RICARDO SEMLER’S INTERESTING LECTURE AT MIT
Posted by: Brian Webb | Tuesday, October 30th, 2007 | 10:40 PM
Checkout these excerpts from Ricardo Semler’s lecture at MIT. You can catch more of this on the 37 Signals blog. TIME Magazine featured Ricardo Semler among its Global 100 young leaders profile series published in 1994 while the World Economic Forum also nominated him. The Wall Street Journal America Economia, the Wall Street Journal’s Latin American magazine, named him Latin American “Businessman of the Year” in 1990 and he was named Brazilian “Businessman of the Year” in 1990 and 1992.
MOST BUSINESS PLANS ARE WISHFUL THINKING
A 5 year plan is just an extrapolation added to wishful thinking. Have you ever seen a business plan that says, “I’m going to go up 5% and then down -14% and then -22% and then I’m going to recuperate a little bit and then it’s going to go to hell?” ‘Cuz that’s what happens. That’s how it looks in practice, but that’s not the way we design it. We’re willing to trick ourselves into thinking we have control as long as we do it with wishful thinking.
COMPANY GROWTH IS OVERRATED
The assumption that growth is good for companies is a very difficult one to sustain. There is no evidence whatsoever that companies that grow a lot do better than companies that don’t grow a lot.
ADMIT WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW
We don’t know where we’re going, but we’d rather not pretend that we do. Because we think pretending is a lot more dangerous than admitting that we don’t…Talking about specific numbers more than six months out is improbable. Think about the future but don’t write it down. If you write it down, you have to follow it.
MAKE MEETINGS VOLUNTARY
All our meetings are on a voluntary basis. Because if it’s getting boring, go…If no one’s left, do we really need to do this?
MOST HIRING IS LIKE INTERNET DATING
On hiring, the typical process of recruitment and selection in a company is basically an internet dating process. You say your company is Brad Pitt and she says she’s Angelina Jolie and you go and meet at a bar…You get together for two quick meetings and then you decide to get married and hope it work. Instead, we take qualified candidates, the ten that fit the bill, and ask them to come in together. Then we have whoever wants to be involved interview these people. This will go for hours. Then “the interviewers” write down the two people who they want to keep. The two who score highest come back and spend the whole day here and talk to anyone they want…The result is less than 2% year turnover.
DO NOTHING SOMETIMES
Sometimes doing absolutely nothing, even about a critical decision, will end up bringing you through a solution. The idea that we alone can be trained to “know the answer” is a very dangerous rational.
WE NEED MORE DEMOCRATIC WORKPLACES
We will send our sons anywhere in the world to die for democracy…but I’ve never seen a democratic workplace. So it’s very important for our lives except where we spend 60% of our time. There must be something wrong with that.
