Many CEOs face similar problems.

Their companies don't make more money; their workers get tired, and they can't reach their goals.

To rectify, they try new plans, ask for more reports, and hold extra meetings.

Even with all this hard work, things don’t get better.

The problem isn’t how much effort they put in.

The problem is that they haven’t learned how to use empiricism to their advantage.

They’re trying to plan their way to results in a world where the winners experiment their way there.


Winners

​Look at who is actually winning with empiricism today:

- SpaceX is learning its way to the Moon and Mars, flight by flight.

- Microsoft, Google, Netflix, Booking.com, and others are squeezing hundreds of millions from tiny tests.

They are not smarter than your team.

They just have a better system. A system of safe failure, fast learning, and increased momentum.

Let's break down what that looks like in a way that any company can use.


1. Safe Failure

Safe failure means learning without getting hurt or losing too much.

When we try something new, it's better to make small mistakes that teach us lessons so we can do better next time.

This way, we get smarter and stronger from every experience.

SpaceX Fails Safely
​
SpaceX runs safe tests. They learn from failures and quickly change their strategies based on new insights.

Let’s look at their test flights, for example:

- They expect some rockets to explode.

- They protect people and critical assets.

- Every failure is filmed, instrumented, and studied.

As a result, they’ve become smarter. Their experiments led to key conclusions, which now guide their next steps.


Such as:

- Flights to the Moon every ~10 days vs. Mars every 26 months - 2 days of travel vs. 6 months

- Reuse as much of their assets as possible so they can launch the next experiment faster (reusable rockets and starships - see image of Super Heavy above).

- Faster feedback, more experiments, and more learning

Instead of waiting for a perfect master plan they run controlled experiments.

They fly. They fail safely. They learn. They fly again.

With every experiment, they say, “The most valuable outcome of our experiment was the data.”

The win to them is not “We never fail.”

The win is “We never waste a failure.”


2. Fast Learning

Even if your industry isn't aerospace, the rules of experimentation work for everyone.

Your constraints are equally pressing: limited cash, talent, and time with your board.

You can’t afford 18-month bets with no data in between, but you can afford weekly experiments.

That means:

- Ship small, on purpose.

- Measure what happens

- Learn fast so you can adjust fast

Here’s some examples of how some of the top digital players do this:

Microsoft tested a small change to Bing ad headlines.
Result: +12% revenue. Over $100M/year from one “tiny” experiment.

Google ran 41 shades of blue for link colors.
Result: roughly $200M more in revenue from people clicking more.

Booking.com runs constant A/B tests on wording like “Only 2 rooms left!”
Result: higher bookings from copy changes, not just more ad spend.

None of these required excessive effort.

They required permission to test and learn.


3. Momentum Is Everything

My mentor, Mark Layton, taught me a line I’ve seen proven in every company I’ve coached:

Momentum is everything.

Experimentation gives you the ability to gain momentum toward success. 


Struggling Team to Rock Stars

Once, I observed a product team that was behind schedule, lacked morale, and did not have the business's trust.

Instead of rewriting the whole roadmap, we set up one small experiment:

- We picked a single feature that customers had been asking about.

- We scoped it to fit in two weeks.

- We agreed on one simple success metric.

The team shipped the experiment and the metric moved in the right direction.

Two things happened:

1. The business finally saw progress that they could touch.

2. The team remembered what winning felt like.

After that, the conversation changed from:

“Why can’t you deliver?” to “What experiment are we running next?”

That one small win restarted the engine.


Leaders Lead Experimentation

Leaders hear “experimentation” and become nervous. “I can’t have my teams just trying random stuff.”

It’s true that you need disciplined experiments, not chaos.

Establish clear expectations for the team. Let them know you value both positive and negative data, along with suggested next steps.

Focus on the fact that learning from the experience is what matters most.


Your Next Move (This Week)

This week, pick one concrete step:

In your next leadership meeting, ask each exec: “What is one safe experiment that your team will run in the next 30 days?”

Require: a clear guardrail, a clear metric, and a clear time box.

Then, a month from now, review learning, not just wins.

SpaceX is not waiting for perfect conditions to reach the Moon or Mars.

They are learning in public, flight by flight.

You don’t need rockets.

You need the courage to say:

“We will build this company the same way—experiment by experiment.”

The leaders who win the next decade won’t be the ones who guess correctly.

They’ll be the ones who learn faster than everyone else.