1. Leadership and Design
Thinking
Treating Your
Organization as
Unfinished Prototype
Professor Robert Sutton
Department of Management Science &
Engineering
Stanford d.School

2. The Attitude of Wisdom
• Acting on best knowledge you
have RIGHT NOW while doubting
what you know (and seeking
ever better information)
• OR treating your organization
like an unfinished prototype

4. COVENTIONAL WISDOM IN
THE GAMING INDUSTRY
• Comping” rooms is a great way
of attracting customers
• High rollers are an important
source of profits
• Building beautiful edifices
with convention and meeting
space is a good way to
attract business

5. THE FACTS—AS DISCOVERED
BY HARRAH’S
• Free chips and meals are more
important than rooms—most frequent
gamblers live nearby
• Most profits come from regular
players of slot machines, not from
high rollers
• Investing in data mining, pilot
programs, experiments, and HR
practices to cut turnover and
provide better service provides a
better return than building palaces

6. 20+ experiments a day a Yahoo!

7. Leadership and the
Attitude of Wisdom
Act on the best knowledge you
have right now and act like
you know what you are doing:
but never forget that you
might be wrong.

9. “I think it is very important for you to do two
things: act on your temporary conviction as
if it was a real conviction; and when you
realize that you are wrong, correct course
very quickly …. And try not to get too
depressed in the part of the journey,
because there’s a professional
responsibility. If you are depressed, you
can’t motivate your staff to extraordinary
measures. So you have to keep your own
spirits up even though you well understand
that you don’t know what you’re doing.”
- Andy Grove, Intel

10. Contact us and learn more
robert.sutton@stanford.edu
www.bobsutton.net (blog)
www.evidence-basedmanagement.com

11. Sources