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Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

Improve strategy, influence, and decision-making by understanding your brain | Evan LaPointe (founder of CORE Sciences)

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

Lenny Rachitsky

Technology, Business, Entrepreneurship

51.5K Ratings

🗓️ 11 August 2024

⏱️ 135 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Evan LaPointe is the founder of CORE Sciences, which teaches companies and individuals how our brains work and how that translates to improved collaboration, better products, faster decision-making, and more growth. Previously, Evan was the co-founder of Satellite, the fourth-largest analytics product on the internet today (it mostly runs behind the scenes, and pretty much everyone listening will have used it today without knowing it), which was acquired by Adobe, where he later ran product strategy, innovation, and long-range thinking for Adobe’s digital experiences business. In our conversation, we discuss:

• The three different systems of the brain

• How knowing this can help you become more influential

• How understanding different brain states will help you increase productivity and creativity

• How to improve your vision and strategy skills

• How to design a work environment that fosters innovation

• How to build better relationships at work

• Much more

Use discount code “LENNY” for $5 off the CORE Sciences personality profile: https://www.core-sciences.com/new-core-identity

Brought to you by:

Webflow—The web experience platform

Explo—Embed customer-facing analytics in your product

Eppo—Run reliable, impactful experiments

Find the transcript and references at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/understanding-your-brain-evan-lapointe

Where to find Evan LaPointe:

• X: https://x.com/evanlapointe

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/evanlapointe/

• Website: https://www.core-sciences.com/

Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Evan’s background

(02:37) Understanding the brain’s complex systems

(07:17) The three core brain systems: safety, reward, and purpose

(11:03) Applying brain science to team dynamics

(14:27) The role of personality in team performance

(17:27) Creating effective work environments

(23:16) The science of meetings and decision-making

(29:35) Enhancing strategy and vision

(54:46) Understanding personality traits in strategy and vision

(58:58) Tactical tips for increasing openness

(01:05:46) Building influence and effective relationships

(01:21:17) The importance of trust and appeal in relationships

(01:36:47) Creating a positive organizational habitat

(01:50:35) Enhancing focus and productivity

(02:00:58) Practical tips for deep work and gamma time

(02:07:11) Lightning round

Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected].

Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.



Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

The brain is like a college campus that has different departments in it.

0:02.8

Most people rely on their history department way too much.

0:05.6

If you instead send things to the kind of the more experimental open-minded science

0:09.2

department, the more creative art department, you get dramatically better answers.

0:13.4

I know you have a bunch of awesome advice on becoming more influential.

0:16.0

It's almost like you're playing like Eldin Ring or some video game.

0:19.2

The starting point is to choose your character.

0:21.5

Hey, I'm the devil's advocate approach,

0:23.4

or I'm the break it and see if it still stands

0:25.6

after I hit it really hard with a sledgehammer kind of guy.

0:28.0

Your personality kind of has a natural fit.

0:30.5

How do we create better relationships within our teams?

0:32.8

It's critical to ask what kind of experience am I?

0:35.3

Not how good am I at my job, how much do I know, how critical am I to this process,

0:39.4

but am I a miserable experience?

0:42.2

And if the answer is yes,

0:44.1

don't worry too much about the other pieces yet.

0:46.4

You gotta fix that first.

0:47.8

I am really excited for this episode.

0:49.3

I think it's gonna be unlike any other conversation

0:51.5

I've had on this podcast. And then here's the surprise ending.

0:58.4

Today my guest is Evan LaPoint.

...

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