Lenny Rachitsky: belief

Transcript context

…I actually think I'm the most present when I'm having conversations like this one. I do preserve a lot of time to have one-on-one conversations where I'm genuinely curious about how someone's doing, how I can help them, what they're excited about that's authentic. And so while my EA would probably cringe at saying I like to spend time doing a lot of those one-on-ones, it is relatively easier for me to say the human connection is part of what I enjoy about this. I think that's true for a lot of people in what we get out of work and life, but I try to live that in those meetings. I'm probably not as good when we're talking about meetings of 30 people and I'm multitasking, so I'll admit to doing that for sure. But I think the one-on-one conversations I treat as being pretty sacred. One of the things I've noticed that helps me continue to invest in that and maybe is helpful for other people is some of my greatest friends and connections, including people like Ali, are people I met along the way professionally. So I worked very closely with Ally's husband, Keith Henwood, at multiple places, both Analysis Group and at Lyft. And that means that it's created opportunities and it's been points of connection. And so you get back what you give basically. There are people in my life who are part of my life because I worked with them or because I crossed paths. And I like to think that if I can make a positive mark on them, it'll come back and be at some point too. So I think to distill that is that I truly enjoy it. It's what I get out of especially work. And then it's my community. And that's served me really well over time. And so I have given people advice of, "This is a small community, think about what you're investing in other people because that will matter down the line for yourself too" and I try to live that myself. Yeah, that's such good advice. There's kind of two things that come to mind there. One is treat people the way you want to be treated. Someone once said that maybe. And I think you've come back to this a couple times, this idea of just pay attention to what gives you energy and that you're good at and just almost double down on that. Just make that more and more of a superpower. Yeah, that last part resonates. It's been a big part of my personal and professional practice to reflect on how I'm feeling, what I'm excited about, what I'm enjoying. I do think it helps me be more grounded, which maybe helps me be more present or helps me be a better manager or leader. That might be part of the secret sauce too, but it is part of my practice.…

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