Highlights:
Ricardo Semler, author and business manager, is celebrated as a role model of a Chief Executive who breaks all the traditional rules and succeeds, massively.
Semler eliminated what he called 'corporate oppression" from his company, Semco: time clocks, dress codes, security procedures, privileged office spaces and perks, they all went. There were to be no receptionists or secretaries.
He set up 'factory committees' to run the plants, in an attempt to get more worker involvement and Semler guaranteed that no-one could be fired while serving on the committees or for at least a year afterwards.
Ricardo then introduced profit-sharing schemes for all the workers. The thought that they could directly influence their own pay encouraged the committees to look for savings and to question any procedures or layers of management that didn't seem to add value.
Managers were hired and fired by their own employees. More than that, the units were now inventing new businesses for themselves. And so Semco grew, entirely due to the initiatives of its workers.
The workers have unrestricted access to all corporate records and are taught how to read financial reports; they set their own wages and their own production quotas.
When the number of people in a Semco unit hits the 100 to 200 mark it is split in two, like it or not.
Semler lists six principles that guide his always experimental company:
1. don't increase business size unnecessarily
2. never stop being a start-up
3. don't be a nanny to your workers
4. let talent find its place
5. make decisions quickly and openly
6. partner promiscuously, you can't do it all yourself.
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