Maverick!: The Success Story Behind the World's Most Unusual Workplace

This book is a very interesting read and could change the way we think about running business.The main points is to have a work place based on trust, democracy and openness.Trust:========The author fired three quarters of the management and let people be their own boss, when a boss is needed they are called Coordinators who are not necessary better payed or higher ranking than the people they organize. Also Coordinators cannot hire/fire workers. Each worker decides their own working hours and pay.Democracy:==========Workers vote on such topics as who gets to be their Coordinators and hiring/firing. There has been research into how people behave in groups that shows democratic groups get better creativity and are more happy than authoritarian run groups.Openness:==========The author states that only source of power in an organization is information, and withholding, filtering, or retaining information only serves those who want to accumulate power through hoarding.Once a month Semco holds open meetings for the employees of each unit, where all the numbers in the business are presented for open examination and debate. The company also offers courses to help employees better understand financial reports such as balance sheets, Profit-and-loss reports, and cash flow statements.The author recommends businesses are deliberately kept small ( not more than 150?) so that people feel their opinion still makes a difference. He feels the economies of scale that big business have is over rated and actually creates many opportunities for wastefulness.25% of the profits are given to the workers as bonuses with everybody getting the same bonus. This is to help motivate and rewards workers even tho it's a big drain on the businesses profits. The author states "I rather own the tail of a elephant than a entire ant".The author makes note of the importance of behaving ethically in business even if that means losing money.What this book recommends is a big shift in the normally authoritarian military ways businesses usually work.I am not a expert on business set up but what this book recommends sounds like a workers co-op (workers control and own business) but without workers owning the business.The book got a sequel called "The Seven-Day Weekend" I think this original is the better of the two but get both anyway because the sequel does add a few good ideals not in the original.It's good to see businesses like this thrive and it shows a business can have happy workers, be ethical and still do well.

The business ideas have been shaped by a collection of writings spread as truths by MBAs and presentations in the last decades.More recently, some authors (particularly people who did things and actually managed companies) have presented a new way of doing things; a new way to lead people; a new way to run businesses.Maverick is a great book that will show you a different way. One which defies the long standing truths: about management, power and motivation.On top of this te book is very well written. Sometimes you read a novel and once you begin you can't put the book down. With a business book that's rare... This is one of those cases

Any endorsement on a back cover by Charles Handy is going to get my vote but this book exceeded my expectations. Written in an almost exhausting machine gun style, Ricardo Semler turns most business philosophy upside down with back-to-back breathtaking anecdotes that might seem effortless in narrative, yet surely belies the obvious challenges and effort needed. At times you have to remember who is actually presenting the narrative as it often sounds like a diehard, hard pressed cynic railing at archaic authoritarian corporate structures, not the Chief Executive of his own company!Are we brave enough to emulate Ricardo? I don't know - but I would love to try!

A remarkable story of transforming Semco to autonomy, trust and freedom. When I first read it in 1992 it completely transformed everything we did at Happy

Great read - the beginnings of a new business era ...which we are continuing to develop... where it's not "all about the money" unless, of course, that's all your about.

Bought this book as a gift to my manager when I was leaving the job. This is an inspirational story about how you can achieve success even when you dont stick to the age old corporate or capitalist structure. Must read. This Covid-19 crisis could help organisations take a hard look at themselves and take few ideas from Semler into becoming modern for the current millennium.

This book will change (or confirm) the way you think about business organisation. Whilst everyone else goes on and on about how to make businesses better within a hierarchical and top down system, Ricardo Semler tells the story of how things can be different. Although the story started many years ago only now are we seeing pale imitations of the practices used at Semco coming through into business practice.I loved this book and couldn't put it down. It's a social and business remedy for corporate stupidity.

This is the earlier of the books I've read on SEMCO. And it seems to be more a recent edition.It is really good for some of the personal story behind the amazing company as well as the principles which they follow.Really well written too.

This book was cutting edge in the 1990s and, sadly for the world, still cutting edge today. Some practices Semler talks about (remote work, ERGs, flex time) have just recently become common, most are still extremely rare (pay transparency, circle org design). And the foundation of his philosophy — share power with people — still hasn’t made its way into most companies.The ideas are important, practical, and timely. As a big bonus: the book is also well-written. The style is sincere, playful, and driven by story. Thank you for the great read!

This book is so wonderful. Learn how to run your corporate life.

Spannend erzählt, Irrungen und Wirrungen im Wandel sind nachvollziehbar. Anstöße zum Denken statt platter Methoden und Rezepte.

Desde que Ricardo Semler virou a própria mesa, anos e anos atrás, ele nunca deixa de nos surpreender com seu jeito alegre e descontraído de contar seus "causos" e suas visões nada ortodoxas de administrar empresas. Sou um leitor encantado desse visionário talentoso.

Este libro es una de las biblias del management, la experiencia de Semco es un aprendizaje brutal y recomiendo a toda persona interesada en la gestión de empresas que conozca esta historia y en la medida de sus posibilidades lo aplique