ABOUT US
Ricardo Semler and his company Semco gained international recognition for the ground-breaking alternative approach to management and organization they embodied. The Semco Style Institute (SSI), which was built upon this strong foundation, began operations in May 2016 in the Netherlands.
Today, SSI is active in more than 30 countries and actively supports multiple organizations that range from fast-growing small-to-mid-sized enterprises to multinational corporate companies.
Explore the possibilities to join our rapidly growing community here.
HOW IS ALL STARTED
The Semco Style philosophy has its origins in the 80s, when a 21-year-old Ricardo Semler took over the Semco Group, a mixer and agitator manufacturer in Brazil, from his father. On his first day, he fired 60 percent of all top managers and he continued to democratize the company, turning the old corporate hierarchy on its head. He did that by delegating as much decision-making power to the workforce as possible and, over the next two decades, he grew the company from 90 to 5000 employees. More impressively, he raised the company’s annual revenue from $4 million to $212 million, with the company growing at an average rate of 47 percent. Semco also achieved a phenomenally low employee turnover rate of just 2 percent under Ricardo Semler’s leadership.
Read more about Ricardo Semler and the origin of the Semco Style Institute.
HOW IT ALL STARTED
The Semco Style philosophy has its origins in the 80s, when a 21-year-old Ricardo Semler took over the Semco Group, a mixer and agitator manufacturer in Brazil, from his father. On his first day, he fired 60 percent of all top managers and he continued to democratize the company, turning the old corporate hierarchy on its head. He did that by delegating as much decision-making power to the workforce as possible and, over the next two decades, he grew the company from 90 to 5000 employees. More impressively, he raised the company’s annual revenue from $4 million to $212 million, with the company growing at an average rate of 47 percent. Semco also achieved a phenomenally low employee turnover rate of just 2 percent under Ricardo Semler’s leadership.
Read more about Ricardo Semler and the origin of the Semco Style Institute.
OUR MISSION
It is our mission to shape the future of work and we do so by helping organizations achieve more impact and better performance, with employees who are happier and more engaged.
WHY
We believe that the way most companies work is obsolete, and that work can be done in a way that’s better for the people involved – whether they’re clients or employees. There’s no denying that people-centric organizations are the future of work. And, we’re spearheading that transformation as we speak.
HOW
We bust bureaucracy and promote performance by organizing around trust and engagement. We center management around small, multidisciplinary teams and focus less on hierarchy and processes.
WHAT
We offer training, practices & tools, coaching, expert consultation and immersive events, delivered via various channels ranging from one-on-one sessions, to a completely online learning path.
OUR METHODOLOGY
Unlike other management styles, the Semco Style wasn’t built from theory to practice. Instead, it’s the other way around, going from practice to theory. It’s not a static methodology, but a live framework that gets updated with new practices and practical examples. Today, it contains rich examples from companies around the world. Semco Style Institute is active in more than 30 countries, and the plan is to keep growing and collecting more intercultural examples of people-centric practices.
As with any management style, the current context of your company plays a huge role in deciding how you adopt the Semco Style framework. The key to bringing out a lasting change in your management isn’t replicating an existing approach. Instead, you need to customize these best practices to derive solutions that fit your organization’s singular needs.
Maverick Ricardo Semler’s 40-year experience, and the Semco Style network, lay a solid foundation for proven success that draws from effective organizational transformations worldwide. The Semco Style methodology is all about adding your own recipe to the world’s best management cookbook. Our two favorite ingredients are:
Semco Style Framework
Five pivotal principles, 15 pillars, and 100+ practices that will guide you toward a clear view of your own ideal of self-organization.
Semco Style Roadmap
The answers to the two most commonly asked questions “Where do I begin?” and “what comes next?” is our roadmap created to help you pave your own way to self-management.
OUR TEAM
Semco Style Institute is active across the globe. This is the Global Team that works daily to support our partners and experts, expand the community, and deliver new content to Shape the Future of Work! You can find the entire community here.
Ricardo Semler
Farouk el Kodady
Arko van Brakel
Daphne van Beek
Christiaan Grové
Nick Sijmens
Kaiz A. Llamanzares
Amar Rambocus
Cortex
CULTURE CODE
We believe in ‘living our own philosophy’ and want to have an impact, consistently improve performance, and have happy, engaged colleagues ourselves. As a hybrid team and organization, we value the importance of aligning between all our partners, team members, and external relations.