Stop Thinking: Evgeny Lazarenko Talks About Why Trust In Your Intuition Matters
Product leader, Evgeny Lazarenko shares stories about moments in his career when he didn’t listen to his gut feelings.
By Tremis Skeete, for Product Coalition
What is the value of paying attention to your physical and mental signals? Product Lead at Unity, Evgeny Lazarenko believes it’s priceless.
In light of lessons he’s learned when he chose to not listen to his intuition, Evgeny shares in his LinkedIn post, sobering stories about past work experiences.
While Evgeny believes trust in your intuition is essential, he does admit in the post comments — that sometimes he struggles with the distinction between intuition and bias. He says:
It’s hard to separate two signals: “this person is giving me bad juju” and “my cognitive biases are causing me to think that this person is off” because the psychological mechanism behind this is the same [from his perspective].
What I found working well for me is researching the person in advance and seeing if anything in their background creates a reaction in me. Then I know I’m biased either toward or against them.
Once that calibration is done, I can actually focus on the individual instead of my earlier perception of them.
As you read further, you’ll understand why he recommends it’s a good idea to listen to that little voice in your ear at times. In many ways, trusting your gut can be the difference between career setbacks and career success.
Read a copy of Evgeny Lazarenko’s post below to find out more:
Trust your intuition. When we meet people who give us bad vibes, it’s often hard to explain what about them trips us off.
We tend to ignore those signals. We intellectualize our experience with them and tell ourselves that everything is okay, that they are okay. Inevitably we regret it.
Each time I ignored my gut, I got burned. Here are the worst of times:
- In our initial interview, this founder seemed bright and accomplished: Ivy League MBA and impressive credentials, but something was off. I joined his startup only to witness gnarly and inhumane management practices. That founder practiced a “three strikes” approach and a group punishment: when an employee made a mistake, the entire team got reprimanded. If you had three slips, you were out. Effectively, he put everyone on a permanent PIP.
- The second time I didn’t listen to my intuition, I ended up in the most toxic environment I’ve ever survived. Honestly, I’ve never seen this much gaslighting and manipulation. Several panic attacks and clinical depression followed. I was out within 10 months. Those two episodes taught me to trust my intuition unequivocally: I no longer try to explain away the discomfort. If something feels off, our first interaction will be our last.
If you’re like me, the cerebral thinking type, I urge you to stop doing what you do best: stop thinking.
Something feels off? Shut down your inner “devil’s advocate.”
Don’t negotiate with yourself.
#coaching #intuition #careeradvice
