Hi Reader,

I want to talk leadership today. Leadership at Corporate Rebels.

Recently, we’ve been having some interesting conversations internally. It was sparked by our attendance at a meetup of the Dutch Rebel Cell. Each of the pioneering organizations present, were asked to reflect on leadership within their organizations.

Joost, who attends the meetups on our behalf, scheduled conversations with each of us to gather everyone’s perspectives.

We talked about what leadership means to us, how we experience it at Corporate Rebels, what kind of leadership we’d love to see more of, and what leadership challenges we’re having.

Personally, I learned quite a few valuable things:

• Everyone has their own idea of what leadership should look like at Corporate Rebels. From those who believe leadership should be entirely distributed to roles and therefore leadership depends on the topic, to others who believe it should be the role of the founders. There’s no right or wrong but talking more openly about each and everyone’s expectations and assumptions, is something we can all benefit from.
• Personally, when I’m enthusiastic about something, I can be dominant in pushing for a certain direction. Helpful in some instances, unhelpful in others.
• We’ve become better at setting a clear vision and direction for our company. This makes it easier for people to take ownership and responsibility of their roles, while enjoying high levels of autonomy.
• When giving my opinion/advice, I sometimes take away the opportunity for others to learn for themselves. The 5 levels of problem solving immediately came to mind.

My main takeaway: we don’t talk about this topic often enough. We have a lot of clarity around how we work, but not enough when it comes to leadership.

We tend to all make our own assumptions, but don’t have enough shared understanding. It’s something for us to work on.

Personally, I see this as an interesting starting point for a deeper dive into my personal

Leadership journey. I’d love to learn more about my own leadership style. My weaknesses and how to tone them down. My strengths and how to amplify them.

We have bold ambitions. With Corporate Rebels, we aim to reinvent the way the world works. With Krisos, we aim to be the most positively impactful private equity company in the world.

Those won’t come easy.

And since I want to play a pivotal role in realizing those ambitions, I need to keep growing into them.

As you can see, a lot to think about and a lot to work on.

The starting point? More open conversations as a team.

And while you’re here… Do you have any recommendations for personal development programs/courses/adventures/etc.?

I’m not looking for the usual. And I’m also not looking for ‘okay’ programs. Recommend only if you are 1000% convinced.

Thanks 🙏

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Updates from Corporate Rebels HQ

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

• We have won the Tony Hsieh Award 😍. Our private equity impact company, Krisos, has been announced as winner at the TED Conference in Vancouver last week. Krisos co-founder Dunia Reverter picked up the award and ran a session at TED on bossless organizations.
• Our recent webinar on the radical transformation of the company we acquired last year was a big success. We shared how we organize the 7 self-managing teams, create full financial transparency, and what the new salary model looks like. Watch the full recording here.
• This starts to feel like a broken record, albeit a positive one: We’ve added new Rebel Cells to the growing global network of pioneering organizations. Lithuania and Poland, welcome to the community. Want to join any of the Rebel Cells, or set one up yourself? Learn how it works here.
• Our membership community is growing quicker than ever before. We’re now at 1,204 members and counting. It’s great to see the positive vibe, eagerness to share and learn, and excitement for better ways of working within the passionate community. Become a member too, here’s what you get.
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New article

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

• Animated Video: Balancing Freedom and Alignment in Self-Managing Organizations ​
  Within self-managing organizations, there's always the tension between the excitement of freedom and the necessity of alignment. Without managers to foster alignment (read: suppress freedom), it's important to find a way to get the best of both. Successful self-managing organizations have a solution for this, and it has to do with an 'operating rhythm'. We’ve made an animated video to explain how it works. Check it out here.
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What inspired us

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

• Intellibus: Running a company with a no-boss culture
  ​Last week at the TED Conference in Vancouver, Dunia connected with Intellibus founder Aditya Watal. He shared how his company, Intellibus, has what he calls a no-boss culture. There’s a powerful animated video that explains how Intellibus works. Watch it here.

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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....

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Cheers,

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