Product Strategy Masterclass from Global Authority on Strategy
Product Strategy Masterclass from Global Authority on Strategy  
Podcast: The Growth Podcast
Published On: Mon May 19 2025
Description: Tired of "strategic roadmaps" nobody follows?Roger Martin reveals why 95% of companies fail to build a strategy that actually drives results and how to craft one that wins real customers, at scale.Brought to you by:WorkOS: Your App, Enterprise ReadyAmplitude: Try their 2-min assessment of your company’s digital maturityLinear: Plan and build products like the bestTimestamps:Preview - 00:00:00Myth About Strategy - 00:02:13Understanding What Are Inputs - 00:05:54The 5 Question Framework - 00:06:30Walmart’s Fumble - 00:08:48Ad - 00:10:38Ad - 00:11:51Where Business Schools Are Failing - 00:12:35Anthropic Vs OpenAI - 00:27:11Ad - 00:30:19Difference Between Planning & Strategy - 00:35:52How to Leverage Your Position for Strategy - 00:41:23SouthWest’s Success Story - 00:43:16Predicting the Future As A Strategist – 00:54:20Thinking Template for Product Leaders - 00:57:20The Autopilot Curse - 00:58:40Exploiting Your Competitors Mixed Motives - 01:09:45Closing Notes - 01:11:20Key Takeaways* Most "strategy" is just budgeting with prose. According to Martin, at least 90% of strategy out in the world is merely a list of laudable initiatives that don't fit together to create a compelling reason for customers to choose you over competitors.* Strategy compels customers to take desired actions. The core purpose of strategy is making integrated choices that cause customers to pull money from their pockets and give it to you instead of someone else, not just planning activities.* Five questions make a complete strategy. A real strategy answers: What's your winning aspiration? Where will you play? How will you win? What capabilities must you have? What management systems do you need to build and maintain those capabilities?* The best competitive advantage exploits what competitors "won't" do. The most powerful strategic positions come from understanding competitors' mixed motives. Things they could do but won't because it would hurt their core business (like Walmart avoiding e-commerce to protect store investments).* Strategy works when your "where to play" and "how to win" form a matched pair. Your choice of market segment should enable a distinctive advantage, and your advantage should be perfect for your chosen segment—they must reinforce each other.* Business schools teach tools, not strategy. MBA programs focus on analytical frameworks like five forces and resource-based view, but rarely teach how to create an integrated strategy that makes real-world choices.* Product managers often focus on initiatives instead of strategy. The typical mistake is creating a roadmap of features without first determining where to play and how to win, making the roadmap an input rather than an output of strategy.* Great strategists don't plan for the future to resemble the past. Martin emphasizes having an explicit theory about how the future will be different, while constantly updating this theory as new information emerges.* Southwest Airlines' winning strategy came from integrated choices. Their decisions to use only one plane type, avoid hubs, eliminate seat assignments, and pay workers more for flexibility all reinforced their 15-minute gate turn strategy.* Strategy requires what Martin calls "Bayesian updating". The key is continuously asking: "What would have to be true for our strategy to work?" and watching those assumptions like a hawk, updating your strategy as facts change.Check it out on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube.Where to Find RogerLinkedIn: Roger MartinSome of His Awesome Books:Playing to WinA New Way to Think: Your Guide to Superior Management EffectivenessCreating Great Choices: A Leader's Guide to Integrative ThinkingRelated Podcasts:Write a Great Product Strategy: Lessons from Ravi Mehta How to Develop Your Product Strategy, with Satyajeet SalgarBuild a Snap Product Strategy: How to Succeed as a PM and Product LeaderUp NextI hope you enjoyed the last episode with Andy (where we vibe coded our way to build a $1M AI app). Up next, we have episodes with:Jeremy Epling - CPO, VantaBret @DesignJoy - Running Solo $2M/yr Design AgencyHarish Mukhami - Fmr Head of Product, Siri; CPO, LeaflinkFinally, check out my latest deep dive if you haven’t yet: The European Tech Market Map: Biggest Players, Startups, and Job OpportunitiesIf you want to advertise, email productgrowthppp at gmail. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.news.aakashg.com/subscribe