Codie SanchezFounder @ Contrarian Thinking

Get Off The Screen

16 Jul 2026 · 1 min

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Codie Sanchez argues that in-person interactions produce significantly higher earnings than remote work. Face-to-face promotion requests are roughly 34 times more effective than Zoom, and economists have found that in-person friendships correlate with greater wealth. Her company, Contrarian Thinking, operates fully in-person for this reason.

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A fascinating study showed why you might make way more money if you are in person than remote and why Zooms may be stealing all of your paycheck. They took thousands of interactions for a promotion from a face-to-face request and compared them to Zoom requests. The face-to-face, 34 times more effective. Literally, the more times people got on Zoom to ask, the less money that they made. The research backs it up. Patents, more likely to cite nearby patents. Facebook economists analyzed 21 billion friendships and found that those who had a lot of friends in person, they were wealthier. So screens give you information, but rooms, they make you money. In rooms, the ideas move faster, trust forms quicker, momentum sticks. It's also harder to say no to somebody when they're right in front of your face. That's why at my company, Contrarian Thinking, we're all in person, no remote. That's 'cause I want my people to make so much money, it makes all of their friends uncomfortable.