Unconventional Culture

Group W's unconventional culture is designed to foster the creativity and free thinking required to answer the most complex questions. The brightest critical thinkers often find traditional corporate cultures stifling and uninspiring. In contrast, we seek to create a culture that actively sacrifices convention to harvest the best ideas in pursuit of the right answer.

Group W's culture has several distinct elements woven into its DNA. Both our clients and our employees benefit from our unique approach.

  • Group W is not for the faint of heart. Ours is a demanding environment. Solving complex problems is hard work and we are compelled to get it right.
  • We strive to achieve equity in every domain. Our sense of fairness requires that we give and get value for value.
  • We are relentless in sharing information.
  • We embrace a diversity of perspectives in the belief that this opens the door to better ideas for our company and clients.
  • We sustain a meritocratic environment that encourages healthy skepticism and allows people to challenge ideas. We believe in open debates and open minds.
  • We employ the dialectic in our search for the right answer. It is a proven, objective means of creating and evolving evidence-based answers, through a dialogue governed by intellect, not fiat or emotion.
  • We demand the truth in every aspect of our enterprise.

Listen to Our Corporate President Describe Our Company in This Radio Interview

"We believe that all aspects of our corporation should be extensions of our values. If we are successful living day-to-day in accordance with our values, we believe that we will be more likely to be successful in our business and personal ventures and that we will always have the high ground in difficult situations. It is always difficult to live up to our values and we are far from perfect, but at the very least we are well intentioned and unflinching in confronting our shortcomings.

Sadly, many corporations establish the objective of making their actions consonant with their values but few actually achieve it. The litany of ways to go astray on this path is too long to be recited here. Further, a deep examination of those failures is not all that helpful in avoiding the same fate. If the lessons were easy to learn and implement, everyone would do it. A lateral solution is required.

At Group W, we approach the objective of making our actions consonant with our values by embracing a different corporate culture than most of our competitors. Our differences are founded upon our experiences, observations and considered judgment. While based upon sound principles, some of our culture appears to be unlike business practices elsewhere and this can be disorienting at times."

- Group W Corporate Culture Overview

Download full corporate manifesto

Group W was founded in 2004 by five people with a passion for getting it right. Their long experience in analysis, modeling and research fostered a firm belief that the right answer is best found by exceptional people working in an unconventional culture. They set out to build a meritocracy, peopled by critical thinkers, led in a transparent manner, and able to succeed through the excellence of its insights. To ensure its long-term viability, they established a broadly employee-owned company. In 2010 Group W became a 100% employee-owned ESOP.

Group W continues to attract like-minded people. Our employees are inspired by the vision of an organization where exceptional people, partnering with visionary clients and working in an environment that values truth, passion, intellect, and skill, can find the right answers to the world's complex questions.

The Group W name is a reference to Arlo Guthrie's song, "Alice's Restaurant".

In the song, Arlo encounters a series of authority figures who make pointless, illogical decisions. While superficially about the Vietnam War and the draft, Guthrie explained in a 2009 interview that it was more of an anti-stupidity song than an anti-war song.

Everyone has a responsibility to not only tolerate another person's point of view, but also accept it eagerly as a challenge to your own understanding. And express those challenges in terms of serving other people.

Arlo Guthrie

Many of us have found that the inflexibility and constraints of traditional organizations too often impede progress and are counterproductive to the best interests of employees, clients and the organization as a whole. The Group W name reminds us that the way things are usually done might not always lead to the right answer.

Group W is a company of exceptional people working together with visionary clients. We are always on the lookout for new colleagues with the following traits:

  • Client focus
  • Leadership
  • Drive and passion
  • Practical problem-solving
  • Multi-dimensional thinking
  • Professional expertise
  • Intellectual resilience
  • Persistence and tenacity
  • Self-correcting humility
  • Organizational awareness
  • Alignment with our culture and values

Click here to see a list of current job openings or to submit an application.

To All Recruitment Agencies: Group W does not accept agency resumes. Please do not forward resumes to our job site. Group W is not responsible for any fees related to unsolicited resumes.

Group W is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer

Group W is committed to providing equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, status as a covered veteran, or other similarly protected status in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local laws.

Books Influencing Our Corporate Philosophy

The Mythical Man-Month, Frederick P. Brooks

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't, Jim Collins

Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Peopleware, Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister

Man's Search for Meaning, Viktor E. Frankl

The Psychology of Happiness: A Good Human Life, Samuel S. Franklin

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, Malcolm Gladwell

Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman

No Logo, Naomi Klein

How We Decide, Jonah Lehrer

Toward a Psychology of Being, Abraham H. Maslow

Drive, Daniel H. Pink

Creativity and Development, R. Keith Sawyer, Vera John-Steiner, Seana Moran, and Robert J. Sternberg

Start With Why, Simon Sinek

Black Swan, Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Group Genius: The Creative Power of Collaboration, R. Keith Sawyer

The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail - but Some Don't, Nate Silver

Decide One Thing, Dave Ramos

“A culture is made - or destroyed - by its articulate voices.”