Maverick: The Success Story Behind the World's Most Unusual Workshop

Description

Workers make the decisions previously made by their bosses * Managerial staff set their own salaries and bonuses * Everyone has access to the company books * No formality - a minimum of meetings, memos and approvals * Internal walls torn down * Shopfloor workers set their own productivity targets and schedules Result - Semco is one of Latin America's fastest-growing companies, acknowledged to be the best in Brazil to work for, and with a waiting list of thousands of applicants hoping to join it. This book offers the chance to learn Ricardo Semler's secrets and let some of the Semco magic rub off on you and your company.

Ricardo Semler took over his father's company, Semco (founded in 1954), at the age of 19. Not only did he turn the company round, he made it an outstanding success. On the brink of bankruptcy in 1980, Semco achieved revenues of $34 million in 1993 - and $160 million in 2000. Semler threw out the rule book- for example, workers make their own decisions; every corporate decision is put to the vote; people turn up to the meetings they want to be at. It sounds insane- but it works.

The way that Ricardo Semler runs his company is impossible; except th at it works, and works splendidly for everyone. I relish this book. It revived my faith in human beings and my hope for business everywhere -- Charles Handy In this book, Ricardo Semler tells how Semco, Latin America's fastest growing company, uses a revolutionary way of working to run a profit-making company with a work force who love their jobs. * The Sunday Times * Are there real-life lessons to be learned? The answer is yes...Pragmatic, inspirational and intriguing advice. * The Times * Ricardo Semler is our kind of capitalist * Guardian * Semco takes workplace democracy to previously unimagined frontiers * The Times *