally change the game of cleaning at home and make cleaning less of a chore." This led to a new "how to win" idea: a cleaning system that was quick and disposable.

But this idea could only become a reality because P&G possessed a unique combination of capabilities. It leveraged its deep consumer understanding to identify the user frustration, its world-class R&D to combine chemistry and paper technology in a novel way, and its powerful branding and distribution expertise to launch Swiffer and create an entirely new billion-dollar category. No single capability would have been enough; it was the integrated system of capabilities that allowed P&G to win.

Narrator: The final question addresses the systems and structures that support the strategy. A winning strategy can be easily derailed by internal processes—like budgeting, performance reviews, and compensation—that are misaligned with its goals.

When A.G. Lafley became CEO of P&G, he found that the company's strategy review process was broken. He described it as "corporate theater," where brand managers would deliver massive presentations to senior executives in a "sell-and-defend" mode. The goal was not to have a genuine dialogue about choices but to "get out of it alive." This system actively discouraged honest conversation and bold strategic thinking.

Lafley and his team redesigned the process entirely. Meetings became smaller, focused dialogues. Issues were submitted in writing beforehand, freeing up meeting time for debate and problem-solving. The new system was designed to foster assertive inquiry, where leaders were expected to advocate for their views while genuinely exploring the thinking of others. This new management system was crucial for enabling the thousands of P&G managers to make the kind of integrated, winning choices the book describes.

Narrator: The single most important takeaway from Playing to Win is that strategy is choice. It is a disciplined, coherent, and courageous set of answers to five questions that align an organization toward a clear aspiration. It is not a static document created once a year, but a dynamic and iterative process that must be constantly revisited and refined as the world changes.

The book’s most challenging idea is that in order to win, you must choose. And to choose means you must say "no." You must say no to certain customers, certain markets, and certain opportunities in order to focus your resources on the playing field where you have the best chance to win. For any leader, the ultimate question posed by this book is not just "What will you do to succeed?" but the far more difficult question: "What are you willing to stop doing in order to win?"