Hi Contrarians,

When we started Contrarian Thinking, we knew *exactly* the kind of people we wanted to work with.

So, we created the Contrarian Creed.

These are the words we stand by. Our list of 13 values. Writing the lines below in stone helps us attract and cultivate people who embody them. Check ‘em out, and let us know what you think.

(And yes, we recommend listening to “Higher” by none other than Creed while you read this.)

Today in 5 minutes or less, you’ll learn...

✔️ Company culture > anything else

✔️ Our bible: The Contrarian Creed

✔️ 13 lines: Let’s break ‘em down…

Company culture > anything else

Truth: Not everyone is built to “get on the f*ng rocketship.”

Cultural fit is REAL and values eat micromanagement for breakfast.

The next line will either sound:

A) Totally crazy

B) Like it makes tons of sense

C) Like something in between

But it’s true…

We have a process at Contrarian Thinking called “It’s worse than you think.”

We describe all the misery, hardline values, and high standards up front, and often surprise new partners or employees when it’s all more fun than it sounds.

The way to think about this is:

How do you want your people to work toward getting the job done?

You can start defining your creed by following these steps:

• Choose your fighter: What kind of person do you most want to hire and work with?
  
  
• Pick your map: What kind of environment do you most want to work in?
  
  
• Sharpen your blade: Develop all these values into a clear, concise, and profound code.
  
  
• Press play: The same way values eat micromanagement for breakfast, the implementation of values eats the values themselves for lunch.

Once you have them, run the playbook.

Codify your values on your website, marketing, careers page, and hiring documents. Become known for them, become one and the same. Internally, at the beginning of team meetings, highlight one and tie it back to what you’re working on.

The truth is, if you’re going to spend most of your waking hours at work, it might as well mean something.

A company culture can be a powerful tool — so for the sake of your employees, make it mean something.

All the above is why we have the Contrarian Creed. Before every team meeting, we discuss one of the 13 values below…

The Contrarian Creed

Try to let this one hit you deep. We would say tattoo it on your chest, but honestly, not the best idea. Still, try to draw some inspiration here.

And by the way, this will give you a very good idea of who we’re looking to work with at Contrarian Thinking (you can check out our open roles here).

Let’s break it down…

1. People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.

The people on Twitter who tell everyone else their “idea will never work.”

The colleagues who say things like, “That’s just how we’ve done it for the last 10 years.”

These people are silenced quickly by the sound of those actually doing it.

“Protect those who can’t, cast aside those who won’t, and enable those who want,” is how Chris Petkas, GP at our VC fund, puts it.

2. Be a great f*cking human. Do what’s right even when it hurts.

The ultimate rebellion is being a truly excellent person in a world where laziness and disrespect are the norm.

We show up on time. We admit when we’re wrong. We treat others with respect.

3. How you do anything, is how you do everything.

There are three types of people.

The first drops a paper towel on the ground in a public bathroom, looks to see if anyone noticed, and leaves it.

The second drops the towel, then picks it up to put in the trash.

The third drops the towel, picks it up, tosses it in the trash, and wipes off the splashes and soap they left on the countertop. We strive to be the third type.

We aim to do above what’s expected, even if no one’s around to see it.

4. We do the dirty work with a big grin.

You will not hear someone say the following words in our office…

“That’s beneath me.”

You won’t hear it.

We clean the sink with a wink.

5. Your word is your contract.

We strive to be the few who do, not the many who talk.

We work our tuchuses off to hit deadlines.

We wince in pain when we overpromise and underdeliver.

In a world of talkers, keeping your word earns respect and sets you apart as a rare breed.

6. We are Archimedes, find your lever.

Lots of busy people in our biz-buying community recommend the book The One Thing.

It’s helpful for anyone who feels overwhelmed with too many tasks and helps you think through finding the 20% of tasks that drive 80% of the results.

We seek out points of leverage that open doors, spur growth, and create efficiencies.

… Then we place a fulcrum under them and press HARD.

As Lincoln said, “Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”

7. Winners want pressure.

Business is like a sport or game — with more on the line.

We strive to beat our best times and drive our performance.

We ask questions like, “What needs to happen to take this 3-month timeline and make it a 3-week timeline?”

We question deadlines and challenge ourselves to beat them. Momentum is everything.

8. We want your weird. Better weird than boring.

We take risks and ABHOR the status quo.

We never say, “But we’ve always done it that way.”

Corporate talk is a language we hope to unlearn.

And boredom is our kiss of death.

9. Your job isn’t done until THE job is done. We work the problem.

We don’t “circle back” in a week.

We don’t do half jobs.

We crack our knuckles, bang our heads together, take a deep breath, and work the problem.

10. Assumptions are for assholes. Find the truth.

We’re not scientists, but we often act like them.

We run tests and experiments.

We don’t try something that “we feel like should work” without measuring the results.

We pay close attention to what we don’t know and act quickly to fill the gaps.

We challenge each other to ask the best questions we can. Not asking them robs the team of direction, time, and great ideas.

11. Less words, more meaning.

Mark Twain said, “If I had more time I would have written a shorter letter.”

Time is precious. In business, it’s quite literally money.

We come to meetings prepped in advance and speak with concision. We don’t talk for the sake of talking.

We’re proactive and thoughtful about sharing what actually needs to be shared, when it actually needs to be shared, and with the people who it actually needs to be shared with.

12. Even our notes are worth stealing. Make every creation a mini-masterpiece.

This one is hard to remember because it’s most relevant when you’re in the weeds not thinking about it.

What if the thing you did today was the only thing people ever saw you do professionally?

Take pride in the day-to-day. It compounds.

13. Show me your results, not your intentions.

There are those who hypothesize, talk, and judge yet rarely put a plan into action themselves.

We prefer hanging with those who can actually count their missed shots on goal more than those who simply have no shots to count.

SO not boring...

📘 Reminder: Want to be in the know when our new biz-buying course drops? Sign up here.

🤖 Missed the mark: Anyone else notice something odd about Google’s AI image generator?

😂 Agree? Codie says this one trait is behind many great entrepreneurs... 

Want free stuff? Yeah you do...

Use the link below to share the newsletter with a friend... And that’s it. Nothing more to it. Try it out. It’s pretty cool.

Use this link.

What’d you think of this week’s newsletter?

✔️ How ya feeling? Hit reply to let us know! Did we crush it? Blow your mind? How can we do better?

Want more?

✔️ For practical tips on biz-buying, we have another newsletter you might like... Sign up free here.

✔️ Check out our Contrarian Community. Learn how to buy your first (or next) business with guidance, support, and accountability.

Powered by HubSpot

Adelante = always moving forward

This email was brought to you by Codie Sanchez, Jacob Cohen, and Jazmine Anderson