Anne-Laure Le Cunff is a neuroscientist, founder of Ness Labs, and the bestselling author of Tiny Experiments. Her work sits at the intersection of science, curiosity, and high performance, helping ambitious individuals build smarter, more sustainable ways to grow without burning out.
Despite achieving early career success, Anne-Laure found herself feeling disconnected and unfulfilled. That disconnect led her back to university to study neuroscience, where she began to understand why so many driven people follow paths that look impressive but feel empty. What started as a personal exploration turned into a global body of work that now helps leaders rethink how they approach growth, goals, and decision-making.
In this conversation, Chris and Anne-Laure unpack the concept of tiny experiments. Instead of chasing rigid, long-term goals, they explore a more adaptive approach rooted in curiosity and iteration — one that allows you to make progress without the pressure of having everything figured out.
They also get into how this mindset rewires your relationship with failure, why the scientists in the room aren’t wired differently from the rest of us (they’re just trained), and how a simple weekly tool called Plus/Minus/Next can help you stop overcommitting and start building a business you still love five years from now.
If you are building for the long-haul and want a more grounded, flexible way to move forward, this episode will give you a fresh perspective and practical tools to apply right away.
In this Episode You'll Learn
- Why big, rigid goals create the illusion of control and what to replace them with
- How scientists are trained to approach uncertainty with curiosity and how you can be too
- The Plus/Minus/Next weekly reflection method for cutting through overcommitment and building a business you still love
- The 24-hour anthropologist exercise to design your very first tiny experiment
Episode Timestamps
- 04:24 – What Drove Anne-Laure to Write Tiny Experiments
- 07:56 – Why Your Newsletter Isn’t a Book (Yet)
- 10:29 – Replacing Rigid Goals with Experiments
- 13:15 – How Experiments Rewire Your Relationship with Failure
- 15:03 – Using Tiny Experiments to Manage Your Energy
- 20:09 – The Plus/Minus/Next Method for Weekly Reflection
- 26:05 – Running One Experiment Alongside Your Current Career
- 28:41 – How Anne-Laure Tracks Her Experiments (+ A Failed One)
- 34:17 – The 24-Hour Anthropologist Exercise
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Thanks for listening to The Long-Haul Leader podcast. See you next week with more insights to help you lead with purpose, resilience, and impact.
