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Quote by Ricardo Semler

“We could write a completely new manual incorporating all our new policies and spelling out the emerging philosophy behind them. Or we could do away with the old manual and not just replace it. That way we would force people to make decisions based on common sense…We tried to write new rules. We really did. But at every turn we found ourselves wading into a swamp of minutiae.”

Quote by Ricardo Semler

Book:Maverick: The Success Story Behind the World's Most Unusual Workplace
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Maverick: The Success Story Behind the World's Most Unusual Workplace

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Author

Ricardo Semler
Ricardo Semler

Ricardo Semler (born 1959) is a Brazilian businessman, author, and renowned management innovator. As former CEO of Semco, a Brazilian conglomerate, he became famous for his radical approach to workplace democracy and employee empowerment. His book "Maverick!" (1993) became a global bestseller, documenting his unconventional management philosophy. Semler is recognized worldwide as a pioneer in transforming traditional corporate culture through practices like flexible work hours, employee-elected managers, and open-book management. more

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“Over the next three or four months we simply collected all our procedures manuals…People would ask us from time to time when the new manuals would be ready. Eventually, some began to suspect that an update wasn’t going to appear and asked us why. Only then did we say aloud what we had been thinking: that we were trading written rules for common sense. And that is the system we have today, which is barely a system at all.”

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