The key to management is to get rid of the managers.
People are responsible adults at home. Why do we suddenly transform them into adolescents with no freedom when they reach the workplace?
People are too keen to follow standard preconceptions of how organisations should work. All too often, we feel that we are unable to make changes and so hope that someone, somewhere in your organisation knows what we are doing and what the overall aim is.
Bill Gore from Goretex was a very strong influence because he was one of the first larger companies to experiment with freedom in the workplace.
A high percentage of organisations develop a military rationale, whereby only a very small number of people make all of the decisions. There is little wonder, then, that people aren't keen to get out of bed and come to work on a Monday morning.
In life, we do not give employees enough leeway. If you look around Semco's office, there are plenty of empty desks. The question is - where are these people? I do not have the slightest idea, but I am not interested.
The best way to invest corporate profits is to give them to the employees.
I once worked it out - after $12 million, all millionaires are the same. That's because we're all humans, confined to human scale. How many homes can you live in? How many meals can you eat? You can have a living room the size of a cathedral, but you won't live in it. It's too big.
One of the things that is very silly - and I hear from educators all the time - is that schools essentially teach kids to learn. They don't need school for that. Learning is what they do best.
Once employees feel challenged, invigorated and productive, their efforts will naturally translate into profit and growth for the organisation.