What this covers
Le Cunff frames a diagnosis and a method in a fifty-five-minute talk to Google. The diagnosis: linear goals—traditional success defined as reaching a predetermined outcome—fail in a nonlinear world, breeding frustration and burnout. The method: adopt a scientist's experimental mindset and run "tiny experiments" (a committed action plus a fixed duration) to redefine success as learning rather than arrival. Le Cunff, a neuroscientist and founder of Ness Labs whose work spans psychology and neuroscience at King's College London and prior roles in digital health at Google, draws on ancestral philosophy and contemporary neuroscience to argue that this shift converts uncertainty from a source of anxiety-driven control-seeking into fuel for curiosity. Moderated by Allison Parin, the talk develops both the cognitive science and the practical mechanics.
The talk moves through several registers. It explains how the brain naturally learns through prediction and error—how the perception-action cycle makes failure inherent to learning—yet how the brain's survival drive pushes toward premature certainty. It identifies three cognitive scripts that constrain people: the sequel script (decisions must follow from past ones), the crowd-pleaser script (decisions made for others' admiration), and the epic script (everything must be world-changing). It then pivots to implementation: what a tiny experiment actually requires, why committing to duration upfront prevents confirmation bias, how running experiments in public adds accountability, and what leaders can do to build experimental culture in teams. Throughout, Le Cunff contests the productivity-optimization framing of experimentation; she positions it instead as a way to navigate complexity with less stress while staying intellectually alive—a operating system built from three principles: failure as inherent to learning, curiosity beating certainty, and pairing action with reflection.
Anne-Laure Le Cunff argues that redefining success as learning rather than reaching fixed outcomes—by adopting a scientist's experimental mindset and running 'tiny experiments'—lets knowledge workers navigate a nonlinear world with curiosity instead of anxiety-driven control-seeking.
- Linear goals fail because the world is nonlinear, producing frustration and burnout
- The brain's perception-action cycle naturally learns through prediction and error, but its survival drive pushes premature certainty
- Tiny experiments (a committed action + fixed duration) take the scientific method out of the lab and reframe failure as data
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The conventional definition of success—'reaching a desired outcome'—is built on linear goals (clear vision and plan), but because we live in a nonlinear world of shifting trends and disruptions, clinging to linear goals leads to frustration, overwhelm, and burnout.
“there's only one problem with linear goals. it's that we don't live in a linear world. We live in a nonlinear world.”
The brain learns through the perception-action cycle: it perceives environmental data, formulates a prediction, and updates with new information when predictions are wrong—meaning failure is an inherent part of learning that aligns with how the brain naturally wants to work.
“the way your brain works is based on something neuroscientists call the perception action cycle... you're going to perceive some information in the environment, some data. Based on that data, your brain is going to formulate a hypothesis, a prediction.”
The brain is optimized for survival and therefore tries to reduce uncertainty as quickly as possible, which made evolutionary sense for ancestors but is maladaptive for modern humans who want to thrive rather than merely survive.
“your brain is also optimized for survival. So, it's trying to reduce uncertainty as quickly as possible. And that makes sense from an evolutionary perspective.”
A 1979 study found that most people placed in the same situation behave in exactly the same way, revealing 'cognitive scripts'—useful for social functioning (e.g., doctor visits) but problematic when unconsciously followed in life decisions like careers and self-presentation.
“This is a fascinating study that's from the late '7s, 1979... what they found is that most people when placed in the same situation with the same scenario end up all acting in exactly the same way.”
Framing uncertain projects as experiments from the outset fixes skewed incentives: linking uncertain work to a fixed linear goal creates pressure to hide failure with post-hoc narratives, whereas defining success as learning together transforms binary win/lose outcomes into shared learning.
“The issue is when we have something that's very uncertain and we link it to a linear goal, a specific destination. When that doesn't work out... we try to create a a post hawk narrative saying why that didn't work... but we're not really learning in the process because we're just trying to hide the failure”
Scientists define success not as reaching a destination but as learning something new, allowing them to view any outcome without self-blame or self-judgment—a reframe that makes curiosity more powerful than certainty.
“For a scientist, success is not reaching a specific destination. Success is learning something new. whatever the outcome, whatever the results, they're able to look at it without self-lame or self- judgment.”
The experimental mindset is not about eliminating uncertainty or anxiety—which is biologically natural and very hard to remove—but about noticing and accepting it, then designing experiments that convert paralysis into action and restore a sense of agency.
“a misconception when I talk about the experimental mindset is that it's about getting rid of the uncertainty... and it's not... So what you want to do instead is noticing it, accepting it, knowing that this is perfectly normal and then design an experiment”
The anxiety people feel when faced with uncertainty is normal and biologically driven; people who appear comfortable are usually just better at hiding it, so the first step to comfort with uncertainty is acknowledging this normality rather than self-blaming.
“the first step is to acknowledge the fact that it's completely normal to feel anxiety when we're faced with uncertainty. Again, that's what our brains are designed for”
One of the most powerful things a leader can do when facing uncertainty is to say 'I don't know, but let's figure it out together,' which opens a space for public experimentation, learning from failures, and unlocks 'social flow' where information flows between team members.
“one of the most powerful things that you can do as a leader when faced with uncertainty is saying, "I don't know, but let's figure it out together." This is how you open a space for experimentation and for learning in public”
Knowledge workers are hired for their capacity to deal with complexity and uncertainty, yet paradoxically respond to uncertainty by seeking control and certainty, sometimes pushing themselves to harmful extremes in the name of productivity.
“As knowledge workers, we are hired for our capacity to solve problems, to think creatively, to deal with complexity. But somehow when we're faced with uncertainty, we have this tendency to want to feel in control, to seek certainty.”
The barrier to self-reflection is rarely lack of time but lack of the right method; reallocating even five minutes from phone scrolling to self-reflection would yield substantial benefit, and finding the right approach requires experimentation rather than reading.
“If you took five minutes out of scrolling on your phone and use that for self-reflection, you would probably benefit a lot from it. So it's rarely a matter of not having enough time. It's more a matter of not having found the right way for you to do this”
Metacognition—the uniquely human capacity to observe one's own thoughts, emotions, and behaviors—is the foundation of observation, and people are better at observing the external world than the uncomfortable internal experience of their own tension and anxiety.
“There's a uniquely human capability that's called metacognition... it really just means thinking about thinking... as humans, we're able to observe our own thoughts, observe our own emotions, observe our own behaviors.”
Research shows that approaching challenges with curiosity in a more experimental way not only helps you find solutions faster but also produces less anxiety and stress in the process.
“there is research showing that when you approach challenges with this curious way, in a more experimental way. Not only you're going to find solutions faster, but you're also going to experience less anxiety and stress in the process”
The experimental mindset is especially suited to neurodivergent people because they tend to think in a more nonlinear way that makes rigid step-by-step curricula uncomfortable, and they often have high curiosity that the experimental approach leverages.
“This experimental mindset is actually perfect for neurody divergent people... something you find with neurody divergent people is that they actually have a more nonlinear way of thinking and it can actually feel quite constraining and uncomfortable for them to follow the more curriculum like approach”
Three major cognitive scripts limit people: the sequel script (decisions must follow logically from past decisions, e.g., choosing jobs aligned with one's degree), the crowd-pleaser script (decisions made to win others' admiration and praise), and the epic script (everything must be big, world-changing, leading to misery and identity collapse when it fails—seen in depressed startup founders).
“the first one is the SQL script. That's the one where you make decisions based on the decisions you made in the past.”
An experimental mindset is an operating system built from three principles: knowing failure is inherent to learning, believing curiosity always beats certainty, and always pairing action with reflection; using all three lets you navigate uncertainty while staying less stressed and anxious.
“these are sorts of like equations that form an operating system for how to develop an experimental mindset. So first knowing that failure is an inherent part of learning. Believing that curiosity always always beats certainty and always pairing action with reflection”
Tiny experiments are not a productivity hack but can help find gentler ways of working that produce the same results without sacrificing mental health; one should run only one experiment at a time (exception: two in very separate life areas) to ensure completion and to isolate which change has impact.
“I don't see tiny experiments as a productivity hack, but I do think tiny experiments can help you figure out ways to be more productive without sacrificing your mental health.”
It is irrational to commit to a new habit for life before ever trying it; instead one should run a tiny experiment first to see if it works and only then convert it into a habit.
“with habits I find it completely crazy that we pick a new habit and we say I'm going to commit to this for the rest of my life and we've never tried it before. So you can actually run a tiny experiment first, see if it works and and if it does then turn it into a habit.”
A tiny experiment needs only two ingredients—an action to test and a number of trials (a duration)—committed to in advance; committing to the duration up front prevents stopping early and avoids confirmation bias by withholding judgment until all data is collected.
“You only need two ingredients. First, you need to know what you're going to test. And second, you need to know the number of trials. So, you need to know the action and the duration.”
An experimental culture would value people not based on the quantity of answers they provide but on the quality of the questions they ask, creating more space for innovation and imagination.
“that would also be the kind of culture where we value people not based on the quantity of answers they provide, but based on the quality of the questions they ask”
Running experiments 'in public' adds accountability that helps you finish experiments you might otherwise abandon, and sharing unexpected/failed results is as valuable as sharing successes because telling others 'I tried this, don't do it' saves them time and energy.
“learning in public and having this accountability can be helpful to actually stick to it and collect the data.”
The 'plus minus next' tool uses three columns—what went well, what didn't go well, and what to tweak/implement next—as a weekly (or daily for intense experiments) review that closes the learning loop and provides material for an annual review.
“It's called plus minus next... It has three columns. In the first column, plus you write everything that went well. Second column, everything that didn't go so well. And in the last column, next with a little arrow, what you want to tweak next”
Reflecting on results and closing the loop—implementing what you learned into the next experiment—turns repeated cycles into 'growth loops' so you grow through the cycles rather than going in circles.
“This is what is allowing you to not just keep going in circles but really grow through the cycles. And this is what people call growth loops.”
A tiny experiment does include a hypothesis, but framed loosely as 'this is going to work' or 'this is not going to work'; productive experiments can even start from the expectation of failure, as when Le Cunff disproved her own fixed-mindset belief that meditation didn't work for her.
“there is a hypothesis when you run an experiment and usually the hypothesis is more along the lines of this is going to work or this is not going to work.”
Teams develop an experimental mindset when leaders provide scaffolding—picking a shared theme, having everyone run a month-long experiment, and regrouping to report what worked and what didn't—reframing a project from a fixed destination into a shared research question where the only goal is to learn together.
“I would actually ask your team, each person on your team, to design a tiny experiment. You could pick uh a theme, a product, a challenge that you're facing as a team and say for the next month, let's all run an experiment and let's all report back.”
Begin with 24 hours of 'self-anthropology': pick a typical weekday and take notes throughout, asking what gives versus drains energy and when you feel curious or excited; patterns emerge quickly and become the seed of a hypothesis for a tiny experiment.
“That exercise of self anthropology I recommend doing for 24 hours... just like an anthropologist, start taking little notes throughout the day... what is giving me energy? What is draining my energy? When do I feel particularly curious and excited?”
Tiny experiments can be scaled up incrementally: Le Cunff overcame a terror of public speaking by progressing from recording one-minute unedited videos for Instagram for 10 days, to monthly online workshops, to quarterly in-person stage appearances, with anxiety decreasing at each stage.
“I used to be terrified of public speaking... For the next 10 days, I'm going to record myself with my phone for one minute and I'm going to post it on Instagram unedited.”
Active observation can be practiced through writing or talking; verbalizing what is going on in your mind forces you to understand and articulate your emotions, and the best method is simply whichever one you actually do consistently.
“when you verbalize what is going on in your mind with your emotions. It really forces you to understand them and articulate them. Whether you do this through writing in a journal or through talking with someone, it doesn't really matter as long as you do it.”
Success is something we praise and admire, and we often measure our own success based on the success of others, as if looking at a giant leaderboard.
“We also very often measure our own success based on the success of others. It's as if we were all looking at a giant leaderboard constantly asking who's doing better, bigger, faster work.”
A simple 20-minute daily walk for 20 days during a back-to-back meeting schedule significantly improved Le Cunff's mental health, demonstrating that valuable tiny experiments need not be complex or groundbreaking.
“I'm going to take a 20 minute walk every day for the next 20 days and we're going to see if that helps or not... this what time I was not proven wrong. really really really helped.”
She started her career at Google in the role of APM and later worked as an executive on digital health projects such as Wear OS apps and Google Fit.
“Previously she worked at Google as an executive on digital health projects such as where OS apps and Google fit.”