Rating: 
Summary: This book should be a "MUST" to all managers !
Review: After reading an innovating book like this one, I felt ready to re-organize the company I am working in. An incredibly motivating book that makes you think about the fundamentals of your company. I will buy this book for my boss !!
Rating:
Summary: Semler's model uniquely respects human emotional needs
Review: As a management consultant I found this book very useful indeed - much of it is directly applicable to shop-floor and pressure-politics situations - the 20-page cartoon "rulebook" at the end is more than worth the price of the book itself - buy it! And if you have the guts, apply what it says, too: It's been known for some time that organizations are designed according to "command and control" principles that very poorly match how humans are really built to behave. More complex self-ordering behavior is always observed when any lack of hierarchy exists, and the hierarchies that do emerge tend to be more effective than those that were designed by managers with experience in previous eras. Semler just chose to trust it more than, say, Tom Peters. Prof. Nicholson, head of London Business School recently wrote (in the Harvard Business Review) that Semler's model was the only one to really respect "stone age nature" of human behavior (the many insights from evolutionary psychology that tell us that we're far more often feeling our way through decisions than thinking our way through).Workplace democracy is not an "experiment" nor a threat to productivity, it's a working fact in a hundred mature industries in a dozen countries - we have applied Semler's principles to systems integration, software development, finance, etc., and his experience is well worth spending a few hours on.
Rating:
Summary: Semler's model uniquely respects human emotional needs
Review: As a management consultant I found this book very useful indeed - much of it is directly applicable to shop-floor and pressure-politics situations - the 20-page cartoon "rulebook" at the end is more than worth the price of the book itself - buy it! And if you have the guts, apply what it says, too: It's been known for some time that organizations are designed according to "command and control" principles that very poorly match how humans are really built to behave. More complex self-ordering behavior is always observed when any lack of hierarchy exists, and the hierarchies that do emerge tend to be more effective than those that were designed by managers with experience in previous eras. Semler just chose to trust it more than, say, Tom Peters. Prof. Nicholson, head of London Business School recently wrote (in the Harvard Business Review) that Semler's model was the only one to really respect "stone age nature" of human behavior (the many insights from evolutionary psychology that tell us that we're far more often feeling our way through decisions than thinking our way through). Workplace democracy is not an "experiment" nor a threat to productivity, it's a working fact in a hundred mature industries in a dozen countries - we have applied Semler's principles to systems integration, software development, finance, etc., and his experience is well worth spending a few hours on.
Rating:
Summary: THE must-read for running an innovative buisiness.
Review: Excellent tactics for motivating employees using radical tactics
I was introduced to Semler in my Cornell's MBA Program; best of the
the reading I did in that program regarding how to motivate employees
and how to manage efficiently.
Rating:
Summary: Maverick - Ricardo Semler
Review: From 1992 to 1994, I suffered much to work under a rigid framework of Japanese multinationl. It is this book that change my life. End September 1994, I found out Semler's book in a book store in Tokyo, and I am intuitively sure that it should work. Then,I was assigned to work in Ivory Coast in West Africa. I decided to experiment his model in Africa to see whether his method works. Result. It really works! I delegated all the power to decision making to the staffs who is closest to the environment. Thus, the problem of alignment was easily solved. Not only the organization start working effectively without my hard efforts, but also the motivation of all the staffs skyrocketed. Even some of the staffs who could not read and write, decided to go to school to learn read and write (it is a history in Africa). These staffs also became a proactive staffs by talking on behalf of the language of the organization. The key message of Semler is to freeing everybody from the traditional management by rigid control associated with extrinsic reward system to self control with self ethical value associated with intrinsic reward. In this way he succeeded to skyrocket the motivation of staffs and let them work to search the right direction. Thus, the company could encourage the staffs to continously adapt to the perpertually changing environment. It is an excellent fieldbook to transform a mechanistic organization to an organic and learning organization, which is the key of the success in today's business environment.
Rating:
Summary: An incredibly generous source of company wisdom
Review: I am about to change our company from a family business to a larger concern and was searching for ways to establish the company so that all of our employees could be empowered. This book is just the ticket. It provides so much information about what worked and what did not work for Ricardo Semler that I am sure that I will be able to copy many of the strategies. Being able to learn from their mistakes and successes is such a gift. I cannot thank Ricardo enough. This book is just brilliant. Anybody who cares about his or her business must read this.
Rating:
Summary: The Style & the Web
Review: I am currently developing a new way of reintermediation of travel & travel related services. Many of the new features are based on the ideas of Ricardo Semmler. It's interesting to see how internet technology can help to implement change, provided non-cybernatic lifeforms have the correct insight. I bought a second wastepaper basket, cleaning up our offices, and than did the same thing on our computer system, and now... to be contined...
Rating:
Summary: wonderful humanistic approach to business...
Review: I have only reached half-way through this book but am writing this in case I forget later. I have read a few business books and few have touched me as much as Semler's open and somewhat naive style. I am building/managing multiple businesses and this book gives me the guidance to handle people in the right way for effective results. Read the other reviews - nuff said.
Rating:
Summary: A MUST READ & PRACTICE FOR CEO's
Review: i read this book & gave to the CEO of our Company, who, fortunately agreed with the philosophy & attempted to implement the same, with remarkable success. If all CEO's implement at least 5% of the philosophy explained by Semler, the workplace would be a transformed home, with high energy levels at work! Internal talents would no longer be wasted, buzzwords of management gurus would be meaningless! May the maverick tribe increase in the world.
Rating: 
Summary: In addition to this book
Review: I recommend the new book from Ricardo Semler, just released in Europe, called The Seven-day weekend. ISBN 0712677909 Hardcover, 288 pages. The other title Maverick sold 1.1 million copies worldwide imagine this one!
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