Let’s get real for a minute.
You didn’t get to the C-suite by accident. You’ve built companies, led teams through chaos, and made decisions that kept the lights on when everyone else was panicking. You’ve earned your seat at the table.
But here’s the uncomfortable truth that most leadership coaches won’t tell you: the same skills that got you here might be the exact things keeping you stuck.
At People Risk Consulting, we’ve worked with countless CEOs who came to us frustrated. They had vision. They had strategy. They had teams ready to execute. But something was off. Growth had stalled. Innovation felt forced. And despite all their experience, they couldn’t figure out why.
The culprit? A sneaky little phenomenon we call experimentation bias, and it’s probably running your leadership playbook right now without you even knowing it.
What Is Experimentation Bias (And Why Should You Care)?
Here’s the thing about being a leader: you’re expected to have answers. Your board wants certainty. Your team wants direction. Your investors want confidence. So you learn to project all of those things, even when you’re not feeling them.
Over time, you develop what Dr. Diane Dye, CEO of People Risk Consulting, calls “masks.” The mask of competence. The mask of certainty. The mask of always knowing best.
These masks feel protective. They help you navigate high-stakes conversations and maintain credibility. But they come with a hidden cost.
Experimentation bias happens when leaders only run experiments that protect their ego instead of challenging their assumptions.
Think about it. When was the last time you tested a hypothesis that could prove you wrong? When did you last greenlight a project that made you genuinely uncomfortable, not because of the risk to the business, but because of the risk to your self-image?
Research shows that CEOs face significant obstacles to learning from experience. Many corporate learning opportunities occur infrequently during a leader’s tenure, meaning opportunities to learn from previous mistakes are few and far between. Worse, certain biases get reinforced rather than overcome, leaders tend to overestimate their personal control over outcomes and become overinvested in their own decisions.
This isn’t a character flaw. It’s human nature. But if you want sustainable, infinite growth? You’ve got to confront it head-on.
The Three Masks That Keep CEOs Stuck
Let’s break down the masks that create experimentation bias. See if any of these sound familiar.
Mask #1: The Competence Mask
This is the “I’ve got this handled” mask. You wear it in board meetings, investor calls, and team all-hands. It says: “I know what I’m doing. Trust my track record.”
The problem? When you’re always projecting competence, you stop asking for help. You stop admitting when you don’t know something. And you definitely stop running experiments that might expose gaps in your knowledge.
The cost: You miss out on diverse perspectives that could unlock breakthrough solutions.
Mask #2: The Certainty Mask
This mask projects unwavering confidence in your strategy. It tells everyone, including yourself, that the path forward is clear.
But real growth rarely comes from certainty. It comes from curiosity. From being willing to say, “I think this is the right direction, but let’s test it.”
The cost: You double down on strategies that aren’t working because admitting uncertainty feels like weakness.
Mask #3: The “Knowing Best” Mask
This is the most dangerous one. It’s the belief that your experience and intuition should override data, feedback, and dissenting opinions.
Yes, your experience matters. But when “knowing best” becomes your default operating mode, you stop listening. You stop experimenting with ideas that didn’t originate from you. And you create a culture where your team stops bringing you uncomfortable truths.
The cost: Innovation dies. Your best people disengage. And growth stalls.
The Real Reason You Fear Surprises
Here’s what Dr. Diane Dye has observed after years of consulting with executive leaders: most CEOs don’t fear surprises because they lack vision. They fear surprises because surprises threaten the masks they’ve worked so hard to maintain.
Think about it. A surprise means something happened that you didn’t predict. If you’re wearing the certainty mask, that’s a direct hit to your credibility. If you’re wearing the competence mask, it suggests a blind spot. If you’re wearing the “knowing best” mask, it means someone else saw something you missed.
So what do you do? You unconsciously design experiments and strategies that minimize the chance of surprise. You test things you’re pretty sure will work. You avoid the experiments that could reveal something you don’t want to see.
This is experimentation bias in action. And it’s killing your potential for real growth.
What Infinite Growth Actually Requires
Let’s talk about infinite growth: the kind of sustainable expansion that doesn’t plateau or burn out.
Infinite growth doesn’t come from protecting what you’ve built. It comes from being willing to tear down your assumptions and rebuild them based on what’s actually true.
That requires a different kind of leadership. One where:
- Vulnerability is a strategic advantage, not a liability
- Being wrong is data, not failure
- Uncomfortable experiments are prioritized, not avoided
- Surprises are welcomed as opportunities to learn, not threats to manage
At People Risk Consulting, we call this “unmasked leadership.” And it’s the foundation of every sustainable growth story we’ve seen.
How to Start Taking Off the Mask
So how do you actually do this? Here are four practices that People Risk Consulting recommends for CEOs ready to get real about growth:
1. Run One “Ego-Threatening” Experiment Per Quarter
Identify one assumption you’re deeply attached to: maybe it’s about your market, your team, or your strategy. Then design an experiment specifically to challenge it. Not to confirm it. To challenge it.
2. Create a “Surprise Welcome” Culture
Start celebrating surprises in your leadership team meetings. When something unexpected happens, resist the urge to find blame. Instead, ask: “What did we learn? What assumption was wrong? How does this make us smarter?”
3. Invite Dissent
Actively seek out the people on your team who disagree with you. Give them permission: and safety: to challenge your thinking. The best CEOs don’t surround themselves with yes-people. They surround themselves with people brave enough to say, “I think you’re wrong, and here’s why.”
4. Get Outside Perspective
This is where working with an experienced consulting partner like People Risk Consulting becomes invaluable. When you’re inside the system, it’s almost impossible to see your own masks. An outside perspective can hold up the mirror and help you see what’s really driving your decisions.
Ready to Have a Real Conversation?
Look, reading a blog post is a good start. But real transformation happens in real conversation: the kind where you can ask hard questions, get challenged, and walk away with actionable insights.
That’s exactly why we created the Brave Business Masterclass and Podcast.
This isn’t your typical webinar where you sit passively and listen to a polished presentation. This is a live experience where CEO Diane Dye and guests tackle the real challenges facing today’s leaders: including topics like experimentation bias, unmasked leadership, and sustainable growth.
You have two ways to join:
- Watch live as a passive viewer and absorb the conversation
- Register to join the interactive studio audience and participate in real-time discussion
Either way, you’ll walk away with practical frameworks and honest insights you won’t find anywhere else.
👉 Register now for the Brave Business Masterclass and Podcast
It’s time to take off the mask. It’s time to run the experiments that actually matter. And it’s time to get real about what growth looks like for you.
We’ll see you there.
