The Leadership Change Lab: How to Design and Test Your Own Leadership Experiments

My Focus in This Article

I will talk about the following here:

• Why small experiments are better than grand leadership initiatives
• How the neuroscience of habit formation supports incremental leadership change
• A practical framework for designing your own 30-day leadership experiment
• Stories of my successful (and unsuccessful) experiments
• An approach to track your leadership growth by trying new things

Preface: My Leadership Lab

As I think about my career, my most significant leadership shifts never came from formal training programs or long strategy meetings. They happened in unexpected moments through small but deliberate experiments—the kind that tested my instincts and forced me to rethink my leadership habits.

A few months back, I got this unexpected feedback from a close colleague—he sent a personal event invite to my wife instead of me. He assumed I was always busy and that she was more organized. That struck a deeper chord. It made me question: what signals am I unconsciously sending? That reflection triggered a new kind of leadership experiment. It also reminded me that not all feedback demands immediate action—sometimes, it's just a seed for reflection, waiting to be acted upon at another time.

From Big Bangs to Small Steps: My Leadership Evolution

Earlier in my career, I often bet on big-bang initiatives to make an impact. I remember launching the "Seven Wonders of the World" promotion as CMO of Shoppers Stop—a massive experiential campaign that brought footfall but lacked alignment with our profit goals. I didn't ask: Is the organization ready? Are other senior leaders aligned?

Later, at HDFC Bank, I took a different route. When I had to convince the CFO about data-driven marketing, I didn't start with a grand vision. Instead, I launched small-scale experiments, proving analytics' value before pitching for more significant investments.

Years later, as a co-founder at Hansa Cequity, I had to unlearn another habit—overwhelming my team with information. Preparing for a big client meeting, I loaded Aparna with a barrage of data. The result? She froze. Hemant, a senior leader in our team, helped her—and me—by encouraging her to ignore most of what I'd sent. That's when it hit me: intention doesn't always translate into impact.

But it has taken me years for my leadership style to evolve. None of the above events led to rapid changes; even now, I struggle not to overwhelm people, not to go only for big bang thoughts, etc.

These lessons taught me a simple truth: significant leadership changes don't happen in one leap—they unfold through small, deliberate experiments.

This article is about launching your 30-day experiment by choosing one behavior to test, examining the results, and improving it over time.

Welcome to your Leadership Change Lab.

Why Leadership Experiments Work: The Science of Small Changes

Behavioral science research has shown that change happens in incremental steps, reinforced by feedback loops and environmental triggers. Studies show that 43% of daily behaviors are habitual, meaning that even when we intellectually want to change, our brain defaults to old patterns. Neuroscience research on neuroplasticity reinforces that the only way to form new leadership habits is through repetition and reinforcement—in other words, running structured experiments.

The Habit Loop: Cue, Routine, Reward

The Habit Loop explains how habits are formed through cues, routine, and reward.

Leaders who want to change behaviors must first recognize the triggers that prompt their usual leadership approach, adjust their routines, and establish a reward system reinforcing the new behavior.

To change a habit, you must understand its structure:

• Cue: What starts the habit (like seeing your phone).
• Routine: What do you do next (like opening Instagram)?
• Reward: What do you gain from it (like feeling good from likes)?

We must rewire this loop to shift leadership behaviors—change the routine while keeping the cue and reward.

When Experiments Fail: Learning from Missteps

Not every experiment will work. I once tried reducing phone usage by keeping it face down and in my pocket, but I'm still distracted. The real breakthrough? Deleting apps for set periods. Even now, I'm dreaming up new experiments—perhaps removing email access at certain times.

The lesson: failure is data. Keep iterating.

Step 1: Choosing Your Experiment

A leadership behavior change is more likely to succeed when we link it to an existing routine or reconfigure environmental triggers.

For example, if you struggle with delegation, your default behavior is to take on tasks yourself because your email inbox constantly signals urgency. A simple experiment could be setting up an end-of-day reflection:

"Before replying to emails, is this something that I can delegate?"

Here are some simple experiments to try:

• If you find delegating difficult, try handing off one task each week and seeing how it goes.
• To be more like a coach, ask more questions, and give less advice during meetings.
• To make meetings more engaging, wait a few extra seconds before you speak.

One of the hardest lessons I've learned is that not all leadership strengths serve us equally at every stage of our journey. Just as a supernova must collapse before it spreads new elements into the universe, certain aspects of my leadership had to break apart to allow something new to emerge.

Step 2: Designing Your 30-Day Experiment

A powerful yet often overlooked tool in behavior change is self-nudging, intentionally shaping one's environment to make better choices. By adjusting environmental cues, leaders can nudge themselves toward success instead of relying purely on willpower.

I unknowingly used self-nudging when I worked on improving my active listening skills over the last few years. I stopped sitting at the head of the table, where I felt the need to lead the discussion and just changed my seat. This small change helped me listen more and let others speak first.

Step 3: Measuring Your Leadership Experiment Results

Quantitative Measures:

• Keep a count of the new behavior (e.g., "I delegated 12 tasks this week versus my usual 3").
• Measure time saved or reallocated (e.g., "By speaking less in meetings, I reduced our meeting time by 15%").
• Note how quickly people respond to your communications or requests.

Qualitative Measures:

• Personal reflection journal: Write down how the experiment feels and what you observe.
• Direct feedback: Ask trusted colleagues for specific observations about your behavior change.

Designing Your Own Leadership Experiment

Leadership change happens through small steps. Don't aim for perfection.

Here is how you can start your own 30-day leadership experiment:

1. Identify one leadership behavior you want to change. Choose something small but impactful—perhaps delegating, asking more questions before offering advice, or speaking last in meetings.
2. Set clear conditions for your experiment. Define a hypothesis (e.g., "If I delegate one task per week, my team will take more ownership"). Link the change to an existing routine for better success.
3. Modify your environment to reinforce the shift. Use self-nudging set reminders that encourage the new behavior.
4. Track progress and adjust as needed. Reflect daily or weekly: Did I follow through? What do I need to refine?
5. Gather feedback and iterate. Don't expect perfection—keep learning & changing.

Some experiments will succeed, some won't—but every attempt will bring new insights.

Your Turn: Start Your Leadership Experiment Today

Try this approach to start your experiment:

1. Choose one behavior to work on.
2. Make a guess: If I do [X], [Y] will get better.
3. Plan the trigger, action, and reward.
4. Change your surroundings to remind yourself (give yourself a nudge).
5. Track your progress and think about it each week.
6. Keep trying, tweaking, and sharing what you learn.

The experiment is ready—keep testing and growing!

Conclusion: The Lab is Open

Leadership growth is not about grand transformations but small, consistent steps. Whether successful or not, every experiment brings you closer to who you want to be. So, what's your first experiment? Start today, and remember: the Lab is always open.