Two decades after transforming a struggling equipment supplier into a radically democratic and resilient (and successful) company, Ricardo Semler wants organizations to become wise.

Why you should listen

After assuming control of Semler & Company (Semco) from his father in 1980, Brazil's Ricardo Semler began a decades-long quest to create an organization that could function without him, by studying and then implementing what could best be called "corporate democracy", allowing employees to design their own jobs, select their supervisors, and define pay levels. He has then applied the same principles to education, banking and hospitality. All with very good results.

He's now promoting the idea of designing organizations -- companies, schools, NGOs -- for wisdom. With a question as a starting point: If we were to start from scratch, would we design organization X the way we have done it?

What others say

“Business plans are just wishful thinking. Have you ever seen one that says, 'I’m going to go up 5% and then down -14%'? Because that's what happens in practice.” —

Ricardo Semler’s TED talk

More news and ideas from Ricardo Semler

Live from TEDGlobal

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Live from TEDGlobal

Lateral Action: A sneak peek of session 10 at TEDGlobal 2014

October 9, 2014

Real solutions can emerge from places surprisingly adjacent to the problems they address. This session examines how progress — from villages to urban spaces, from the artist’s studio to the corporate world — can be found by taking a step to the side. The speakers who’ll appear in this session: Khalida Brohi found an unexpected way to fight […]

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