7 Day Weekend
Quick book recommendation: 7 Day Weekend, by Ricardo Semler. When Ricardo Semler inherited the family business at 18 he spent the first day sacking the entire senior management team, and empowering workers to fire the middle tier of management. He is one of the most progressive, and radical business thinkers of our time. 7 Day Weekend outlines his basic business philosophies, which could be summarised as happy workers, are productive workers.
Semler makes the point that in the age of blackberries, webmail, and sms, we’re always engaging with business issues. But if we do our emails on Sunday night for a couple of hours, do we take a couple of hours off for a nice long lunch? Semler isn’t some pontificating academic, he’s tried his ideas out in Semco, which has turned from a small Brazillian family-run business into a sprawling multi-national.
Semler’s rules for Management Without Control
“Forget about the top line.
Never stop being a start-up.
Don’t be a nanny.
Let talent find its place.
Make decisions quickly and openly.
Partner promiscuously.”
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