Mr. Beast's 4 Pillars of Success

Mr. Beast is the number one online personality in the world. His YouTube channel has over 200 million subscribers, has amassed over 30 billion YouTube views, and has grossed hundreds of millions of dollars

Those numbers aren't accidental.

Mr. Beast deliberately built his empire with a deliberate focus on what matters.

Recently, his guide for new employees went viral, giving us all a look at his perspective on how to be successful.

The document gets into the weeds on what someone needs to be a strong member of a production team. All of the detail amounts to essentially a crash course in YouTube production.

But viewed holistically there are four pervasive themes that outline success beyond YouTube production:

Focus

The focus called for by Mr. Beast is not only the concentration on the task at hand but rather a single-minded purpose. A determination to progress in one direction relentlessly.

Mr. Beast specifically orients the company on "creating the best YOUTUBE videos." Not the best company, not revenue goals, no multi-channel go-to-market. Simply make the best YouTube videos.

Everything flows from this single focus.

Whether you're creating a YouTube channel, a newsletter, a salesman, or a XX it makes no difference. Having a single-minded focus is a necessary prerequisite to do your best work.

The world if filled with distractions and potential paths to take. For Mr. Beast, having one

Ownership

Mr. Beast encourages employees to take ownership in all they do, but most importantly in their results.

He explores employees to be output-oriented, and take accountability for whatever that outcome is.

This works because he will also compensate strong performers. So incentives are aligned to do well.

Intellectual Humility

The ability to admit when you're wrong.

This is critical for Mr. Beast’s success individually & what allows his team to be high performers around him.

When that example is shown at the top, it flows through the culture. Mr. Beast encourages an evidence-based approach, leaving the door open for conversation when he may be wrong.

This humility extends to recognizing when you're out-classed. The humility to contract experts to help deliver a superior product you couldn't pull off yourself.

Healthy Skepticism

Mr. Beast wants employees to investigate and question everything. Nothing should be taken at face value.

This isn't far off from a "first-principles" approach that Elon Musk demands at companies like Space-X and Tesla.

There, Elon tells employees to "question every 'requirement.'" It is never acceptable to say, well we have to do that because so-and-so said we do. Or this regulation makes us do it this way.

The point is you have to dig into problems you're faced with. It requires an insatiable curiosity and a healthy skepticism.

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A commonplace book is a personal collection of quotes, observations, ideas, and other bits of information that an individual finds interesting or inspiring. It is one of the most tried and true methods for learning & compiling information. Famously, Leonardo da Vinci, Marcus Aurelius, and Thomas Jefferson all carried a commonplace book.

This newsletter shares the notes from my own commonplace book and will add highlights to yours.