Leveraging Experiments for Managerial Decisions

2 Credits.

We are surrounded by data - in dashboards, corporate reports, academic research, and the news. But turning that data into sound decisions isn’t straightforward.?Effective leaders must have the ability to critically assess information: how it was produced, what assumptions underlie it, what it omits, and whether it applies to the decisions at hand. Leaders must also have the skills to guide analytics and data driven discussions. This course prepares students to lead in a world where data and experimentation are central to strategy, marketing, operations, and innovation. You’ll learn how to ask the right questions of data: How was it collected? What assumptions are behind the analysis? Can results be trusted—or generalized to your organization’s context? Through case studies and hands-on projects, we’ll explore how companies across industries—from tech to retail to government—use (and sometimes misuse) data to make high-impact decisions. We’ll cover foundational concepts like causality, experimental design, and performance measurement, as well as common traps like confirmation bias, small-sample errors, and misaligned metrics. Whether you're evaluating the results of an A/B test, a consulting report, or a policy study, this course will give you the tools to interpret evidence rigorously and lead with confidence. Designed for students with both technical and non-technical backgrounds, no prior statistical knowledge is required—just a willingness to think critically and act decisively. By the end, you’ll be ready to navigate the noise, pressure-test assumptions, and become the kind of leader who doesn’t just use data—but uses it well.