Hi Reader,

Every so often, we uncover a truly pioneering workplace story that captivates and inspires. This month, I encountered another such gem. Let me give you a snapshot that’s sure to blow your mind.

In the heart of Brazil, a family-owned waste management company with over 1,000 employees—mostly essential workers—has successfully transformed into a self-managing organization over the past decade, delivering outstanding business results.

This realization hit home earlier this month during a long and enlightening conversation I had with Rodrigo Ventre, CEO of EPPO, a Brazilian waste company, and Talita Agudinho, the company’s HR leader. Rodrigo’s story brought to mind the legendary Ricardo Semler, another management pioneer from Brazil.

Like Semler, Rodrigo took over his family’s business with a mission to make it the best place to work. His father, José Carlos Ventre, founded EPPO in 1995, a waste management service provider based in Itu, São Paulo. Today, EPPO’s 1,000 employees handle waste collection, street cleaning, and driving waste trucks across multiple cities.

Meet Rodrigo Ventre

Rodrigo, the eldest son of EPPO’s founder, grew up steeped in the teachings of Rudolf Steiner, the philosopher behind Waldorf schools and Anthroposophy. These principles would later become central to his leadership approach.

Before joining EPPO, Rodrigo pursued his own path. With a passion for autonomy, he studied civil engineering but spent much of his time exploring philosophy. At 24, Rodrigo founded Economia Viva, a consultancy aimed at helping people and businesses create healthier relationships with money and purpose.

After nearly a decade as a successful consultant, Rodrigo was invited by his parents to bring his expertise to EPPO in 2013. Although he had never planned to work in the family business, he saw it as a golden opportunity to apply his humanistic management ideas.

Over a decade of transformation

Starting as Director of Finance and Development, Rodrigo became EPPO’s CEO in 2015. His mission was clear: transform EPPO into a prosperous, humanized, and purpose-driven company. However, the organization was steeped in hierarchy and bureaucracy. Rodrigo’s vision, inspired by Frederic Laloux’s Reinventing Organizations and Steiner’s philosophy, was to create a more human-centered, self-managing company.

Drawing from Steiner’s concept of the Threefold Social Order, which advocates freedom, equality, and mutual cooperation across cultural, political, and economic spheres, Rodrigo implemented these principles to reshape EPPO’s organizational structure. Rodrigo has translated these ideas into a modern business strategy that showcases how a self-managing organization can thrive in the 21st century.

1. Freedom: Self-development as the foundation of organizational growth

Rodrigo believes that an organization is only as strong as its people, and self-development is essential for both individual and organizational growth. He is committed to fostering a workplace where employees are empowered to become the best versions of themselves. According to Rodrigo, personal self-development is the cornerstone of a successful self-managing organization.

EPPO invests heavily in personal development programs, creating space for employees to grow. Here are three examples of the many initiatives:

• Self-Leader: Over 60% of EPPO’s employees have participated in this life-reflection program, impacting more than 850 individuals.
• SemeArt: A theater group where employees share their personal stories. This initiative has involved over 200 employees and reached an audience of more than 10,000 people.
• EPPONOMY: A financial education program that has helped over 160 families improve their financial literacy.

2. Equality: Self-management as the governance model

Inspired by Laloux’s work, EPPO has adopted a self-management model using the Organic Organizations (O2) system developed by Target Teal, drawing from Holacracy and Sociocracy. This transition from a hierarchical structure to a flat, decentralized organization has empowered employees to manage their own work and make decisions by consent.

In EPPO’s self-managing environment, employees operate in circles, ensuring that everyone has equal rights, responsibilities, and a voice in decision-making. Contrary to what some might expect, the O2 model has brought clarity, structure, and discipline, resulting in more processes and transparency. Simultaneously, EPPO has become more agile, able to adapt quickly to changes.

3. Mutual Cooperation: Business that benefits everyone

While many businesses focus solely on maximizing shareholder profits, Rodrigo champions a business model that benefits all stakeholders, from employees to suppliers to the wider community. He believes that true economic success should generate profitability and prosperity for the entire value chain.

EPPO’s results speak for themselves. The numbers below highlight the impact of Rodrigo’s humanized management model. Over the last 5 year:

💲 Revenue has more than doubled (from 92M to 187M R$).

💲 Operating margin increased from 30% to 43%.

💲 Net margin grew from 3% to 20%.

💲 Central administration costs as a percentage of revenue dropped significantly, from 93 to 55 people.

💲 Turnover rate halved from 4.5% to 3.2%.

🥇 For six consecutive years, EPPO has been certified for Quality in Organizational Climate, with a 92% satisfaction rate among employees.

Conclusion

EPPO’s transformation offers a blueprint for creating workplaces that are not only more enjoyable but also more resilient and successful. The company shows that when individuals grow, the organization thrives; when equality prevails, flexibility and agility follow; and when prosperity is shared, the business flourishes.

That’s more than enough inspiration for now, but stay tuned—there’s plenty more to share about EPPO in the future.

Updates from Corporate Rebels HQ

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

• Last week, a group of my colleagues participated in the two-day Tuff Leadership Training in Amsterdam. It was an insightful experience, filled with learning and reflections. We recently began collaborating with Tuff to co-create an exciting new masterclass for our membership program. I’m personally thrilled about this partnership, as it promises to be an important and impactful training program for members of self-managing organizations. Stay tuned for more details soon!
• Other colleagues attended Haier’s ZeroDX Awards 2024, where we were honored to receive the "ZeroDX Pioneer" award—an exciting recognition, of course. This three-day event provided us with valuable insights, not just from Haier, but also from the many workplace pioneers from around the globe who attended.
• We’re currently gathering input for themes and content for our membership platform in the coming year. If you have any ideas for relevant topics or content related to the challenges and opportunities of running, scaling, transforming to, or working in self-managing organizations, feel free to drop me a line below!

New article

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

• The Anatomy of a Self-Managing Organization: Why Networks Trump Hierarchies ​
  In this article Pim highlights why self-managing organizations, structured like networks rather than traditional hierarchies, are more adaptable and innovative. By empowering small, autonomous teams and encouraging cross-team collaboration, these organizations foster flexibility and quicker decision-making. Read more here.

What inspired us

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

• Zeros For Heroes: New Awards for Organizational Innovation
  ​Bill Fischer is one of my inspirations. In this article, he discusses the inaugural ZeroDX Awards, which honored the concept of zero-distance thinking. The ceremony took place last week at Haier's headquarters in Qingdao, China, with my colleagues Emma and Svetla in attendance (as I shared above). Read more here.

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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