Hi Reader,

Imagine this: A 160-year-old pharmaceutical giant with 100,000 employees decides to throw out the traditional playbook.

It's a story that's shaking up the corporate world and challenging everything we thought we knew about how big companies should operate.

They're ditching middle managers, slashing 99% of their 1,362-page corporate handbook, and asking their workforce to... wait for it... self-manage.

Yes, you read that right. Bayer, the company that gave us aspirin, is now giving its employees the freedom to manage themselves.

CEO Bill Anderson is leading this radical transformation, aptly named "dynamic shared ownership." Why? Because he realized that the old way of doing things was suffocating innovation and slowing everything down.

"We hire highly educated, trained people, and then we put them in these environments with rules and procedures and eight layers of hierarchy," Anderson told Business Insider. "Then we wonder why big companies are so lame most of time."

The plan? Create 5,000 to 6,000 self-directed teams that work on projects of their choosing for 90 days before regrouping. No more endless approvals or consulting with a dozen people to get anything done.

It's bold. It's daring.

And it's exactly the kind of shake-up we love to see at Corporate Rebels. But here's the best part: We're giving you a front-row seat to this transformation.

We're hosting an exclusive webinar where three insiders from Bayer (including the company’s chief catalyst) will share their perspective on this journey so far.

It's a unique opportunity to dive deep into one of the most significant corporate transformations of our time.

The event will be available for everyone for the first 60 minutes. Then, we’ll continue with a private session exclusive for members of Corporate Rebels.

If you aren’t a member yet, sign up here.

Just want to join the first 60 minutes? Register here on LinkedIn for free. 600+ people have registered already!

Trust me, you don't want to miss this.

Now, speaking of transformations...

Updates from Corporate Rebels HQ

Here's a quick overview of everything happening at Corporate Rebels:

• We're launching something big with the lovely team at Tuff Leadership Training. It's called the Self-Management Bootcamp. Here's the deal: We've talked to hundreds of self-managed companies, and we've noticed a pattern. The biggest struggle? Helping people thrive in a system built around freedom and responsibility. It's not easy to suddenly have all this autonomy. It can be overwhelming, even paralyzing. That's why we're creating this personal development program. We're designing it to support individuals in self-managing teams and organizations. It's all about equipping you with the skills and mindset to flourish in this new world of work. The best thing about it? We’re teaming up with the leading trainers in the world: Tuff Leadership Training. More details will be shared in Monday’s blog post. Stay tuned.
• Invites have been sent out to all member organizations of our global network of Rebel Cells. In Seville, Spain, on 21-22 November our first ever event takes place. Tapas, vino, quality time, and lots of inspiring sessions for a truly pioneering bunch of organizations. Exclusively available to Rebel Cell member organizations. If you’re not one of them, apply here.
• Rebel Cell Australia is live and Rebel Cell Denmark has two fresh coordinators. Danish and Ozzy businesses, this is your chance to join the workplace revolution. Apply here.
• We recently hosted a LinkedIn Live info session on Rebel Cells. If you want to learn more about it and hear how several member organizations benefit from the network, watch the recording.
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New article

A new article has been published on our website earlier this week:

• No Managers, No Problem? Our 12-Month Experiment in Running a Bossless Organization​
  In this blog post I share the most recent update on Indaero, the company we acquired last year through our impact fund Krisos. I share the good, the bad, the ugly and how people have experienced the radical transformation journey so far. Read more here.​
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What inspired us

Here's something noteworthy we discovered this past week that you’re going to love:

The work-from-home battle by age

As always, great content by Stanford Professor Nick Bloom on LinkedIn. In this post, he shares the various views on work-from-home by age. Check it out:

With most CEOs being in the older age groups, the many return-to-office mandates seem to be mostly driven by personal preference. Check out the post.

Your weekly challenge

At Corporate Rebels, we believe that small changes lead to big results. That's why we challenge you each week to make a small but significant change. This week....

Cheers,

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