What can YouTuber MrBeast tell us about Gen Z workplaces?

Jimmy Donaldson is only 26 years old and has already amassed the kind of success it normally takes a lifetime to build. Better known as MrBeast, he has an estimated net worth of three-quarters of a billion dollars and runs a YouTube content company with 330 million subscribers and up to 250 workers at any given time.

His videos range from recreating the Netflix series Squid Game with real participants (and 668 million views) to controversially curing 1000 people of blindness (and 190 million views).

MrBeast, aka Jimmy Donaldson, is one of YouTube’s most popular creators.Credit: Instagram

So when one of Donaldson’s internal production documents leaked a few months ago, it gave some surprising insights into how he thinks about the workplace.

Like many of his fellow Gen Zs, he’s part of a generation that’s questioning some of the usual ways of working, and there’s a lot to learn from his writing in HOW TO SUCCEED IN MRBEAST PRODUCTION (there are also far too many crimes against capitalisation, spelling and grammar to count, so just assume all his quotes have a [sic] next to them).

One of the major recurring themes in his advice to new staff is an emphasis on individual accountability. “Own your mistakes,” writes Donaldson. “I hate excuses and I despise with my entire soul when people just try to save face instead of learn from how they messed up. Mistakes are okay! Genuinely they are, and I expect you to make a lot. Own s--- so we can address how to fix it and then move on.”

Despite the colourful language, the message of honesty and being accountable for your actions in the workplace is usually a good way to build a strong culture.

His company, MrBeast Productions, has been the subject of several allegations of bullying and promoting a toxic workplace.

But perhaps the biggest positive takeaway is his emphasis on the importance of communication at all levels. “I’d rather you be honest with each other then nice to each other,” wrote Donaldson, before explaining that he sees different forms of communication as a hierarchy.

At the bottom is texting and emailing, followed by phone calls, video calls, and – at the very top – grabbing a colleague in person and talking to them. “The lower the form of communication, the more miscommunication you will face,” he said.

However, his advice is also peppered with dozens of red flags that show the uglier side of motivating staff. The most glaring of these is Donaldson’s elevation of work as being the most important, and sometimes only, aspect of his employees’ lives.

“If you’re ambitious and want to dedicate your life to work, you picked the best company in America to do it at,” he wrote. “Those of you that help build this will be rewarded. I want nothing more than for you to go all in, obsessive all day every day, and become so goddam valuable this company can’t operate without you.”

His company, MrBeast Productions, has been the subject of several allegations of bullying and promoting a toxic workplace. A fortnight ago, an external review found the lack of “policies and practices essential in a mature company” allowed for some “inappropriate conduct”.

As a consequence, the company is now hiring a new chief executive, chief financial officer, general counsel and chief people officer, among other reactive actions.

Donaldson’s advice to new staff members veers from encouraging openness and obsessing over results to the need to give up everything for him. The former has some positives, but the latter needs to be seriously addressed.

In 2019, US writer Derek Thomson coined the term “workism” to describe treating our jobs as a kind of religion. He said it’s “the belief that work is not only necessary to economic production, but also the centrepiece of one’s identity and life’s purpose”.

While there are some things we can learn from Donaldson’s intense approach to work, his obsession with sacrificing everything for a job should not be one of them.

Tim Duggan is the author of Work Backwards: The Revolutionary Method to Work Smarter and Live Better. He writes a regular newsletter at timduggan.substack.com

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