Jacob Warwick: commitment

Transcript context

…I immediately love this question as a ... It sounds to people like this is manipulative in ... It could come across as that as an external observer, but to me, I'm like, "This is exactly what I want to achieve." And I love that you're thinking about this and I want you to be focused on this and I would do a lot to help make this happen. I guess to answer your question, I would just love it to be very concrete tactical advice that people can use to help negotiate their comp. And they spread this with all their friends, they're like, "This is the best thing I've ever heard around comp." And one of the things that we can do is that we plant what you want someone to say in that conversation as well. So when I'm talking to these executives and I'm making the introductions, sometimes I'll ask, or an introductions come to me, I'll be curious like, "When you go back and you share with a friend, what are you going to say about me? Are you going to say Jacob was really helpful or are you going to say that Jacob's an asshole? I'm curious." And sometimes I just make a complete reframe so there's no other option. Well, I'm obviously not going to say you're an asshole, so I'm going to say you're the great thing that I want you to say. I'm controlling the narrative I want them to perpetuate. So in this instance, and maybe some of your readers are going to be like, "This guy's a total manipulative jerk." I will say, I hope that you use this for good and not evil, but this is just the way power works. I would hope that in the comment section, you say, "Lenny, this was such a refreshing and energetic podcast. This is what we want more of. This is exciting. We've done a lot of stuff in AI. This was very cool and different." Right? So I'm suggesting if you felt that way, share something like that below. Too many YouTube videos are like, "Oh, like and subscribe." And that's all they do, which does trigger action. It's a very simple thing. But when it comes to navigating your net worth and negotiating for power, these executives at the top control what every other person is saying, naturally. They know when somebody's talking about them when they're not in the room and they not only know about it, but they know what they said about them. Similar to when somebody's like, "Oh, Lenny, we're going to do reference checks on you." What's the first thing you do? You call all those references and you say, "What are you going to say about me?" Ideally, you can control that to some capacity and improve the likelihood of you moving forward. So we already do this. We just have to integrate it into some everyday conversations and you can better control outcomes. It's the same, interview process. When you go back to your committee, are you going to say, "Jacob solved X, Y, Z and we're excited. Slam dunk, let's move forward." And I like really quickly, slam dunk. Right? Easy to remember. Or are you going to say, "There's a couple gaps here in some of the competitors that we have or some of the competition seems more fulfilling." And I want to ask for that feedback while I'm still on the call with you. And I want to wait for an email to say, "I'm sorry you're not a fit." And then you ask for feedback and you don't get any. I have to do it while we're live in person because you can't deny me in that moment without it being awkward. So what are you going to say? Is this a slam dunk? What's one thing I should have asked that I didn't? What are some areas that the other candidates excelled that you wish I showed more of? g awkward. So what are you going to say? Is this a slam dunk? What's one thing I should have asked that I didn't? What are some areas that the other candidates excelled that you wish I showed more of? I want to understand where those gaps are so I have an opportunity to address them. And then if I didn't make the mark, I'd say, "I'd love to have a conversation with you next Thursday to talk through that in more detail. Thank you for bringing that to my attention." If you close the next conversation, you don't give up necessarily. That was another monologue, but that was a little bit inside the mind of how I think about these things.…

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