Stefan H. Thomke

* Top 10 Technology Books of 2020 (Forbes)
* 10 Best Business Books of 2020 (Inc. Magazine)
* Top Shelf Pick of Best Business Books 2020: Technology & Innovation (Strategy + Business)
* 9 Best Business Books for 2020 (CEO Magazine)

Don’t fly blind. See how the power of experiments works for you.

When it comes to improving customer experiences, trying out new business models, or developing new products, even the most experienced managers often get it wrong. They discover that intuition, experience and big data alone don’t work. What does work? Running disciplined business experiments. And what if companies roll out new products, customer experiences or business models without doing so? They fly blind.

That’s what Harvard Business School professor Stefan Thomke shows in this rigorously researched and eye-opening book.  It guides you through what constitutes best experimentation practice, illustrates how that works at leading companies and answers some fundamental questions. What makes a good experiment? How do you test in online and brick-and-mortar businesses? In B2B and B2C? How do you build an experimentation culture? Moreover, best experimentation practice means running many experiments. Indeed, some hugely successful companies, such as Amazon, Booking.com and Microsoft, run tens of thousands of controlled experiments annually, engaging millions of users. Thomke shows us how these and many other organizations have discovered that their experimentation capabilities provide considerable competitive advantages.

How can managers create such a capability at their companies? Essential is developing an experimentation organization that prizes the science of testing and puts the discipline of experimentation at the center of its innovation process.  It used to take companies years to develop the tools for such large-scale experimentation but they are now at the fingertips of most organizations. By combining the power of software and the rigor of controlled experiments, today's managers can make better decisions, create magical customer experiences, and generate big financial returns. 

Experimentation Works introduces you to the power of experiments and will guide you through its implementation in your own organizations.

Though they’ve been warned for decades about the dangers of overrelying on gut instinct and personal experience, managers keep failing to critically examine—much less challenge—the ideas their decisions are based on. To correct this problem they need to think and act like scientists. That requires doing five things: (1) being a knowledgeable skeptic and relentlessly questioning assumptions; (2) investigating anomalies—things that are unexpected or don’t look right; (3) devising testable hypotheses that can be quantifiably confirmed or disproved; (4) running experiments that produce hard evidence; and (5) probing cause and effect.

Drawing on the experiences of Harrah’s Entertainment, Sony, Bank of America, and Lego, Thomke and Loveman show how scientific methods can help companies discard ineffective practices, increase marketing and operational efficiency, boost customer satisfaction and sales, find new sources of growth, and even turn around struggling businesses.

Why don’t organizations test more? After examining this question for several years, I can tell you that a central reason is culture. As companies try to scale up their experimentation capacity, they often find that the obstacles are not tools and technology but shared behaviors, beliefs, and values. For every online experiment that succeeds, nearly 10 don’t—and in the eyes of many organizations that emphasize efficiency, predictability, and “winning,” those failures are wasteful.

To successfully innovate, companies need to make experimentation an integral part of everyday life—even when budgets are tight. That means creating an environment where employees’ curiosity is nurtured, data trumps opinion, anyone (not just people in R&D) can conduct or commission a test, all experiments are done ethically, and managers embrace a new model of leadership. In this article, I look at several companies that have managed to do those things well.

The field of customer experience (CX) design — which aims to ensure that customers have positive touch points with companies while buying and consuming their products and services — has grown quickly in recent years. Research has shown that memorable experiences, and the ensuing positive word of mouth, can drive customer decisions as much as, if not more than, price and functionality. To that end, consultants have created thoughtful tools and frameworks such as journey mapping, service blueprinting, and problem-solving mindsets. Academics have studied customer engagement models that focus on managerial variables such as employee selection, training, rewards, and service culture. Yet recent research reports suggest that there have been few, if any, meaningful improvements in customer experience over time. Despite the insights gleaned about customers through advanced technologies and data analysis, something still seems to be missing for most companies.

My experience and research points to the missing ingredient: emotion. The most memorable experiences are suffused with emotion — not extra features or value for money.

Change is everywhere in the Middle East today, as many countries seek to diversify their economies and encourage new industries. While the region's complexity includes distinct political and economic conditions in each country in addition to an uncertain global economy, exciting opportunities still exist. To take full advantage of the best opportunities for growth in this intricate part of the world, businesses need exceptional leaders—executives who are bold decision-makers, global thinkers, and skilled strategists.

Designed to address this need, the Senior Executive Leadership Program—Middle East from Harvard Business School (HBS) helps companies transform experienced senior executives into leaders with vision who can seize opportunities for sustained business growth. Taught in a series of modules offered in Boston and Dubai, this program helps you become a stronger leader who can deliver value in a global context, drive new levels of innovation, and build accountable, high-performance organizations.