The Elite Path

Revisiting "Dissidents with elite potential must join liberal organizations"

One of the criticisms I received for my stance in the recent ‘jobs for sensitive young men’ debate was directed at my advocacy for some of our guys pursuing what I referred to as 'the elite path’.

This criticism could be summarized as: “Why would you want our guys to give themselves to the corporate machine? Why should they care about impressing the organizations which sit atop a decadent society, and their liberal masters?”

A fair question.

In short: having spent an extended period working at a prominent big tech firm, I believe that - for the right person - there are attributes which are best cultivated in elite environments and skills which are best developed at these organizations. These skills and attributes unlock a greater capacity for later independent action and success. For some, a stint at a liberal organization is worth it.

One of my first articles which gained traction in our sphere was “Dissidents with elite potential must join liberal organizations.” This was several years ago, when my audience was a fraction of what it is now. As such, I thought it might be worth revisiting and summarizing the most salient points I made in that article.

I spent a decade working for private sector organizations which are considered elite within the fields of tech and consulting, and then I left. I underwent unconscious bias training, used preferred pronouns, and worked alongside trans colleagues.

I also became smarter and more capable. I married and started a family in my twenties, and finished this period fitter, stronger, more faithful, and more right-wing than when I started. If you have elite potential, you should follow this path too.

If you truly have elite potential - and you have to be brutally honest about this - working at organizations of this caliber will teach you lessons that you cannot learn anywhere else. You will turn yourself into an asset that the right needs.

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Yes - all of us will need to reduce, and ultimately remove, our dependence on ‘The Cathedral’. But before you do this, you need to ensure that you’re in a position of independent strength, and on a path that will allow that strength to compound over time. Paradoxically, spending a period at an elite liberal institution is often the fastest path to this goal.

To become elite you must encounter elites. You must connect with them, learn from them. Read James Burnham - sure - but be aware that you’re reading a theoretical description of the behavior of elites, you’re not learning to become one.

When I refer to ‘elite institutions’, I mean a relatively small number of leading private sector firms. My experience spans tech, law, and consulting, but you’ll find equivalents in finance and other relevant sectors.

In tech this means FAANG and FAANG-adjacent (even better if they do decidedly ‘unwoke’ work, like Anduril). In consulting, McKinsey, BCG, Bain. In finance, elite boutiques and trading firms like Jane Street. Law - Cravath, etc. - depends on your country.

Don’t select a company that you think has the highest average IQ; select the role in which you will have access to the small number of ultra-high performers that you can learn from, the elite within the elite.

Be selective about which ‘elite paths’ to take. You want to select for those that cultivate your energy, vitality, and clarity of thought - not those that parasitize it. For this reason my advice would be to avoid the real ‘meat grinder’ paths - ie. biglaw and the normal routes through investment banking.

Be sure to select jobs where IQ will be rewarded and not crushed, and where there is a culture of independence. If you’re a standout SWE, tech firms have roles in which you’ll realistically only have to do a few hours of (very complex and taxing) work a day, but can otherwise have a strong work/life balance. Get as close to this as possible.

If you gain access to the elite performers within elite institutions, you will be shocked by just how good they are. They far exceed the average student even on the best college programs. They will energize and inspire you to be better, regardless of their politics. I guarantee it.

You will quickly realize that the people in the top 10% of these firms move faster than you. They generate more value than you. They are more ambitious than you. They’ve built bigger things than you. They’re calmer under pressure than you.

They also make more money than you. You might recoil at my suggestion that this is important: we are trained to think of this as a crass, striving concern. Throw away this reaction. You will need money to provide a large family a true middle-class life. You will need money to pursue important projects later and support those who need it. Money in the hands of a virtuous man is a useful tool.

Now for the doing of a great work, proportionate expenditure is necessary, for great works cannot be produced without great expenditure. Hence it belongs to magnificence to spend much in order that some great work may be accomplished in becoming manner. Wherefore the Philosopher [Aristotle] says that "a magnificent man will produce a more magnificent work with equal," i.e. proportionate, "expenditure." Now expenditure is the outlay of a sum of money; and a man may be hindered from making that outlay if he love money too much.

— St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiæ, Secunda Secundæ, Q. 134: Magnificence

I worked under one senior leader that I will never forget. The audacity of the projects he attempted, and the sophistication with which he pursued them, forced me out of my self-satisfied complacency (many of you will be similarly smug from being smart in school - this is a harmful posture that should be crushed). The first six months working under him was the first time I felt slow, sometimes stupid. By the way: this guy was a straight, white, married, conservative father. These guys do exist in these companies. The kind of men that built the West.

If you run this gauntlet, it’s an incredibly strong foundation from which to launch audacious future projects. You will be used to acting with a momentum that can be carried into new endeavors.

My first start up was a failure because the necessary pace of iteration, the depth of funding and investment, and clarity of analytical incision to make a complex endeavor succeed wasn’t ingrained in me. Working at an elite firm corrected this.

If you don’t want to start your own venture, there will be equally interesting existing opportunities. Working for Thiel Capital, for instance, would be fascinating without being a hostile environment (presumably). Ditto Anduril, SpaceX, and a growing number of other firms.

Be honest with yourself. If you have a shot, shoot. Life at these companies is good.

Besides the intellectual stimulation - I had access to three cooked meals a day, gym membership, family benefits, and a decent work life balance. I had access to well-developed training programs: languages, public speaking, writing, technical skills. I traveled business to interesting places like Hong Kong and the Middle East.

I’ve seen tone-deaf boomer salespeople (perhaps inadvisably) fire off some pretty spicy political takes in company-wide Slack channels. Nothing happened to them.

I’m not saying do this. In fact - definitely don’t. But also don’t be scared that life at these companies is going to feel like some persecuted hell where you have to watch your back at every turn.

You can still spend your evenings reading and listening to DR content. I’ve been doing this for a decade, and spending time in a liberal work environment hasn’t altered my political views, it has simply made me more effective.

If this is interesting to you, you might also find value in my thoughts on how to survive and thrive at these companies as a right-winger:

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Sic transit imperium,

Johann