Advice I Found Useful From MrBeast Leak
MrBeast onboarding document was leaked detailing what it's like to run the MrBeast team.
— 8 min read
Table of Contents
Introduction
A couple of days ago, HOW TO SUCCEED IN MRBEAST PRODUCTION was leaked on Twitter.
I'd like to go over what I found insightful in the document.
For context, I don't really watch MrBeast, but I know they've managed to build a multi-million dollar creative empire. I think their content is pretty cool, but I'm more interested in their operations and what it's like to be in the MrBeast team.
From team dynamics, strategies, company culture, logistics, and more, I think this is a valuable piece of text that has great advice many of which can be applied to our personal lives.
A, B, and C-Team Players
MrBeast categorizes team members into three distinct types:
- A-Players are the obsessives. They learn from their mistakes, are coachable and open to feedback, intelligent, and they don't make excuses—when things go wrong, they take responsibility instead of dwelling on who to blame.
- B-Players are newcomers who may lack experience but show potential. They are eager to improve and are willing to put in the effort. With proper guidance and support, they can evolve into A-Players.
- C-Players meet only the minimum expectations. They do what's required, but barely go beyond that. They're not obsessive—lacking passion for their work and are not deeply invested in the outcomes. They show little interest in personal or professional development. They may resist feedback or fail to apply it effectively. Content with the status quo, they may be resistant to change or innovation.
I think this framework is valuable for any team aiming for excellence. It's about recognizing who pushes the team forward, who can be developed, and who might be hindering progress. Surrounding yourself with A-Players and B-Players fosters a culture of growth and high performance.
The Concept of Critical Components
Critical components are the things that are essential to your video. If I want to put 100 people on an island and give it away to one of them, then securing an island is a critical component. It doesn't matter how well planned the challenges on the island are, how good the weather is, etc. Without that island there is no video. Hence it is a critical component.
Another way I like to look at this is through the idea of bottlenecks.
In xianxia (a Chinese fantasy genre), a bottleneck occurs when a cultivator cannot progress to the next cultivation stage. No matter how much time, effort, or resources is poured in, progress is blocked until the bottleneck is resolved.
Higher Forms of Communication
MrBeast argues that the worst approach to obtaining something from someone is through email.
This is one of the lowest forms of communication.
In fact, the lower it is, the higher the chance of miscommunication.
Given this idea, we arrive at below from 1 (best) to 4 (worst):
- Face-to-face in person.
- Calling.
- Texting.
- Emailing.
The more complex what needs to be said is, the higher the form of the communication you should use. Call first then text if they don't answer.
If you can't speak to them in person, call them. If they don't answer, text them. If they don't text back, email them.
I also liked this line a lot:
...written communication also does not constitute communication unless they confirm they read it.
Confirming that someone has read something is so extremely important. It's not enough to ask if they read something. Instead, ask a question that requires them to demonstrate their understanding of its content.
For example, instead of "Did you read this?" try, "How does this new addition compare to the previous one?". This does two things: confirms that they read your message and engages them in providing feedback.
Owning Mistakes
As a person obsessed with self-improvement, I agreed a lot over what MrBeast says on the topic of mistakes.
I always like thinking to myself that if I'm not making mistakes, then I'm not improving.
Mistakes are okay!
Unless we're talking about human lives, making mistakes is perfectly fine. If the consequence of a mistake is not permanent (like death), then it is okay.
The reason i'm okay with fuck ups is because I know that's how you learn. I see it as me investing in you and your brain. (hence why I have 0 tolerance for C-Players and they must go immediately. Those fuck ups could be done by an A-Player that will retain the information learned). I just beg you that you learn from every mistake and try not to repeat it, that's when it gets annoying. I've never ever ever once fired someone on the spot for messing up, you have nothing to be afraid of. Own shit so we can address how to fix it and then move on.
I think, when making mistakes, the environment that you're in should be considered. Being in an environment where mistakes are seen as moments of weakness and ridicule instead of opportunities for growth and authenticity can be incredibly toxic.
Unfortunately, in such toxic environments, people are less likely to take risks or admit their errors leading to a lack of accountability and a culture of fear.
Here is a real world example of that:
Use Consultants
Consultants are literally cheat codes. Need to make the world's largest slice of cake? Start off by calling the person who made the previous worlds largest slice of cake lol. Hes already done countless tests and can save you weeks worth of work. I really want to drill this point home because Im a massive believer in consultants. Because I've spent almost a decade of my life hyper obsessing over youtube, I can show a brand new creator how to go from 100 subscribers to 10,000 in a month. On their own it would take them years to do it. Consults are a gift from god, please take advantage of them. In every single freakin task assigned to you, always always always ask yourself first if you can find a consultant to help you. This is so important that I am demanding you repeat this three times in your head "I will always check for consultants when im assigned a task"
I think this is one of the important things about networking which is that, in my case regarding technology, if you have direct access to people in a certain field, then get their guidance.
Many people figure things out themselves. While that is certainly admirable, it is not the most efficient. You will have to experience the same roadblocks and make the same mistakes that someone else has already overcome.
And, while it is important to make mistakes, the consequences of those mistakes are less than ideal. Failing a college course? Money burning up? Dog died? Cat died? Mom died? House burned down? Goldfish died? Car crashed?
Consultants can help you avoid losing all of those things that you would normally lose if you do it by yourself.
Learn from mistakes, but do try to avoid their consequences.
Information Diet
If your diet is not correct, you won't have a good pulse on culture.
...
Let's say there is a purple fruit in the middle of Australia that when eaten make s you 2 feet taller. If it truly did exist, you wouldn't have known that until just right now. But now that you know of it, you can draw on it for inspiration for every piece of content you write going forward. That's beautiful, it can now sit in the back of your mind waiting for that one video where it is needed.
...
You. Can't. Get. Inspired. By. Things. You. Don't. Know. Exist. So how do you learn more about what's out there in the world? How do you stay up to date on the latest memes? How do you know what's going on with celebrities? What's trending on youtube? What other creators are doing? What's popping on tik tok? Your information diet. Consume things on a daily basis that help you write better content.
MrBeast points out an idea which I thought was similar to "media consumption". In general, it addresses the questions:
How do we become more knowledgeable about the world? How do we ensure that knowledge will be useful or inspire us at right time?
The quote above answers the first question very succinctly: consume things on a daily basis that help you write better content.
The second question is more difficult to answer and, in fact, dependent on what your objectives are. It depends.
I will enumerate below, from the top of my head, the various sources of media/culture/news that I consume:
- Vaush (politics, news, culture)
- Theo - t3.gg (technology)
- ThePrimeTime (technology)
- Hacker News (all things important before it reaches the public)
- KeemSama (horror video games)
- ManlyBadassHero (indie video games with nice voice)
- My GitHub feed and the ppl I follow on GitHub (technology)
- My RSS feed (cybersecurity, bloggers)
I'm forgetting some other ones, but this is overall good.
Conclusion
About half of the document goes on to talk about things that are not as relevant to what I think is useful.
I love self-improvement and I'm always on the lookout for advice everywhere.
It was a great read.