Give Up Control to Take Control - Ricardo Semler and Leadership
“Moving an organization or business ahead means giving up control, and allowing employees to manage themselves. It means trusting workers implicitly, sharing power and information, encouraging dissent, and celebrating true democracy. Few things are harder for managers, executives, shareholders, and owners to embrace.”
Ricardo Semler is the CEO at Semco Partners, founder of The Lumiar School, and one of those leaders with a unique view of what leadership means and what running a “successful” business entails.
I’ve recently read a case study on Ricardo Semler and found his leadership philosophies worth exploring more in-depth. Especially because of the pioneering nature of a shared, participative leadership model that Ricardo and his team established at Semco starting in the 1980s. A similar case study to the one I analyzed can be found here.
Does it take crucible events for human beings to inquire within and understand the deeper nature of life and reality? There’s an implicit competing commitment within many of us: work as hard as you can, and protect your possessions because they define you and your business. There is a compelling argument for crucible moments and how they often define leaders.
But seeking crucible moments—especially if negative—may not be the best idea for you. And believing that it necessarily takes a crucible moment to become a full human being is foolish at the very least. Crucible moments are strong events—often “negative” ones like a sudden illness—that bring a person to inquire within and tap into their deeper selves.
Dropping the assumptions that (a) you need crucible moments to become a better human being and (b) you need to protect your possessions as hard as possible can be liberating. That’s what Semler did in 1984 when he (and his collaborators at Semco) decided to “drop the ball”. Dropping the ball of identification with power and material possessions in their organization. Dropping the ball of overcontrol for fear of losing control.
A boundariless organization is a place where mindful innovation can happen because there’s no pressure to respect peripheries and power dynamics. Such a leadership model—where everyone is empowered to be a leader and take initiative and responsibility—seems to be a by-product of some eastern philosophies like Daoism and Buddhism—philosophically speaking.
Letting go of micro-managing in order to unleash the potential of the individuals and the teams. Allowing personal responsibility to be taken by everyone and enabling honesty and transparency of action to spread like a pandemic in its early stage. Allowing teams to assess themselves and their peers to create an environment of trust and mutual respect.
By distributing leadership your objective is to foster the growth of new leaders instead of encouraging followership. You may believe there are no rules in such a model. But the fact that there are no rules is itself a rule. Let’s say you start to work at Semco. You know of the boundariless nature of the organization.
You understand that success in such an organization is born out of resourcefulness and integrity of behaviors. Those are rules themselves. Try to circumvent them, and you will be punished by your team members—because of the peer-to-peer evaluative nature of such a leadership model. That’s what would happen, assuming Semco is a well-functioning organization as narrated to the public.
Ricardo Semler’s leadership vision is one founded on a rather countercultural belief: a leader is often most effective when he/she is gone, out of the intricacies of daily business. Spiritually gone, understanding that the objective of a leader is to foster the growth of more leaders, not of more followers.
There is potency in such a conviction if embodied fully. When you believe that the game is not “finite” but infinite, you drop the fear of losing your status and focus on fostering other people to reach their potential. But you will need to tap into your inner potential first—a project worth pursuing that takes time and consistent, at times uncomfortable effort. Serving others is one of the Stoic principles for living an examined life.
Ricardo Semler is merely an example of what it means to be selfless in service to others without expecting anything in return. Semco can be an inspiring example of how to run an organization that runs itself and detaches your ego from it. It is an inspirational model that can make you reflect on what it means to be a leader, and why you may not be one—yet.
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