Lenny's Podcast: Product | Career | Growth
01:07:07 · Lenny Rachitsky, Oji Udezue
[01:07:07] S1: Okay. Great. Let's do it. What what are two or three books that you've recommended most to other people? [01:07:13] S0: There's one business book that I recommend. I think it's called The Halo Effect. It's basically a book that lets you call bullshit on all these business books that are... Tell you all kinds of stupid shit. It is how to deconstruct what is important in a business and self help book and what is not important and what is just circumstantial storytelling with random facts and form fitting evidence. It's called the Halo Effect. Read it. Why do you need to read it? Because garbage in, garbage out. You know, people were amazed at the outlier effect Malcolm Gladwell, and then people have been tearing it down for fifteen years now. But everyone ingested it and and thought it was the most important thing. But how do you how do you know what's important to take away from it and what's not? The Halo Effect will help you. And then the other thing is I read for pleasure because I read a lot for work. And so science fiction is the thing. There's lots to recommend, but I would say that people should either read Dune, Frank Herbert, or Foundation by Asimov. If you haven't read those two things and you're a science fiction, person, you really should. The world building is incredible. It's not... You know, I understand Tolkien and fantasy, but the science fiction side of it is those two books. [01:08:31] S1: There's also a TV series of Foundation now, which I can't say recommend absolutely, but, it's it's a beautiful show.
01:08:31 · Lenny Rachitsky, Oji Udezue
[01:08:31] S1: There's also a TV series of Foundation now, which I can't say recommend absolutely, but, it's it's a beautiful show. [01:08:39] S0: Yeah. No. I... I've... I haven't watched Foundation yet. I I I just felt like... I just felt super weird watching it after reading it. And I I could only make it through, three quarters of Dune version... You know, part one, but I will make it through them. I don't expect them. The books are glorious. If you love prose, the books are, man, crazy. But, I will get through them eventually. [01:09:04] S1: I've not actually read Dune, but the movie was incredible. I played the video game Dune where you're just mining spice all day and just stuck in my brain forever. Okay. Next question. What is a favorite interview question that you like to ask candidates that you're interviewing?
01:09:04 · Lenny Rachitsky, Oji Udezue
[01:09:04] S1: I've not actually read Dune, but the movie was incredible. I played the video game Dune where you're just mining spice all day and just stuck in my brain forever. Okay. Next question. What is a favorite interview question that you like to ask candidates that you're interviewing? [01:09:18] S0: I try to ask two... I feel this feels... I feel like it's gonna give people a cheat sheet when I interview them. But I I I try to ask two questions. So I'm not... I... I'm not a person who does favorites, so it's it's hard for me to pick favorites. But I ask people to introduce themselves, and I think it tells me a lot about them, how they tell about themselves, what they say about themselves, and the content of it. I ask people about the things they think they're truly great at. And then I ask people about the things they think they need to learn. About... In the... For for... The latter two is about their professional skill, their craft. I think it tells me a lot about how they communicate. It tells me a lot about how thoughtful they are. It tells me a lot about what they're proud of and what they lead into. And those kinds of things are very important to me. [01:10:10] S1: What is a favorite product you recently discovered that you love?
01:10:10 · Lenny Rachitsky, Oji Udezue
[01:10:10] S1: What is a favorite product you recently discovered that you love? [01:10:13] S0: I have been optimizing my workspace a lot. So I'm on a kick right now where I use Windows, you know, I I I was in Windows PM, and I still have my Windows box. But a lot of people use Macs at work, and I've used Macs for the last few years. So even though I switched between them, I've been spending a lot more time on Mac, and my Windows experience is completely optimized. Like, it is perfect. But Mac, I'm like, the windowing sucks. There's all these gaps I see. So I've been trying to figure out how to dial in my Mac experience. I've been... You know, I hate the activity monitor sucks. Like, what's a replacement? You know, the sound, It doesn't support, sound through HDMI or sound through... I don't know. Just some weird setup. So I've been optimizing that. One particular product that I like in the context of that is Unlox. It's a, like, one man product that allows me to just look at my phone and log into my Mac when I walk up and then locks it when I walk away. And it actually detects my proximity, it'll start the logging process while I get close. I think that's incredible. And I feel like it improves my productivity. [01:11:25] S1: Very cool. Sounds like a lot of hater raid for Macs over here. [01:11:29] S0: Well, for someone who uses it a lot. No, I think, you know, pros and cons. I'm not... I'm no longer paid by Microsoft, so I have things I don't like, but there are also things that, you know, the Mac isn't perfect either.
01:11:29 · Oji Udezue, Lenny Rachitsky
[01:11:29] S0: Well, for someone who uses it a lot. No, I think, you know, pros and cons. I'm not... I'm no longer paid by Microsoft, so I have things I don't like, but there are also things that, you know, the Mac isn't perfect either. [01:11:42] S1: Yeah. Indeed. What is a favorite life motto that you repeat to yourself or share with other people, either in work or in life, that you find valuable? [01:11:52] S0: I've taken to saying that there's more knowledge outside my head than inside it. And this is a plea for curiosity. I have three main things that that are my North Star personally, but also, obviously, when I say personally, mean everything, including professionally, which is originality, curiosity, and wisdom. And so this thing about there's more knowledge outside my head than inside my head is a plea for curiosity. It's a plea for skepticism. It's a plea to be humble about what you know no matter how old you are about the world around you and always be listening for more. Even when you know something, let other people speak because they might add 10% more to the 90% you know. And so being an active listener is very important. [01:12:48] S1: Beautiful. Last question. You are from Nigeria. What is a Nigerian food that you think people need to find and get ASAP? [01:12:57] S0: I will recommend two, depending on how familiar you are. So if you've never had fried plantain with beef stew [01:13:06] S1: Oh, man. That sounds great.
01:13:06 · Lenny Rachitsky, Oji Udezue
[01:13:06] S1: Oh, man. That sounds great. [01:13:08] S0: Then you should stop what you're doing. Stop work. Whatever you're doing, find your next Nigerian friend and go get some. Okay? This is the food that most Nigerians would basically trade years of life to have access to. Okay? So that's what I would say. And then the the second thing is, if you really wanna go, you know, if you wanna be in the in club in Nigeria, as we call it, you gotta try pepper soup. Pepper soup. Now if you're not into spicy stuff, I'm sorry. The door is close to you. But pepper soup is really in, and it is amazing. It'll make you sweat when it's delicious, and you should give it a shot. [01:14:04] S1: Oji, I think we've solved many people's sharp problems. I really appreciate you making time being here. Two final questions. Where can folks find you online they wanna reach out? And how can listeners be useful to you?