Roger Martin Keynote Speaker

  • Business Innovator & Bestselling Author
  • Former Dean, University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management

Roger Martin's Biography

In 2017, Roger Martin was named the world’s #1 management thinker by Thinkers50, a biannual ranking of the most influential global business thinkers. In 2026, he was named the world’s #1 management consultant by the publication The Industry Leaders.

Roger has served as a trusted strategy advisor to the CEOs of companies worldwide including Procter & Gamble, Lego, Ford, American Express, BHP, Steelcase, Amcor and Verizon.

Roger Martin is a Professor Emeritus at the Rotman School of Management at University of Toronto where he served as Dean from 1998-2013, Academic Director of the Michael Lee-Chin Family Institute for Corporate Citizenship from 2004-2019 and Institute Director of the Martin Prosperity Institute from 2013-2019. In 2013, he was named global Dean of the Year by the leading business school website, Poets & Quants.

Prior to his time at Rotman, he spent 13 years as a Director of Monitor Company, a global strategy consulting firm based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he served as co-head of the firm for two years.

His research work is in Strategy, Democratic Capitalism, Integrative Thinking, Design of Business, Incentives & Governance, and Social Innovation. His extensive writing includes 13 books and 33 Harvard Business Review articles. His newest book is A New Way to Think: Your Guide to Superior Managerial Effectiveness (Harvard Business Review Press, 2022). His previous 12 books include: When More is Not Better: Overcoming America’s Obsession with Economic Efficiency (HBRP, 2020). Creating Great Choices written with Jennifer Riel (HBRP, 2017), Getting Beyond Better written with Sally Osberg (HBRP, 2015) and Playing to Win written with A.G. Lafley (HBRP, 2013); Fixing the Game (HBRP, 2011); The Design of Business (HBRP, 2009); The Opposable Mind (HBRP, 2007); andThe Responsibility Virus (Basic Books, 2002). Both Getting Beyond Better and Playing to Win won best book awards at Thinkers 50.

In 2010, he was named one of the 27 most influential designers in the world by Business Week. In 2007 he was named a Business Week ‘B-School All-Star’ for being one of the 10 most influential business professors in the world. Business Week also named him one of seven ‘Innovation Gurus’ in 2005.

He serves as Chair of The Good Jobs Institute and the I-Think Initiative, and on the Board of The Nine Dots Prize.

Roger received his BA from Harvard College, with a concentration in Economics, in 1979 and his MBA from the Harvard Business School in 1981. in 2018, he was awarded a Doctor of Laws (honoris causa) by the Royal Military College of Canada. He lives in South Florida with his wife Marie-Louise Skafte.

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Roger Martin's Speaking Topics

How Strategy Really Works

In this insightful keynote, Roger Martin dispels the common myths that cause organizations to spend time on unproductive strategic planning. Instead, he introduces a practical approach centered on five interconnected choices that help leaders focus on what matters most and develop strategies that drive meaningful results.

In this keynote, audiences will learn:

  • Why many traditional approaches to strategy fail
  • The five essential choices that form the foundation of effective strategy
  • How to focus leadership attention on the decisions that matter most
  • Practical guidance for building strategies that lead to action and results

Play to Win: Improve the Architecture of Your Strategic Choices

Roger Martin helps senior leadership teams improve the architecture of their strategic decision-making. Drawing on his Strategic Choice Structuring process—used by organizations including Procter & Gamble and Dun & Bradstreet—he demonstrates how leaders can identify the highest-value strategic choices, make better decisions, and translate those decisions into meaningful action.

Martin also shares the five strategic choices that form the foundation of a winning strategy: defining a winning aspiration, choosing where to play, determining how to win, identifying the capabilities required to succeed, and establishing the management systems needed to support those choices.

In this keynote, audiences will learn:

  • How Strategic Choice Structuring improves strategic decision-making
  • Why implementation challenges often stem from poor strategic choices rather than poor execution
  • The five strategic choices that create a winning strategy
  • How to align leadership teams around high-value decisions that drive organizational success

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Videos of Roger Martin

A Plan Is Not a Strategy
5 essential questions to craft a winning strategy
How to Think Differently (with Roger Martin)
Why Your Plans & OKRs Aren't a Strategy

Articles, Media & Podcasts

Books by Roger Martin

Check Roger Martin's speaking fees and availability

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