A curious thing about business is how much time everyone spends trying to predict them. But the most reliable predictor remains deceptively simple: understanding what matters to the other party.
When you know someone’s priorities – what they optimize for, what they’ll sacrifice, what they consider non-negotiable – you can predict their behavior with surprising accuracy.
This is also why we’re transparent about these principles. Not just as a statement of values (though they are that), but as a practical courtesy. When you understand what drives our decisions, working together becomes less like forecasting market movements and more like calculating compound interest – still involving some variables, but fundamentally predictable.
#1 Collaboration
Genious feature of markets is that they’re not zero-sum, despite what trading floor culture might suggest. The most successful transactions create value for everyone involved. This is why collaboration means solving shared problems rather than engaging in institutional tug-of-war competitions.
Growing the entire pie tends to be more lucrative than tactical maneuvers to secure 3% more of a shrinking one. Simple arithmetic, really.
#2 Commitment
A thing you might notice about contracts is that they’re designed to work even when the world doesn’t cooperate. When you promise to pay back a loan, the contract doesn’t include an asterisk saying “unless something unexpected happens.” This is actually quite useful. If commitments were optional whenever circumstances changed, we’d just have suggestions, not agreements.
So we deliver what we promise, even when the weather turns, markets shift, or Mercury goes retrograde. It’s just cleaner that way.
#3 Efficiency
Regarding efficiency: If you’ve ever watched traders during market hours, you’ll notice they don’t pause to reorganize their desk drawers or contemplate lunch options. There’s a reason for this laser focus. When tasks and priorities are clear, energy doesn’t leak into theoretical discussions about alternative approaches to hypothetical problems that nobody has actually encountered.
#4 Simplification
Complexity, meanwhile, is a bit like leverage – useful in specific doses, catastrophic in excess.
Breaking complicated systems into simpler components isn’t just an engineering preference; it’s risk management. When something inevitably breaks, you want to isolate the problem without explaining to clients why the entire system is temporarily contemplating its existence.
#5 Automation
As for automation – well, humans are wonderful for creativity, judgment, and explaining why quarterly results missed expectations. They’re less wonderful for performing identical tasks repeatedly with perfect consistency.
Anything that can be automated should be, if only to free up brainpower for the genuinely interesting problems that algorithms can’t yet solve.
The Outcome
After all, the best business relationships aren’t about constantly surprising each other. They’re about being exactly as predictable as promised.