Semco / Seven Day Weekend

Ricardo Semler took over his father's struggling industrial equipment company Semler & Company in 1982 at age 24 and implemented dramatic organizational changes, dismantling the rigid hierarchy and empowering employees. This included profit sharing, self-managed work teams, and satellite business units. Despite predictions it would fail, the reorganized Semco thrived as sales grew tenfold by 1996. Semler's employee-centric approach created a highly flexible and innovative organization that survived economic turmoil in Brazil.