The Seven Day Weekend snapshot

Page history last edited by Aaron Ross 1 yr ago

An excerpt from Ricardo Semler's writings:

"Semco has no official structure. It has no organizational chart. There's no business plan or company strategy, no twoyear or five-year plan, no goal or mission statement, no longterm budget. The company often does not have a fixed CEO. There are no vice presidents or chief officers for information technology or operations. There are no standards or practices. There's no human resources department. There are no career plans, no job descriptions or employee contracts. No one approves reports or expense accounts. Supervision or monitoring of workers is rare indeed.

Most important, success is not measured only in profit and growth.

Strange, eh? My summary may make Semco sound like a company with an offbeat management style that wouldn't succeed anywhere else. Nevertheless, hundreds of corporate leaders from around the world have visited Sao Paulo to find out what makes us tick. The visitors are curious about Semco because they want what we have--huge growth in spite of a fluctuating economy, unique market niches, rising profits, highly motivated employees, low turnover, diverse products, and service areas.

Our visitors want to understand how Semco has increased its annual revenue between 1994 and 2003 from $35 million a year to $212 million when I--the company's largest shareholder-- rarely attend meetings and almost never make decisions. They want to know how my employees, with a show of hands, can veto new product ideas or scrap whole business ventures."

"The key to management is to get rid of the managers.

The key to getting work done on time is to stop wearing a watch.

The best way to invest corporate profits is to give them to the employees.

The purpose of work is not to make money. The purpose of work is to make the workers, whether working stiffs or top executives, feel good about life." (I'd interpret this as...work to live, don't live to work - Aaron)

- Ricardo Semler

The money will come, even more of it, when it's the byproduct of happiness and passion, not an impediment to it. ...ok, so this one was me (Aaron)

PDF with more information:

Semco unique self organziation.pdf