Higher Standards

One believes things because one has been conditioned to believe them.

The Barbarian Chapter is highly independent with strong anarchist tendencies focused on clarity of purpose. We seek to bluntly confront problems in plain language and propose direct solutions. With an undercurrent of simmering rebellion, systems and rules are questioned and must stand up to withering scrutiny. However, we are not savages and believe in being highly proficient in our technical areas of expertise and brilliantly executing the basics. By consistently delivering results without frills, gold plating or anything fancy, we deliver real value and maintain a culture of coarse wit, brutal honesty, and intimidating expertise which is truly unique.

One thing we emphasize is equality and not focusing on superficial appearance. Modern beauty standards and formal dress are pretty laughable when looked at from an outside perspective. So we encourage people to maintain personal hygiene but to focus on being truly themselves both inside and outside of the office. We have comfy branded T-shirts to wear and encourage jeans or similar attire that team members are comfortable with. You should be judged on the quality of your work and not your appearance. Once you earn your place on the team, you don’t need to put effort into impressing people or conforming to societal norms which were made up by people.

Millions of years of evolution have gone into making humans survivors. We rise to the challenge time and time again and really thrive while overcoming adversity. I believe physical, mental, and spiritual exercise is needed to build “muscles” or capacity to perform at a human’s highest potential. Not everyone has the same upper limits of potential because everyone is unique but everyone is capable of exceptional performance if they train the necessary skills and become proficient. To that end, our approach to performance focuses on helping people honestly assess where they currently are at and work with a mentor to set goals and milestones to accomplish them.

Setting extremely high standards or multiple tiers of increasing difficulty is often an excellent way for organizations to benchmark performance and also help people measure how they are currently performing. For example, when I was in the Marines, I was able to track my run times, pullups and other physical fitness goals and work towards increasing my proficiency. It was hard but this is also what drew me to the Marines - it wasn’t given to me, I had to earn it. Another different example is Motorcycle Clubs who make members earn their patches but there is a consistent theme of setting a high standard and enforcing it so that people have to overcome what they believed to be their limits and achieve what they thought was impossible.

Each Chapter is free to implement their own approach but in the Barbarians, we are developing a rigorous process to achieve the title and once you earn it, it is yours to keep for the rest of your life. To that end, we are highly selective in who is permitted to join and focus on never compromising on our standards for anyone.