The Problem With Linkedin: Lara Acosta

The Problem With...

James Smith

Society & Culture

4.9 • 9.5K Ratings

🗓️ 19 May 2026

⏱️ 84 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Lara Acosta joins James Smith for a no-holds-barred conversation about LinkedIn, the corporate world, and what it really takes to build a personal brand that actually moves the needle. A LinkedIn growth expert and founder who's helped thousands of professionals turn themselves into trusted authorities, Lara breaks down why most people are doing LinkedIn wrong — and why the platform isn't the problem, corporate is. 👁️ Try Neutonic: https://www.neutonic.com/jamessmith 🧪 Check your Test: https://www.manual.co/smith 📝 Business Mentoring: https://www.jamessmith.business 🏋🏼‍♂️ Online Coaching: https://www.jamessmithacademy.com Lara Acosta's YouTube Channel – https://www.youtube.com/@Laraacosta Lara Acosta On Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/laraacostar/ She explains: ◼️ Why LinkedIn isn't cringe — corporate is ◼️ What's actually changed in the algorithm and how to ride it ◼️ Why AI slop is killing engagement (and why Lara doesn't care) ◼️ How to micro-dose failure instead of betting the house ◼️ Why following your skill beats following your passion every time Chapters: 00:00 The Real Problem With LinkedIn 01:16 Why LinkedIn Feels So Cringe 03:19 James's Years in the Corporate Trenches 05:46 Hacks to Leave Work Early Without Being Noticed 08:06 Sales, Recruitment, and the Posh Hotel Voice 11:11 What's Actually Wrong With the Algorithm 12:48 Carousels and Picture-First Posting 14:21 The Great LinkedIn Articles Debate 21:06 The Three-Hour Workday Conspiracy 24:05 Social Loafing and Bloated Departments 26:06 Cocaine, Cider Hands, and Surviving Corporate 28:18 Three Weeks at Activision Doing Nothing 30:35 Failing First Year of University 33:00 The Birmingham Housemates Story 35:00 Failing Spanish as a Native Speaker 38:31 The AI Slop Problem on LinkedIn 40:29 Why Engagement Prompts Actually Work 43:53 Entrepreneur vs Business Owner in Britain 45:45 The Texas Barbecue New Tonic Story 50:15 The Zero Sum Mentality Trap 52:57 Lara's NPower Door-to-Door Scam Job 56:00 James in a Prom Suit Selling Energy 58:32 One in a Hundred and the Power of Rejection 01:01:35 Enjoying Every Stage of Business 01:02:55 The Problem With Remote Working 01:09:03 Giving Your Team Rope to Climb or Hang 01:10:44 The Problem With Leadership on LinkedIn 01:15:32 The Goalposts That Never Stop Moving 01:16:00 James's Complacency in Lockdown 01:19:13 Closing Takeaways: Follow Skill Not Passion This conversation is part LinkedIn masterclass, part corporate exorcism. Lara's clear-eyed take on the platform — what the algorithm rewards, what AI is doing to the feed, and why most leadership content is fake — meets James's lived experience of faking pisses to scroll Twitter, calling Cornwall County Council 100 times a day, and getting binned from a job he never figured out. The result is a candid look at why so many people stay stuck in jobs they hate, and a practical case for micro-dosing failure until you build the life you actually want. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	As an employer, I give you a rope.
0:01.4	You can climb it, you can hang yourself with it.
0:03.0	Work when you want, down work when you want.
0:05.0	As long as I get it in time, that's fine.
0:06.6	The best thing that you can do is understand what you're good at. It's not about finding and following your passion. That's a light that we've been sold. When you follow your passion, you're destined to fail. When you're following your skill, you're destined to be great because you're doing something that is useful to a market.
0:19.9	Lara Acosta is a LinkedIn expert and successful entrepreneur
0:22.9	who helps people build their
0:24.2	personal brands. She teaches professionals how to write posts, grow a large following,
0:28.3	and become trusted leaders through their personal brand.
0:30.8	Laura, what's the problem with LinkedIn? The point of LinkedIn is to make more money.
0:34.9	The amount of people creating content is not enough. LinkedIn has over 1 billion users, only 1% are posting. LinkedIn has taken an approach where
0:42.3	they now reward people talking about their expertise. So if you are still a recruiter and you
0:46.5	were giving recruiting tips, that would push you into the algorithm more, giving you more impressions.
0:50.7	Problem here is that... Dr drinking a new tonic a day
0:55.3	will make a man very rich. Will you be that man? Probably not. Will I be? Hopefully. Recreated a Sonic with one thing in mind to help you lock in. So whether you're making up an excuse to where you were last night to your girlfriend or you're lying on your CV or making up a new sickness to get the day off work, it's nothing better to use that new tonic.
1:11.6	Head to newtonic.com, check it out.
1:13.8	Laura, what's nothing better to use a new tonic.
1:11.6	That's a newtonic.com. Check it out.
1:13.8	Laura, what's the problem with LinkedIn?
1:16.5	I think that most people think it's cringe, but the reality is that LinkedIn isn't cringe,
1:21.9	corporate is, and LinkedIn is a corporate platform. And so therefore, LinkedIn is cringe as a result.
1:29.5	Okay. So where a lot of people look at LinkedIn and we're like, oh, but everyone's not themselves. They're trying to appease people.
	...

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