Want to create an interactive transcript for this episode?
Podcast: HBR On Strategy
Episode: The Difference Between a Plan and a Strategy
Description: Planning is comforting but it’s a terrible way to make strategy, says Roger Martin, former dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. In contrast, setting strategy should push your organization outside its comfort zone – if you’re doing it right.
“Plans typically have to do with the resources you’re going to spend. Those are more comfortable because you control them,” Martin explains. “A strategy, on the other hand, specifies a competitive outcome that you wish to achieve, which involves customers wanting your product or service. The tricky thing about that is that you do...