The Operating Principles

Decisions at Anabasis are made against principles, not against preferences. When a principle and an incentive disagree, the principle wins. When two principles disagree, the higher horizon wins.

We prefer the reversible decision made quickly to the irreversible decision made slowly, and the irreversible decision made carefully to the irreversible decision made under pressure.

We do not decide by consensus, and we do not decide by hierarchy. We decide by argument, on the record, with a named owner.

We hire slowly and against the standard, not against the calendar. An unfilled seat is preferable to a wrongly filled one.

We measure the institution by the quality of the people it makes, not by the products it ships. A team that leaves more capable than it arrived is the primary output.

We keep the organization small enough to be legible to itself.

Every senior member of Anabasis is a steward of the institution, not a proprietor. Compensation, credit, and title are held lightly, on the understanding that the institution will outlast the tenure.

Founders retire. Chapters close. The Charter continues.

Leadership at Anabasis is the willingness to be accountable for the whole. It is measured in what one absorbs, not in what one delegates.

A leader here is expected to write clearly, to disagree in daylight, to change their mind when the evidence changes, and to defend the interests of those not in the room.

Anabasis commits to publishing an annual report each year of its existence, addressed to the reader who will inherit the work.

Anabasis commits to preserving The Charter as a public document, amended only through a stated process and only with the amendment recorded alongside the original.

Anabasis commits to outlasting its founders. Every operating decision is made with that intention in view.