Building an Innovation Democracy: No Bosses, but Plenty of Leaders
Walk around the halls at Gore, or sit in on meetings, and you won’t hear anyone use words like “boss,” “executive,” “manager,” or “vice president.” These terms are so contrary to Gore’s egalitarian ideals that they are effectively banned from conversation. Although there are no ranks or titles at Gore, some associates have earned the simple appellation “leader.” At Gore, senior leaders do not appoint junior leaders. Continue to read Building an Innovation Democracy: No Bosses, but Plenty of Leaders to learn how leaders are selected at Gore.
Continue to read Building an Innovation Democracy: No Bosses, but Plenty of LeadersBuilding an Innovation Democracy: A Lattice, Not a Hierarchy
At first glance, Gore seems to bear some of the same structural trappings of other big organizations. There’s a CEO, Terri Kelly,who earned a degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Delaware and has spent her entire 23-year career at Gore. There are four major divisions, a broad array of product-focused business units, and the usual gamut of companywide support functions. Each of these organizations has a recognized leader at the helm. Continue to read Building an Innovation Democracy: A Lattice, Not a Hierarchy
Continue to read Building an Innovation Democracy: A Lattice, Not a HierarchyBill Gore: Management Innovator
This was the challenge that faced Wilbert (”Bill”) L. Gore in 1958 when, after a 17-year career, he left DuPont to strike out on his own. Gore dreamed of building a company devoted to innovation, a company where imagination and initiative would flourish, where chronically curious engineers would be free to invent, invest, and succeed. Over the next several decades, Gore’s vision took shape in the form of W.L. Gore & Associates, a company built around a set of management principles diametrically opposed CO much of modern business orthodoxy. Bill’s legacy is an organization that today generates $2.1 billion in annual sales and employs more than 8,000 employees in 45 planes around the world.
Continue to read Bill Gore: Management InnovatorManagement Whole Foods Style
Imagine if every new hire had to win a two-thirds yes vote from employees before being permitted to join the staff permanently. And imagine if a list of everyone’s pay was posted publicly, with names attached. Those are just two of the distinctive elements at Whole Foods, management ideas born back in the 1980s when CEO John Mackey and his colleagues were looking to scale up the work culture of the corner health-food store. Japanese management ideas were in vogue back then, and Japanese principles of team-based management are infused throughout Whole Foods’ structure.
Continue to read Management Whole Foods StyleThe Makings of Whole Foods: Be your own toughest competitor
All-for-one” doesn’t imply complacency. Whole Foods is serious about accountability — far more serious than lots of tough-talking companies with less humane values. Teams are expected to set ambitious targets and achieve them. But accountability does not imply bureaucratic oversight. At Whole Foods, pressure for performance comes from peers rather than from headquarters, and it comes in the form of internal competition.
Continue to read The Makings of Whole Foods: Be your own toughest competitor