Maverick: The Success Story Behind the World’s Most Unusual Workplace
Written by: Ricardo Semler
I stumbled across this book while
reading Signal vs. Noise. After reading the first page at Amazon, I was hooked and ordered it. I finished it today and I can honestly say, this is a must-read (thanks Jason!). I’m tempted to track down my CEO tomorrow and ask if he’s read it.
This book is about Semco, a Brazilian company headed (sort of) by Ricardo Semler. Ricardo inherited the company from his father in the early 80’s. Since then, he has transformed it from a conventional, lead-from-the-top company with multiple layers of management and an employee base that simply came to work each day into a company where everyone (and I mean everyone) has a say in how the company is run. Given how the majority of companies are run (pyramid structure, tons of rules and regulations, etc.) it’s an amazing story.
The key theme throughout this book is that employees should be treated as adults.
“They are adults. At Semco, we treat them like adults. We trust them. We get out of their way and let them do their jobs.”
Saying they simply got out of their way is an understatement. Ricardo Semler empowered his employees. He openly shared the company financials (something I wish my company would do). He eliminated un-needed layers of management, allowed employees to set their own schedules and pay scale and he allowed them to develop and pursue new ideas that would help the company.
“A company should trust its destiny to its employees.”
The company had its ups and downs, but they survived the bad ecomonic times in Brazil. They did it because he created an environment where people wanted to come to work in the morning. An environment where people came together and made huge sacrifices for the benefit of the company. They didn’t do it because they feared being fired. They did it because they genuinely cared about the success of the company.
“Fear of delegation is the belief that no one is as competent to solve a problem as you are.”
Again, a great book that has found a place on my bookshelf next to Peopleware.