The Meeting Priming Protocol
by Evan LaPointe • Founder at CORE Sciences
A four-time founder (including Satellite, acquired by Adobe) turned neuroscience educator. He runs CORE Sciences to teach companies how to bridge the gap between 'what science knows' and 'what business does' to improve decision-making and team dynamics.
🎙️ Episode Context
Evan LaPointe bridges the gap between neuroscience and product management, arguing that most business dysfunction arises because we ignore how human brains actually operate. He breaks down the brain's safety, reward, and purpose systems, and introduces frameworks for navigating personality differences (specifically Openness vs. Conscientiousness) in strategy work. The episode offers deep dives into fixing broken professional relationships, structuring meetings to avoid waste, and choosing specific 'characters' to influence stakeholders effectively.
Problem It Solves
Eliminates the 'Diamond Shape' meeting failure where teams diverge at the end of a meeting instead of the beginning, leading to wasted time and revisited decisions.
Framework Overview
Treats meetings like a product with distinct phases. It mandates a 'Priming' phase before any decision-making occurs to align on the 'meta' of the conversation—principles, mindsets, and context.
🧠 Framework Structure
Define the Category - Is this meeting...
Establish Principles - Explicitly sta...
Check Alignment - Ensure everyone has...
Decision Making - Only move to conver...
Constraint: Do not allow calendar inv...
When to Use
For every strategic meeting, roadmap planning session, or complex cross-functional sync.
Common Mistakes
Skipping priming to 'save time,' which results in debating tactics when the misalignment is actually about principles (e.g., one person solving for speed, another for accuracy).
Real World Example
Amazon's memo culture is cited as a robust (albeit arduous) execution of priming, ensuring context is consumed before discussion starts.
A lot of meetings skip the priming step altogether... It would be safe to skip the priming step if we began the meeting under the assumption that everybody here is on the same page... I think that's a ludicrous assumption.
— Evan LaPointe