The 21-Year-Old CEO Who Let Workers Run the Company

On his very first day as CEO, 21-year-old Ricardo Semler walked into Semco's headquarters in São Paulo and fired sixty percent of the company's top managers. It was 1980, and most people thought he'd lost his mind.

His father Antonio had built Semco into a respectable manufacturing company, but Ricardo saw a workplace strangled by hierarchy and bureaucracy. His solution? Blow it all up.

The Semco Experiment

What Semler implemented wasn't just unconventional—it was borderline anarchic by corporate standards. He eliminated job titles. Got rid of personal assistants. Removed executive parking spaces. Then came the truly radical changes:

• Employees set their own salaries—and they were published for everyone to see
• Workers chose their own hours—some didn't show up until noon
• Teams hired and fired their own managers—through democratic vote
• Financial books were completely open—every employee could see everything

Semler called it "industrial democracy." Critics called it corporate suicide.

The Numbers Don't Lie

Except it worked. Spectacularly.

When Semler took over, Semco had 90 employees and $4 million in annual revenue. By 2003, the company employed over 5,000 people and generated more than $200 million annually. That's an average growth rate of 40-47% per year for two decades.

Perhaps more remarkably, Semco maintained an employee turnover rate of just 2%—in an era when most companies considered 15-20% acceptable. People didn't want to leave a place where they were treated like adults.

The Philosophy Behind the Madness

Semler's approach was built on a simple premise: adults don't need to be managed like children. "If we don't trust people with the little things," he argued, "why would we trust them with the big things?"

The company diversified wildly under employee-driven decision making. Semco moved from industrial pumps into real estate, environmental services, and high-tech mixing equipment. Workers identified opportunities management never would have seen.

Meetings became optional. If you weren't getting value from a meeting, you left. Simple as that. This single rule eliminated countless hours of corporate theater.

Recognition and Legacy

The business world took notice. Semler was named Brazilian Businessman of the Year twice, in 1990 and 1992. The World Economic Forum recognized him as a Global Leader of Tomorrow. The BBC featured Semco in a documentary series on revolutionary business practices.

His 1993 book Maverick became an international bestseller, and companies worldwide began attempting to implement "Semco-style" management—with varying degrees of success.

Today, Semler has stepped back from daily operations, and Semco has evolved into a partnership structure. But the experiment he started as a brash 21-year-old proved something important: treating employees like owners doesn't destroy companies. It builds them.