Radical, The Surprising Success of an Enterprise

In the book, Ricardo Semler tells us first-hand how it changed the company he inherited from his father to turn it completely, making it a democratic enterprise. Semco is a conglomerate that manufactures "bombs capable of emptying a tanker in one night, a dishwasher that can wash four thousand one hundred plates per hour ... from blenders that produce rocket fuel mixtures to bubble gum, cookies factories ...?. When Ricardo Semler inherited the company, it was typical pyramidal structure firm and full of rules. Over the years, by his own conviction and the relationship with other people who are convinced of the benefits of "believe? on workers, has been making changes to get what he called a company "natural?, based on democratic principles and not overloaded bureaucracy. The change is made to pass, according to the proposal devised by Douglas McGregor in 1960, theory X: - the human nature rejects the job, and try to avoid it thus to achieve the objectives it is necessary to monitor, control , threaten and punish them in some cases - workers avoid the responsibilities and show little ambition to theory Y: - Employees see work as something natural - the workers are able to self-directed if they are committed to the objectives - the average worker accepts and even greater responsibility for - creativity and ingenuity are not exclusive of management, all employees may have ideas and make innovative decisions

Despite being more or less known theories, Ricardo Semler has had the courage to face all these changes, achieving higher productivity and profits, while maintaining their business even in the turbulent years he lived in Brazil in the eighties and nineties. Among the changes he made (some more radical than others, but in any case, quite unusual) include: - Elimination of parking and executive dining rooms. As a symbol of democracy, eliminated these perks, the first to arrive where you parked. - Removal of walls, so that people and departments relate more. - Evaluation reverse: before someone is promoted or hired to a command post, is interviewed and evaluated by everyone who goes to work at his command. In addition, every six months is subject to the assessment of people who supervises anonymously. The ratings are publicly exposed. - Organization: does not exist or do not use the chart, the structure was flattened to only four levels, and was organized in the form of concentric circles, rather than the traditional pyramid shape. - Participation in benefits, was negotiated for all workers, reaching an unusual 23% of company profit.

- Permission for hepatitis: every year or two years, allows a worker to abandon their usual duties for a few weeks or even a few months to learn new skills, recharge your batteries ... The program came about because some officials said they had no time to think, and then suggested that they thought would happen if contrajesen hepatitis and had to be a couple of months out of the company. - Preference for the home: when there is a vacancy, Semco employees are given preference if they reach at least 70% of the requirements. The self-created by Ricardo Semler took him to define his employees could schedule (to put their eight hours as you like), and even his salary (and oddly enough, there were many cases in which someone should ask something crazy, and yes there were any of those who "fell short?). It also established a "pay at risk?, Which is home to nearly a third of employees, and that is to have 25% of salary up or down, depending on how you go to the company. If the company has a good year, the employee becomes 125% of your salary, but if it's bad, comes to 75%.

In this way, rewards those who want to take the risk with the company, and allows that labor costs will in relation to company performance. And in their efforts because workers make their decisions, and not dependent on one person (before embarking on the changes, worked long hours and was very stressed), has been discharged himself from responsibilities as a counselor to be more and usually work from home, encouraging all who can to do the same, as he says, promotes concentration and productivity. And is that as Aristotle said, reflection requires leisure.