No bosses, but “primus inter pares” No functions, no business cards, only one title “Viisionair” No permission culture, but autonomy No “top-down” decisions, only “horizontal” team decisions No bonuses, no “bargaining”, only fix salaries No performance reviews, only “peer to peer” feedback No “HR” hiring, but hiring by the team itself No handbooks, only one “Golden Rule” No budgets, “beyond budgeting” No secrecy, but “radical transparency”

1. “Holacracy in Times of Crisis”
for: Teal Around The World (#TATW2023)
Date: Thursday, the 2rd. of March 2023
Tom van der Lubbe, Co-founder Viisi Hypotheken

2. Outline
• Introduction
• About Crisis: Hemingway & Seneca
• The “10 Rules of Viisi” in Times of
Crisis
• Zooming in:
• No secrecy, but “radical
transparency”
• No bosses, everybody a leader
• No “HR” hiring, but hiring by the
team itself
• Q & A

3. • 26th. of May 1968 (Dutch)
• The Hague (Netherlands)
• Aloysius College (jesuits)
• University of Leiden
• 1988: survived cancer
• Sciences Po Paris/ FU Berlin
• McKinsey
• Financieel Planner in Berlin (MLP)
• CEO MLP Switzerland & The
Netherlands
• since 2010: Co-Founder of Viisi
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomvanderlubbe/
Tom van der Lubbe
Tom van der Lubbe

4. Viisi
● 2010 founded in Amsterdam
● 4 co-founders, 40 Viisionairs (average)
● independent mortgage advisor, only active in The Netherlands
● Yearly volume: € 1 billion, total mortgages/ clients: 15.000
=> mainly known because of awards and sharing of lessons learned

5. The Problem of Crisis…
From: The Sun Also Rises (1926)

6. The Seneca Effect
The Seneca effect, or Seneca cliff
or Seneca collapse, is a
mathematical model proposed by
Ugo Bardi to describe situations
where
a system's rate of decline is
much sharper than its earlier
rate of growth.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seneca_effect

7. “Less is More”
10 Rules of Viisi

8. 10 Rules
1. No bosses, everybody a leader
2. No functions, no business cards, only one title “Viisionair”
3. No permission culture, but autonomy
4. No “top-down” decisions, only “horizontal” team decisions
5. No bonuses, no “bargaining”, only fix salaries
6. No performance reviews, only “peer to peer” feedback
7. No “HR” hiring, but hiring by the team itself
8. No handbooks, only one “Golden Rule”
9. No budgets, “beyond budgeting”
10. No secrecy, but “radical transparency”

9. “No Secrecy,
but
Radical
Transparancy”

10. No Secrecy, but Radical Transparancy
Because of two years of Covid we were used to weekly remote
townhalls
What changed?
Higher Rhythm, more detailed:
● Weekly Townhalls
● From Monthly metrics to weekly metrics
● Focus on Financial metrics: Weekly liquidity, revenue and costs

11. “No Bosses,
but
Everybody a
Leader
(of its own Roles)”

12. Rotation Principle
What changed?
from:
“Rotation OVER Experience”
to:
“Experience OVER Rotation”

13. “Primus Inter Pares” (“First among Equals”)
“Rotation of Leadership”:
● Republican idea
● Polis Athens
● Merchant Cities (“Hansestädte”)
● Consultancy Firms and
Investment Banks
● Family owned businesses
● Switzerland
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primus_inter_pares

14. Leadership Style: “War Time” versus “Peace Time”
“Peace Time” versus “War Time”,
Search for the extreme situations:
● Churchill: Good “War-Time” leader.
● Mission Command (von Moltke:
"Auftragstaktik versus Befehlstaktik”)
● Andy Grove (Intel): “Only The
Paranoid Survive”
https://a16z.com/2011/04/14/peacetime-ceo-
wartime-ceo/

15. “No HR Hiring,
but
by the Team itself”

16. No HR Hiring, but by the Team itself
Recruiting Principles/ Culture:
● Hiring by the team
● Every member of the team has a veto
● Fixed salaries
● Peer to peer feedback in the team on a daily basis
“Peace-time” Fluctuation (average 10%):
● Renewal of contracts: Would you start at Viisi again? / Would we hire
you again?
● Voluntary fluctuation (“I will be happier somewhere else”)

17. Who is responsible for offboarding in times of crisis?
“The Elephant in the Room”...
● By the Team itself: Keytoe.nl: https://nos.nl/artikel/2260045-weggestemd-door-je-
collega-s-bedrijf-experimenteert-met-ontslag
What did we do at Viisi?
1. “Last In, First Out” (in Age categories, Regulations by Dutch law):
https://business.gov.nl/regulation/collective-redundancies/
2. “Pay to Quit” (Zappos): https://www.fastcompany.com/90708440/this-ceo-pays-new-
employees-5000-to-quit

18. A Crisis is always also an opportunity
To show that…
Selforganisation does work,
and:
● Is more flexible, more
agile…
● Is more transparent
● Is more honest
● Is more human
● …

19. Questions