Roger Martin
Creator of Integrative Thinking, former Rotman School dean who fused business design with strategic thought
Roger Martin is one of Canada's most influential management thinkers, serving as dean of the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management for 15 years (1998-2013), transforming it from an ordinary business school into a global center for strategy and design thinking research. He created the theory of 'Integrative Thinking,' arguing that outstanding leaders can hold two opposing models simultaneously and create new solutions that transcend both. His book Playing to Win, co-authored with A.G. Lafley using P&G as a case study, provides one of the most practical strategy formulation frameworks. He has been consistently ranked among the world's most influential management thinkers by Thinkers50.
Methodologies
- Four-Step Integrative Thinking Process - When facing two opposing business models, systematically create a third option that transcends both.
- Strategy Choice Cascade - Form a logically coherent strategy system by answering five interrelated strategic questions.
Key decisions and timeline
- 1981 Joined Monitor Group, Beginning Strategic Consulting Career - Practical experience is the touchstone of management theory; theory without practical support easily loses touch with reality.
- 1998 Became Rotman School Dean, Beginning Transformation - Institutional transformation requires a clear differentiation strategy, not following industry standards.
- 2007 The Opposable Mind Published, Integrative Thinking Theory Emerges - New theories need both academic rigor and practical operability to have impact in both the academic and practical worlds.
Beliefs and mental models
- Belief 1 - When facing two opposing models or options, outstanding thinkers don't choose between them but use the tension between them to create a new solution incorporating the best of both. This is the rarest capability in business and management.
- Belief 2 - Analytical thinking (reliability-oriented) and design thinking (validity-oriented) are the two engines of business innovation. Over-reliance on analytical thinking leads companies into a 'reliability trap' that prevents innovation; design thinking finds new solutions that are unproven but potentially more effective.
- Belief 3 - True strategy is not a vision statement or a list of goals, but clear answers to the two core questions of 'where to play' and 'how to win,' and the mutually reinforcing system of choices these answers form.
- Model 1
- Model 2
- Model 3