Playing to win: How strategy really works

by A.G. Lafley

At this point, the critical issue is whether the decision-making group regards the test as valid. In this sense, the most skeptical member of the team is the most valuable. Typically, this person will have the highest standard of proof for any test, and building his or her commitment to the choice will be the most challenging. However, without his or her commitment, any consensus will inevitably be false. Hence, the most effective approach to overcoming barriers is to put the test design for each barrier condition in the hands of that condition’s greatest skeptic. If that person is satisfied that a test is rigorous and that the standard of proof has been passed, then everybody else—who is by definition less skeptical—will also be satisfied that the test is legitimate and stringent.