Lecture Notes: Conversation with Evan La Point

Introduction

• Guest: Evan La Point, founder of Core Sciences
• Focus: How brains work and applying that to build better teams, products, and businesses

Key Concepts

Brain as Campus Metaphor

• Departments in Brain: History, Science, Art
• Excessive reliance: History Department
• Alternative departments: Science (experimental), Art (creative)

Becoming Influential

• Analogy: Video games (Elden Ring)
• Character Types: Devil’s advocate, sledgehammer approach
• Personality Fit: Different personalities suit different influencing styles
• Critical Question: Experience to others, not just job competency

Importance of Relationships

• Self-Reflection: Assessing your experience to others
• Improvement: Fix negative experiences before other aspects

Guest Introduction

• Evan La Point: Founder of Core Sciences
• Core Sciences Mission: Teach brain function to improve teamwork, product building, and decision-making
• Accomplishments: 4-time founder, Satellite analytics (acquired by Adobe)

Understanding the Brain

• Complexity: More complex than any known structure (National Geographic)
• Translation: Simplifying the brain’s complexity into systems
• Key Systems: Safety, Reward, Purpose
• Departments and Pathways: Different departments provide different responses
  • History Department: Low energy, often over-relied upon
  • Science Department: Open-minded, experimental
  • Art Department: Creative thinking
• Focus on Intentional Pathways: Activating best brain regions and systems

Brain Systems Overview

• Safety System: Activated by fear, anger, etc.
• Reward System: Triggered by incentives, transactional nature
• Purpose System: Understanding impact and caring about people affected
• Focus Levels: Open-mindedness to deep focus
• Ability: Context, reasoning, imagination

Working with Different Personalities

• Personality Impact: Awareness of different responses and behaviors
• Self-awareness: Understanding your preferences and tendencies
• Big Five Model: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism
• Growth Mentality: Improving through understanding and intentional actions

Team Dynamics and Performance

• Habitat and Environment: Creating a conducive environment for high performance
• Case Studies: Canva, Figma – positive, productive environments
• Influence of Design and Innovation: Impact on market and company performance

Practical Advice for Team Performance

Meetings

• Priming: Setting context and principles before decision-making
• Decision-Making: Clear, structured approach to making decisions
• Principles Debate: Aligning on principles to avoid tactical conflicts

Strategy and Vision

• Categories of Response: Believed, Believable, Unbelievable, Inconceivable
• Understanding and Shifting Thresholds: Openness and conscientiousness
• Self-awareness Tools: Big Five personality test
• Intentional Pathways: Challenging personal thresholds

Influence Techniques

• Influence Mode: Character and speed (slow, moderate, fast)
• Moderate Influence: Teaching and guiding realization
• Fast Influence: Cognitive dissonance, direct challenges

Relationships

• Components: Ability, Trust, Appeal
• Levels of Trust: Trust 1 (simple tasks), Trust 2 (more significant), Trust 3 (beyond personal capability)
• Experience Impact: Positive vs. Negative experiences in relationships

Culture and Habitat

• Logical Deduction vs. Inspiration: Role-based value and purpose
• Bias to Impact: Ensuring actions produce value
• Educating Teams: Why we do things and who benefits

Focus and Productivity

• Brain Waves and Focus Modes: Alpha (daydreaming), Beta (productivity), Gamma (deep focus)
• Balancing Focus: Shifting between Alpha, Beta, and Gamma for optimal performance
• Cadences: Quarterly and weekly focus planning

Practical Steps

• Improving Meetings: Priming and structured decision-making
• Enhancing Focus: Allocating time for deep and creative thinking (Alpha and Gamma)
• Building Relationships: Improving experience, trust, and ability in teams
• Creating Better Culture: Logical deducing of roles and values

Conclusion

• Actionable Insights: Apply key learnings to improve team dynamics and personal productivity
• Engage and Experiment: Continuously improve through self-awareness and environmental adjustments
• Resources: Core Sciences website and additional materials