The five choices
- Winning aspiration — what winning means, for us and for our customers.
- Where to play — which segments, geographies, channels, categories and usage occasions. And, just as important, where not to play.
- How to win — the advantage that gets us chosen on the chosen field: cost, differentiation, service, experience.
- Capabilities — the few things we have to do brilliantly for the “how to win” to work.
- Management systems — the processes, measures and structures that build and sustain those capabilities.
When to use it
When a plan reads like a list of initiatives with no thread, or when you need to say no to something. The cascade forces you to connect each decision to the previous one, and it exposes the choices nobody actually made.
How to build one
1. Write the aspiration so it can be checked
Not “be the best,” but what changes for customers and for the company if the strategy works.
2. Choose where to play, and where not to
For each axis — segment, geography, channel, category, occasion — write what you choose and what you rule out. The exclusions are the part most often missing, and the one that frees up resources.
3. Explain how you win on that field
The “how to win” only applies to the chosen “where to play.” An advantage that would work anywhere usually isn’t an advantage.
4. Narrow the capabilities to a few
Three to five capabilities at most. If you need ten, your where-to-play choice is too broad.
5. Connect the management systems
How you measure, fund and grow those capabilities. Without systems, capabilities remain good intentions.
6. Look for the weak link
Reread the cascade from the top and ask which level holds up worst. That’s usually where the strategy will be won or lost.
The most common mistakes
- Skipping “where not to play.” Without exclusions, the cascade becomes a wish list.
- Disconnected choices. Each level has to follow from the previous one, not stand on its own.
- Vague aspirations. “Market leader” doesn’t guide any decision.
- Too many capabilities. A long list signals that no choice was made.
- Stopping at the cascade. The choices need to be stress-tested, for example with a kill matrix.
