Can success really be determined from a coffee shop order?

Mary-Faith Martinez

Can you tell how successful someone is just from watching how quickly they place an order? One CEO is convinced that she can.

In a recent podcast interview, Codie Sanchez, CEO of Contrarian Thinking, shared a few controversial thoughts on people who hold up a line by taking a long time to order. “Show me how long it takes you to order at a counter, and I will show you your bank account,” she said.

Sanchez used the example of waiting behind someone in a coffee shop line as a metric for how successful a person is. She described waiting behind a woman who took “four centuries” to order her coffee, something Sanchez couldn’t understand.

“If we know we are here for a finite amount of time, why spend so much time on that as opposed to a walk, a sunset, etc.?” she asked.

Sanchez went one step further, suggesting that someone who takes a long time to make up their mind ordering is “really comfortable inconveniencing somebody else around them,” saying this could even suggest narcissism or a lack of self-awareness.

They’re not very efficient at the things that don’t really matter,” Sanchez added. “If you want to get something done, you give it to a busy person.” 

According to Sanchez’s line of thinking, someone who takes a long time to order when other people are waiting behind them is inconsiderate and possibly self-centered.

Additionally, Sanchez implied that this behavior is indicative of someone who is professionally unsuccessful because it shows they are slow to make decisions regarding small, inconsequential things, like a coffee order.

Sanchez is the CEO of Contrarian Thinking, a company that helps people learn how to smartly invest in businesses and increase their passive income. She began her professional life as a journalist covering human rights atrocities in Mexico.

During her time as a journalist, Sanchez realized what a big role economic equity played in the lives of the marginalized and decided she wanted to address that. At that point, she made the jump from journalism to finance and has since become a millionaire herself, now teaching others how to do the same.

Is fast decision-making actually a beneficial trait?

While decision-making is certainly an important part of business, an article from the Harvard Business Review suggested that it doesn’t work like we typically assume — or, at least, shouldn’t. 

Their research found that a leader who acts like making a decision is a one-time event is not as effective. That means making a quick decision is not always preferable. Sometimes, it pays off to take time to really consider the issue and take multiple points of view into account. 

When a video clip from Sanchez's interview made its way to TikTok, users had plenty of thoughts on her coffee shop theory.

Most seemed to agree with the Harvard Business Review’s assessment, with one person writing, “Just say you’re [impatient].” Another said that Sanchez herself “took forever to get to the point.”

Whether or not you find yourself annoyed by someone taking a long time to place an order, it is important to remember that one interaction is probably not representative of their overall ability to make decisions. Judging someone’s business savvy off of such a short moment seems absurdly unfair.

** Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer for YourTango who covers entertainment, news, and human interest topics.

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