Relentless
00:54:32 · Ty Morse, Brian Armstrong
[00:54:32] S1: That's interesting. I don't know if you used to hike a lot or still hike a lot, but what has been the role of hiking and, like, getting your mind right and thinking longer term and and these sorts of things? [00:54:43] S0: Yeah. I I actually think just generally, like, movement of your body is good. Hiking has the benefit of it being in nature too. So there's good studies on this where it's just like nature and a little exercise is, like, very positive for all kinds of things, like, health wise, but even psychologically. I think there's actually some study I've read where, like, there was, like, people recovering in a hospital room, and they... One group of people, they, like, had a window to look at a tree or something, and then another group of people, they went on walks outside, and they even did, like, a control test where one group of people, they had to go outside in a wheelchair. So they weren't allowed to walk, but they were allowed to be in nature and come back. So they were kind of trying to tease it apart of basically like, is it the movement? Is it the nature? Do you have to just like see a tree or do you have to be amongst the trees? They even have Did feel the trees? Yeah. I think even one of them, they like had a paint, like a... It was just had like a picture on the wall of a tree. It wasn't even a real tree. And that even had a positive benefit. If people were recovering in a hospital room and they even had a picture of a tree, it actually helped.
00:54:43 · Brian Armstrong, Ty Morse
[00:54:43] S0: Yeah. I I actually think just generally, like, movement of your body is good. Hiking has the benefit of it being in nature too. So there's good studies on this where it's just like nature and a little exercise is, like, very positive for all kinds of things, like, health wise, but even psychologically. I think there's actually some study I've read where, like, there was, like, people recovering in a hospital room, and they... One group of people, they, like, had a window to look at a tree or something, and then another group of people, they went on walks outside, and they even did, like, a control test where one group of people, they had to go outside in a wheelchair. So they weren't allowed to walk, but they were allowed to be in nature and come back. So they were kind of trying to tease it apart of basically like, is it the movement? Is it the nature? Do you have to just like see a tree or do you have to be amongst the trees? They even have Did feel the trees? Yeah. I think even one of them, they like had a paint, like a... It was just had like a picture on the wall of a tree. It wasn't even a real tree. And that even had a positive benefit. If people were recovering in a hospital room and they even had a picture of a tree, it actually helped. [00:55:48] S1: Maybe the reason why people are so happy around Christmas time is because they have a tree in their house.
00:55:48 · Ty Morse, Brian Armstrong
[00:55:48] S1: Maybe the reason why people are so happy around Christmas time is because they have a tree in their house. [00:55:52] S0: Yeah. Anyway, I don't remember the exact study results, but the TLDR, I think was like all of them help. It's like movement helps, any kind of nature, even if it's apparently it's like a picture of nature, all these kinds of things help. So I think a lot about how we're really just like primitive organisms that are running this software that's like 200,000 years old. Like from an evolutionary point of view, our psychology has not changed that much. Like the same software that was us running around as these little tribes on the savannah is basically the same thing we have today, but we also have a neocortex that can like learn things in the modern world and whatnot. So you kind of have to take care of like the primitive parts of your mind and body at times. And so for me, that's just like, yeah, it's movement, it's exercise, It's getting in nature. Hiking is just like a a very nice way to, like, knock that out without a without a bunch of fuss about, like, you know, scuba diving. It's like... There's like a lot of gear you have to bring and everything. But if you just need to, like, consistently knock it out, that helps.
00:56:55 · Ty Morse
[00:56:55] S1: There's this idea of wartime CEO and peacetime CEO. And I feel like, especially in crypto, there's this nice oscillation of wartime peacetime, wartime peacetime. Yeah. Do you enjoy when everything is going well, or do you enjoy kind of when there's something that is like this absolute top priority where if you don't get it done like today or this week or this month, everything's fucked? Like, which part of the cycle do you enjoy the most?
00:57:19 · Brian Armstrong
[00:57:19] S0: You know, I used to think that I was better as a peacetime CEO, but I think that's not true. It's actually totally flipped. I think it's wartime all the time, and I actually realized that I like wartime. It took me... That's probably a change that happened over the last ten years or something in the last... First five years of Coinbase, where initially, I think I was a little conflict averse, and I was just kind of, like, walking on eggshells and let's just build. And, you know, that had a time and place, but there's a real sense of motivation and urgency that comes from wartime. I actually think competition makes us better as a company. It definitely... I find it very energizing and motivating. It can make you, like, really pissed in certain moments too, but it's actually, like, very energizing. And sometimes when there there isn't any kind of conflict or war going on, I get a little bored and tired. I'm just like, ah, like, what's... You know, it seems like nothing's blowing up right now, and I could use a good crisis. Now somebody might say you're just running on cortisol all the time, and there might... There could be an element of truth to that, but I, you know, I try to balance it with the things we talked about of, exercise and, like, you know, have a wind down routine in the evening. So you... It's not just, like, burning yourself out, like, by literally being fight or flight, like, twenty four seven. But I like... And I should clarify. I don't wanna be, like, doing conflict for conflict's sake. I think that that's just destructive. But if you see something that A
00:58:46 · Ty Morse, Brian Armstrong
[00:58:46] S1: clear problem that needs to be solved, something to fight after... Like, fight for. [00:58:49] S0: Yeah. Like, if you don't speak up and say something about it, like, then you're failing as a leader, I think. So, yeah. Wartime is great. I'll actually... I love conflict. [00:58:58] S1: There's this wonderful line. I was listening to a podcast with Jessica Livingston and Brian Chesky probably a year and a half ago, and he was talking about how, like, during March, in, like, eight weeks, 80% of the revenue disappeared. [00:59:11] S0: Mhmm. [00:59:12] S1: And he said the worst companies are basically destroyed in a crisis. Decent companies are... You know, survived the crisis. The best companies are, like, defined by the crisis. Yeah. I think that's probably the same thing for CEOs as well of those companies. What have been the biggest, like, defining moments of crisis for you?