Leaders at Airbnb wondered whether listings with professional photos might perform better than those using user-uploaded photos. Rather than relying on intuition or anecdote, they conducted a controlled experiment: some listings were assigned to professional photography, while others retained user-generated images. The results were impressive. Listings with professional photos received double the bookings and earned hosts over $1,000 more per month. What started as a simple experiment eventually led to Airbnb developing a full-fledged photography system, changing the way hosts present their properties and the way customers feel about the platform.
This is passive testing: a disciplined approach to uncertainty that allows organizations to gain insights they might not be able to achieve through planning alone.
Booking.com reportedly conducts more than 25,000 tests each year, a practice that has helped transform it from a small startup into a global travel powerhouse. According to Lukas Vermeer, its experimental director, Booking.com it runs more than 1,000 tests at once, often including tests on individual website visitors. These are primarily A/B tests, where two variants are tested one by one to determine which one performs better. Over time, this approach allows the company to optimize the entire customer journey, refining everything from search results to booking flow based on real-world behavior rather than guesswork.
What these companies are showing is that continuous assessment is fundamentally changing the way organizations learn.
Why testing is more important than ever
Building a culture of exploration creates the conditions for unexpected opportunities to emerge and be exploited. It encourages organizations to move from progressive development to innovative practices, while improving internal processes and collaboration. Employees in experimental cultures tend to be curious, assertive and more willing to challenge the status quo.
Creating this culture starts with leaders. For evaluation to be focused, leaders must be willing to redefine what success and failure mean. Instead of treating failure as something to be avoided or punished, leaders need to see it as an important part of learning. This change allows for brainstorming where teams are encouraged to generate ideas, test them quickly and measure what works. Most importantly, leadership teams must demonstrate this behavior themselves. When leaders openly test, learn and adapt, testing becomes embedded in the DNA of the organization rather than confined to innovation labs or product teams.
Empowering employees to explore and learn
A true culture of experimentation empowers employees at all levels to test new ideas and iterate continuously. That takes time, tools and mental security. Offering dedicated time to explore sends a powerful signal. 3M allowed its researchers to spend 15 percent of their time researching scientific topics or personal interests, regardless of their commercial relevance. The policy led to many inventions, including the invention of Post-It Notes.
Google has adopted a similar philosophy, allowing employees to spend 20 percent of their time on side projects. Although not all experiments have been successful, this method has produced significant successes such as Gmail and AdSense. By making testing an expected part of the job, companies like Google and 3M have made testing a standard practice and reduced the fear associated with trying something new.
Amazon has taken a related but different approach, promoting a culture of “small bets a lot.” Instead of looking for uncertainty in advance, Amazon is constantly testing new products, processes and business models, accepting that many experiments will fail, but that a few will bring great benefits.
Leaders do not need to replicate these models exactly. Even modest measures, such as devoting one day a month to testing, offering workshops or providing a small seed budget, can be enough to spark momentum.
Making data the backbone of learning
Testing without measurement is just trial and error. Effective evaluation depends on the data. Leaders should encourage teams to clearly document their research: what hypothesis was tested, what information was gathered and what was learned. Results, good or bad, should be shared openly to increase organizational learning. Over time, this creates a shared language or evidence and reduces reliance on opinion-driven decision-making.
As Adam Savage, special effects designer and host of Mythbusters, he said: “In the spirit of science, there really is no such thing as a ‘failed experiment.’ Any test that produces valid data is a valid test.” The essence of this learning method: quick assessment is important for competitive runners, much more than just being good.
Reducing fear through structure and play
Many organizations struggle with testing because of fear—specifically, fear of failure. Psychologists define loss aversion as our tendency to fear loss more than we value gains. In business, this often manifests as risk aversion, perfectionism and decision paralysis. Leaders should actively treat failure as a learning curve and an important part of progress. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos captured this succinctly when he said, “If you know it’s going to work, it’s not an experiment.” Booking.comLukas Vermeer echoes this philosophy, insisting that experimentation exists to find out what works, not to prove someone right.
Some organizations have gone further with gamifying experiments. Platforms like LabQuest have integrated points, badges and leaderboards for user testing and research, turning participation into a game. This approach is reported to have increased engagement and improved data quality, with a much higher level of participation and possible detail compared to conventional methods. Gamification reduces emotional failure and reframes testing as engaging rather than intimidating.
A simple framework leaders can use
One effective framework for evaluation is the Build-Measure-Learn-Loop, popularized by Eric Ries in Lean Startup. It starts with a clear hypothesis: We believe that changing X will improve Y. Teams then run a small, quick, low-cost test, measure the results using appropriate metrics and decide whether to scale, refine or abandon the idea.
This loop is not limited to product development. HR teams can experiment with new onboarding processes. Marketing teams can try different messaging. Even finance teams can explore other budget allocation models. When every step is viewed as a learning opportunity rather than a final decision, organizations become flexible and resilient.
Steven Bartlett, founder of Social Chain and co-founder of The CEO’s diary podcast, emphasizes the role leadership plays in this process. “Get your team to do quick, fearless tests—often,” he advises. Bartlett explained how his communications team reports weekly on the tests they’ve done, stressing that testing is a basic expectation. As he puts it, whether groups behave this way ultimately comes down to “leadership.”
Thriving on uncertainty
In a world that is changing at an unprecedented speed, relying only on past data and established models is becoming very dangerous. Markets are changing, customer expectations are changing and competitive advantages are rapidly disappearing. Experimentation provides a way forward, not by removing uncertainty but by learning from within it.
Effective companies assess, learn and adapt in real time. For leaders, the lesson is clear: the ability to encourage experimentation is no longer optional. It is the core skill of navigating unpredictability and uncovering unexpected solutions.
The Art of Unexpected Solutions: Using Hindsight to Find Success with Paul Sloane published on January 3, 2026, by Kogan Page, price £14.99.
