Hi Reader, One of the most common questions I hear in self-managing organizations is: "How do you grow your career when thereās no hierarchy?" For many, career progression means climbing the corporate ladderāgetting a promotion, earning a new title, managing a bigger team. But what happens when thereās no boss to promote you? This month in our Corporate Rebels Community, weāre exploring career growth in self-managing organizations. Itās a hot topic in our Masterclass on Running and Scaling...
20 days agoĀ ā¢Ā 5 min read
Hi Reader, I've seen it happen countless times. A growing organization reaches about 50 people and suddenly things start to fall apart. Communication breaks down. Decision-making slows to a crawl. Politics emerge. And the entrepreneurial spirit that fueled early growth? Gone. Most leaders respond by adding more control. More managers. More coordination meetings. More reporting. They do exactly what they shouldn't. Last month, I talked to a 120-person manufacturing company in Germany that was...
about 1 month agoĀ ā¢Ā 4 min read
Hi Reader, In Pimās latest newsletter, he shared how we bought and transformed Indaero into a self-managing company. But what if youāre not the owner? What if youāre the transformation agent or consultant leading the charge? How do you make it work when you donāt have the power to make unilateral decisions? For the past month, Iāve been deep in the mechanics of self-management transformations, analyzing Q&A sessions from our Masterclass cohorts with Jabi Salcedo from the consulting team K2K....
about 2 months agoĀ ā¢Ā 6 min read
Hi Reader, It was one of those simmering hot days in July 2023 in Seville, Spain. But the sweat pouring out of our pores wasnāt only due to the oven-like temperatures. It was a big day for us. We were about to sign the contract to acquire our first company, Indaero, an aerospace manufacturing and engineering companyāthrough our impact fund, Krisos. And this wasnāt just any acquisition. We were about to completely transform the way this company operated. Dunia, our transformation lead, put it...
2 months agoĀ ā¢Ā 6 min read
Hi Reader, IIāve just returned from a weekend at the Kelso Workshop at Rutgers University in New Brunswick. This annual symposium brings together researchers, practitioners, and enthusiasts to dive deep into various forms of employee ownership, including workersā cooperatives and profit-sharing plans. The event was thought-provoking, leaving me with plenty to reflect onāand Iād love to share some of it with you. Employee Ownership: A Key to Engagement? At the event, employee ownership and...
3 months agoĀ ā¢Ā 3 min read
Hi Reader, Iāve been reading Erich Frommās Escape from Freedom (published in 1941!), and itās been lighting up my brain like fireworks. His ideas about freedomāhow we respond to it, why itās terrifying, and how we turn it into a force for growthāhit hard. Especially when you think about the challenges of running a self-managing organization. Hereās the deal Fromm says people respond to freedom in two ways. They either: Escape freedomācling to structure, rules, and someone to tell them what to...
3 months agoĀ ā¢Ā 4 min read
Hi Reader, It was a crisp November morning in one of Seville's most iconic locations exactly two weeks ago. Inside a historic bullring ā a place where tradition has reigned for centuries ā a different kind of revolution was brewing. One hundred people. Fifty companies. Fifteen countries. All gathered not to witness the spectacle of bulls and matadors, but to challenge something equally entrenched in our culture: traditional management. The irony of our location wasn't lost on us. An arena...
4 months agoĀ ā¢Ā 4 min read
Hi Reader, Self-management: itās a buzzword until itās not. When you pull the rug of hierarchy out from under your organization, things get real. Fast. Transforming to self-management isnāt a utopia either. It can be messy. It exposes weaknesses in your culture and strengths you didnāt know were there. It forces everyone to level up (and some middle managers to step down). But if you get it right, the payoff is huge: a team of equals that owns their work, drives results, and actually cares...
4 months agoĀ ā¢Ā 5 min read
Hi Reader, Ever noticed how too much of a good thing can become a challenge? That's exactly what we've been experiencing lately with self-management. Picture this: A group of passionate people, each pursuing their expertise with full autonomy. Sounds perfect, right? Well, we started noticing something familiar ā a pattern we've seen in countless other self-managing organizations. We had become like an out-of-tune jazz band. Great musicians playing exciting tunes, but each performing a...
5 months agoĀ ā¢Ā 5 min read