The Inside Story Behind LinkedIn’s Transformation | Tomer Cohen (CPO)
By: Tomer Cohen Host: Lenny Rachitsky Source: Lenny’s Newsletter / Lenny’s Podcast Type: podcast
Summary
Lenny’s Podcast with Tomer Cohen, CPO of LinkedIn. The inside story of how LinkedIn transformed its feed from a boring, irrelevant experience into an engaging content and social platform. Core mantra: “We might be wrong, but we are not confused” — if the team isn’t pulling in the same direction, failure is guaranteed; alignment gives you a chance. Strong product moves start with strong visions — ask “What could be? What change would happen in the world if I’m successful?” from a place of excitement, not constraints. Product opinions must “have teeth” and take a stance on specific tradeoffs — “make it simple” is meaningless without specifying what you sacrifice for simplicity. Resource allocation must reflect stated priorities — if you’re not resourcing an initiative, it’s not really your priority regardless of what you claim. On AI: ground your approach in what your business and users need, not what the technology can do; define objectives clearly then ask how AI might help achieve them. Discusses experimentation at scale, goal setting, letting go of roadmaps to allow exploration, and career growth at LinkedIn. Career advice: prioritize the potential impact of your work over company prestige or title; measure success by tangible results and contributions.
Key Ideas Extracted
- “We might be wrong, but we are not confused”: Alignment on direction is prerequisite for any chance of success — everyone needs to agree on where, how, and why
- Vision from excitement, not constraints: Form vision by asking “What could be?” and “What change would happen?” — don’t just project the present forward; it’s OK to know the peak and base camp without seeing the full path
- Opinions that “have teeth”: Product discussions must take a stance on specific tradeoffs — “We should make it simple” fails because everyone agrees in the abstract; unpack what you sacrifice for simplicity
- Resource allocation reveals real priorities: Leaders often claim something is a priority while allocating engineering and design to something else — if you’re not resourcing it, it’s not your priority
- AI grounded in user needs, not tech capability: Resist the temptation to start from what AI can do; define objectives first, then ask “How might AI help us achieve this better?”
- LinkedIn’s feed transformation: Turned a boring, irrelevant feed into engaging content platform through bold vision, experimentation at scale, and conviction
- Impact over prestige: Evaluate career opportunities by potential impact of work, not company name or title — measure success by tangible results
- Letting go of roadmaps for exploration: Creating space for exploration and serendipity alongside structured roadmaps
- Setting ambitious goals and overdelivering: Ambitious targets combined with execution focus drive transformation
Notes
- Published Sep 8, 2024 on Lenny’s Podcast. Episode ~69 min. Podcast with show notes (no full written article).
- Sponsors: Gamma, WorkOS, Merge
- Tomer Cohen hosts own podcast: “Building One with Tomer Cohen”
- This is Tomer’s first Lenny’s episode — his second (
2025-12-04-linkedin-replacing-pms-full-stack-builders.md) covers the Full Stack Builder program and AI adoption, building directly on themes from this episode - Referenced people: Joff Redfern, Vlad Loktev (Airbnb), Jeff Weiner, Brian Chesky, Deep Nishar, Steve Jobs, Ed Catmull, Carol Dweck
- Referenced books: Mindset (Dweck), Thinking Fast and Slow (Kahneman), High Output Management (Grove), Never Search Alone
- LinkedIn AI Academy and “Becoming an AI-First Product Leader” course mentioned
Raw Content
Re-scraped from Lenny’s Newsletter 2026-02-15. Podcast show notes and key takeaways captured above — no full written article companion for this episode.