2. The Same way that an IQ test may tell you about people’s specific abilities in narrowl
defined intelligence but tells you nothing about other vital characteristics, so profits
are
an indicator, but not much else.
3. We have all learned how to answer emails on Sundays,
but none of us has learned to go to movies on Monday afternoon
4. Its not what Semco makes that has executives and management experts the world
waiting months for a chance to tour our plant and offices.
It’s the way people of Semco make it.
5. Financial information at Semco is openly discussed, to show we are serious about thi
Semco, with labour unions that
Represent our workers, developed a course to teach everyone,
even messengers and cleaning people,
to read balance sheets and cash-flow statements
6. There is a reception desk but no receptionists.
We don’t have secretaries either or personal assistants
Everyone at Semco, even top managers, fetches guests, stands over photocopiers,
Sends faxes, types letters and dials the phone.
We don’t have executive dinning rooms and parking is strictly first-come, first served
7. At Semco we have stripped away the unnecessary perks and priviledges
that feed the ego but hurt the balance sheet
And distract everyone from crucial corporate tasks
8. Plants separates the desks, computers and drawing boards in our work areas.
The mood is informal: Some people wear suits and ties or dresses,
others jeans and sneakers
9. I want our people to feel free to put their feet on their desks, just like me
10. We have a sales manager who sits there reading newspaper hours after hours,
not even making a pretense of looking busy. Most modern manager wouldn’t tolerate it.
When Semco pump on
An oil tanker on other side of the world fails and millions of
gallons of oil are about to spill into the sea,
He springs in action. He knows everything there is to know about our pumps
and how to fix them. That’s when he
Earns his salary. No one care if he doesn’t look busy the rest of the time.
11. Most mornings I work from home. I concentrate better there.
I also take at least two months off each year to travel.
I never leave a number where I can be reached when I’m away and I don’t call in.
I want everyone at Semco to be self sufficient.
12. My role is that of a catalyst. I try to create am environment in which others make
decisions.
Success means not making them myself.
14. We have absolute trust in our employees. In fact , we are partners with them.
15. We want people to advance because of competence, not longevity or conformity
16. We have encouraged employees to start their own companies,
leasing them Semco machinery at favourable rates.
We buy from our former employees,
ofcourse they are free to sell to others, even Semco’s competitors.
17. Before people are hired or promoted to leadership positions,
they are interviewed and approved by all who will be working for them.
And every six months managers are evaluated by those who work under them.
19. By 6PM I had fired 60 percent of Semco’s top management.
They had ignored my suggestion to diversify.
Semco did not have time for slow, herbal medicine. It needed emergency surgery.
20. Ernesto’s resume intrigued me. How could it not,
since he had listed all the companies he had worked for,
including one at which he had spent only a couple of months,
along with complete list of references for each ?
His openness, coupled with his former employers’ willingness to recommend him, impresse
21. Our former executives, had made themselves the repository of many of our trade secr
no doubt to ensure their continued employment.
I didn’t count on people as secretive as they were
22. We were a legend in our own minds.
Who would dare stop us from fulfilling our destiny as a multinational conglomera
23. We talked about the offer, should the job disappoint him, we would welcome him back
24. Its so easy to blame the managers when a business does badly,
but often they haven’t had the freedom to manage or the motivation to perform
as if the business were theirs.
25. Earlier, most of our managers were proponents of classic,
authoritarian solutions such as rigid controls and long gruelling hours
26. Your tests are all perfect. But you are suffering from an advanced case of stress.
The most advanced case I have ever seen in a person of 25.
You have two choices.
Either you continue your current life, in which case you will be back with us
Or else you must change
27. I set 7PM as the time I would leave the office, no matter what.
After that, I would go to the movies, read books- anything but work
I wouldn’t do any work at the weekends either.
And each long business trip I would add a week of pleasure travel.
28. I would follow my intuition more, and listen less to experts.
29. In business, effort is too often confused with result.
The belief that effort and result are directly proportional
30. To say it is possible to establish a successful business just by arriving early and s
is like saying that every milkman can be Howard Hughes.
31. It struck me that time should be measured in years and decades, not minutes and h
It is impossible to understand life in all its hugeness
if one constantly consulting a minute-counter.
32. What if we could strip away all the artificial nonsense, all the managerial mumbo jumbo?
People were not gratified by their jobs and often seemed oppressed by them. I had to ch
33. How can they rationalize such sanctimonious sentiments
when they frisk their workers on the way home?
34. On average two or three percent of any workforce will take advantage of an
employer’s trust.
But is this a valid reason to subject 97 percent to daily ritual of humiliation?
35. Nothing seems more medieval than dress codes.
Dress codes are all about conformity. People want to feel secure,
and dressing like everyone else is one way to accomplish it.
Flip side is that these same people will come to
depend on other forms of officially imposed unity, such as uniform language,
Uniform behaviour and may be even uniform thinking.
Creativity and freedom are smothered
by discipline and the weight of shared expectations.
36. Why is that when they come to work on weekends, people invariably dress in casual cloth
37. Today I am big believer of management by wandering around.
Popularized by HP.
You can see how projects are going ,
solve some problems or just chat with someone you haven’t seen in a long while
38. Our middle managers had studied in schools that taught traditional organizational disc
and importance of structure and supervision.
39. To be boss is what counts to most bosses.
They confuse authority to authoritarianism. They don’t trust their subordinates.
40. A conservative bunch , they adhered to a rigid hierarchy, even when complaining.
The first to speak were the most senior,
then came those just below them, who would unfailingly support their superior.
41. The origins of corporate secrecy can be traced to the insecurity of executives
who possessed the technical skills to scale the corporate pyramid
but weren’t mature enough to handle the height.
They wanted to be seen as different from those who had not attained their perch.
43. All of our memos , minutes, letters, reports,
even market surveys are restricted to single page.
This wouldn’t surprise Mark Twain,
who once apologized for writing long letter
because he didn’t have time to write short one
44. We don’t like our people to be imprisoned by their degrees or resumes.
Nor do we let a lack of formal education limit anyone’s potential.
45. What people do in their own time is their own business.
We care only about employee’s work, not his private life.
So long as it doesn’t interfere with his performance on the job.
46. You won’t find running track , swimming pool or gym at Semco.
Many companies build them to help their employees cope with stress.
At Semco, we try not to cause stress in the first place.
47. At our company people can always say what’s on their minds,
even to their bosses- even when its about their bosses.
48. An employee who meets 70 percent of the requirements for a job will be chosen
instead of an outsider.
We make a point to give ex- Semco employees an edge.
We also give preference to friends and acquaintances of our employees.
But family members are out, only distant relatives are permitted to work for the com
And then only in different plants.
49. Bureaucracies are built by and for people who busy themselves proving they are ne
All these bosses,
have to keep themselves occupied and so they constantly complicate everything.
50. Semco today is characterize by absence of structure that astonishes outsiders.
51. Fixing working hours, organizational charts and policy manuals are all so negative.
They strip away freedom and give nothing in return.
but a false feeling of discipline and belonging.
By all means establish and promote common goal,
but recognize divergence and let people determine
their own ways of achieving it.
52. To survive in modern times, a company must have an organizational structure
that accepts changes as its basic premise.
The successful companies will be the ones that put quality of life first.
53. Concentrate on building the organizations that accomplish that most difficult of all
challenges-
To make people look forward to coming to work in the morning.
