Creating Great Choices with Roger Martin

PodcastJuly 19, 2021
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It’s not just about knowing the process and having the skills. It’s about your approach, and from the way that you describe it, your respect for other people. That you need to be able to truly believe and embrace the idea that a reasonable person can hold a different view.

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Intro

In this episode,  Brooke is joined by Roger Martin, an experienced strategy advisor, former Dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, and co-author of Creating Great Choices. Together, the two explore business models and how we can make great choices when faced with incongruity. Supported with real-world examples, the discussion addresses how we should move forward when we don’t get the outcomes we hoped for.

Some specific topics include:

  • Our disinclination toward compromise and how to get around making “either/or” decisions
  • Bob Young and his company Red Hat, who took two unappealing choices and built a superior model amidst the free software movement
  • The ladder of inference that leads us to focus on monoliths
  • How the Toronto International Film Festival overcame the power of monoliths and became the most important film festival in the world
  • The three steps for integrative thinking, an alternative to accepting polarized situations
  • How Roger transformed the Rotman School of Management into one of the highest-ranked business schools in research
  • How people can work toward integrative thinking through their everyday choices

About the Guest

Roger Martin

Named the #1 management thinker in the world in 2017, Roger Martin has extensive experience in business management and advising. Roger received his BA from Harvard College and subsequently received his MBA from Harvard Business School. Remaining in the world of academia, Roger is a Professor Emeritus at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, where he previously served as Dean from 1998 to 2013. Roger has also acted as a trusted strategy advisor to recognizable companies such as Procter & Gamble, Lego, and Ford, and served as a Director of Monitor Company for 13 years, a global strategy consulting firm in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Roger’s research has been popularized through his twelve books including: When More is Not Better: Overcoming America's Obsession with Economic Efficiency; Creating Great Choices; and Playing to Win. He currently serves as Chair of the Good Jobs Institute and the I-Think Initiative, helping companies thrive by creating good jobs and transforming student thinking with a community-built approach to real-world problem solving, respectively.

About the Interviewer

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Dr. Brooke Struck

Dr. Brooke Struck is the Research Director at The Decision Lab. He is an internationally recognized voice in applied behavioural science, representing TDL’s work in outlets such as Forbes, Vox, Huffington Post and Bloomberg, as well as Canadian venues such as the Globe & Mail, CBC and Global Media. Dr. Struck hosts TDL’s podcast “The Decision Corner” and speaks regularly to practicing professionals in industries from finance to health & wellbeing to tech & AI.

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