6.
EXPERIMENT

Franklin D Roosevelt’s (FDR’s) iconic words delivered on Sunday 22 May 1932 at a commencement address for the graduates of Oglethorpe University are still reverberating through the American political landscape: “The country needs and, unless I mistake its temper, the country demands bold, persistent experimentation. It is common sense to take a method and try it: If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.”⁹⁵

Eighty years later, at the 2012 Democratic National Convention, President Barack Obama invoked them to argue that: “It will take more than a few years for us to solve challenges that have built up over decades. It will require common effort, shared responsibility, and the kind of bold, persistent experimentation that Franklin Roosevelt pursued during the only crisis worse than this one.”⁹⁶

Both FDR and Obama’s speeches provoked negative reactions from critics on both sides of the political divide. The then New York governor, FDR was criticized by the New York Times about his blandness and lack of specificity, whilst his own advisor, Louis Howe, called it an appalling piece of stupidity.⁹⁷ History now shows that FDR’s Oglethorpe speech was a turning point in his career, marking the beginning of an experimental approach to tackling the Great Depression of the 1930s, and the implementation of the New Deal, a series of programs passed during his first term. With this experimental approach FDR was known to sometimes put forward multiple projects, some at cross-purposes, exasperating his staff and advisors.

It is not common for political leaders to talk of experimentation, let alone act on it. One leader who has quietly taken on one of the world’s most complex challenges, drugs, is President of Uruguay José Mujica. At the end of 2013 he passed a law decriminalizing marijuana, calling it “an experiment.”

This story is significant because it is so rare. While social scientists have run experiments about the effects of the decriminalization of drugs, it is a rare government that actually makes this a reality. No national government has decriminalized marijuana – Uruguay is the first – a test case for Latin America. The goal is to declare the “war on drugs” a failure, and try something else. To undermine the business model of drug cartels and upend the violence and destruction this brings.

It perhaps is no coincidence that Mujica is also famous for his frugal, modest lifestyle, donating 90% of his salary to charity. The notion that he is the world’s poorest president has gone viral across the blogosphere. He is known as a philosopher, a true progressive. Guided by a strong purpose, Mujica has dared to venture into unknown territory in spite of strong opposition from many.

Mujica accepts the risks associated with such a daring experiment, and is prepared to change course if necessary: “Like any experiment, naturally, there are risks, and we have to understand that if they prove too much for us, then we must backtrack. We do not have to be fanatics.”

Resistance is a common initial reaction in the face of experimentation, especially from risk-averse quarters. When Peter King suggested to the management team of Energeticos to throw away the organization chart (see page 170), it was greeted with astonishment. How would they be able to manage their reports if they didn’t know who reported to them? Their resistance increased when Peter made another outrageous suggestion – do away with roles and responsibilities. After several hours of debating the pros and cons, Peter suggested that they “give it a try for three months.” This became the trademark of the Energeticos change process. Experimentation became the best way to change paradigms and help people believe in new management practices.

“Experimentation is the ability to release ourselves from wanting to control a process, or expecting a particular outcome.” There is no “one” way in experimentation, but a multitude of ways that can be tested to address the problem at hand. Organizations are generally risk-averse and not patient enough to experiment. The investment relies on delivering results, quickly, that don’t cause any pain or cost any money. However, research shows that organizations that encourage experimentation are likely to be more innovative and successful than those that do not have this mindset, and teams that experiment frequently outperform those who don’t.⁹⁸

Eurostar is known for its openness to trial ideas. This happens in a limited scope because making a small change can sometimes be a big challenge with so many staff, passengers and procedures involved to make everything operate well (see also page 236). So rather than concentrate on making big changes, staff are encouraged to think of one small thing that they can try over a period of a few months. For example, Eurostar decided to offer taxi bookings on board the train for business-class customers. This idea was very well received and is now a regular service. CEO Nicolas Petrovic explains:

“When we first had the idea, we had the vision but none of the logistics in place to make it happen. ‘It will never work’, I was told by many. Yet we trialled it. We made many changes and improvements learning along the way till we got it right. Often people are not used to learning by trial and experimentation, including failure. They want the solution to come first. To make a culture of experimentation it’s essential to get the line managers on board first. They need to be convinced you will not stop halfway and give up, because it is their credibility on the line. There is nothing worse than starting and not finishing, so we learn continuously and make changes.”

There are many advantages to fostering an orientation towards experimentation rather than towards problem-solving. An experimental mindset gives people the freedom to try things without feeling that everything is riding on their decisions and actions. A series of experiments can be run at the same time, which puts us in a situation where we have to pay close attention to what’s working and what’s not. The whole focus can then be on the learning, derived from the experiments and the dissemination of the learnings.

Diana: A friend, Jane Harrison, likes to describe herself as a bowerbird, collecting bits of knowledge, experiences, relationships, just like the bowerbird collects brightly coloured objects in its nest. Jane is an artist, a playwright, an indigenous artist mentor, and a government policy officer, among other things. She calls herself “Jane of all trades.” She is an anti-expert or what French anthropologist and ethnologist Lévi-Strauss calls a “bricoleur.”

A bricoleur is the opposite of a specialist, an amateur who uses whatever is available at hand, like MacGyver from the show of the same name. MacGyver got himself out of tricky situations by putting together bits and pieces from seemingly disparate objects lying around, no matter what the problem was.

The bricoleur has an exploratory mindset, working at the edge between knowing and Not Knowing, constantly improvising and spontaneously engaging with the surrounding environment. For a bricoleur the process is as important as the end result.