I have given several presentations about the use of stories instead of science in our industry, so I thought I should try to be more helpful and give a session on experiments. No, this is not too rigorous! I am not going to talk about statistics! I am going to talk about cheap, easy experiments, what to do, what to be aware of, including our cognitive biases. I share some of my experiences with teams who are really doing it. My goal is to encourage everyone to be a bit more methodical in decision-making and to replace "that won't work" with "how can we test it." I hope that participants will walk out the door with a plan in hand for one or more experiments to run in their workplace. I also hope to improve the scientific vocabulary a bit and describe some cognitive biases that get in the way of decision-making.

You’ve tried and tried to convince people of your position. You’ve laid out your logical arguments on impressive PowerPoint slides—but you are still not able to sway them. Cognitive scientists understand that the approach you are taking is rarely successful. Often you must speak to others’ subconscious motivators rather than their rational, analytic side. Linda Rising shares influence strategies that you can use to more effectively convince others to see things your way. These strategies take advantage of hardwired traits: “liking”—we like people who are like us; “reciprocity”—we repay in kind; “social proof”—we follow the lead of others similar to us; “consistency”—we align ourselves with our previous commitments; “authority”—we defer to authority figures; and “scarcity”—we want more of something when there is less to be had. Learn how to build on these traits as a way of bringing others to your side. Use this valuable toolkit in addition to the logical left-brain techniques on which we depend.