Ricardo Semler quotes

A high percentage of organisations develop a military rationale, whereby only a very small number of people make all of the decisions. There is little wonder, then, that people aren't keen to get out of bed and come to work on a Monday morning. (Ricardo Semler)

The key to getting work done on time is to stop wearing a watch.

Ricardo Semler

People are responsible adults at home. Why do we suddenly transform them into adolescents with no freedom when they reach the workplace?

Ricardo Semler

In life, we do not give employees enough leeway. If you look around Semco's office, there are plenty of empty desks. The question is - where are these people? I do not have the slightest idea, but I am not interested.

Ricardo Semler

Growth and profit are a product of how people work together.

Ricardo Semler

The purpose of work is not to make money. The purpose of work is to make the workers, whether working stiffs or top executives, feel good about life.

Ricardo Semler

The best way to invest corporate profits is to give them to the employees.

Ricardo Semler

Once employees feel challenged, invigorated and productive, their efforts will naturally translate into profit and growth for the organisation.

Ricardo Semler

People are too keen to follow standard preconceptions of how organisations should work. All too often, we feel that we are unable to make changes and so hope that someone, somewhere in your organisation knows what we are doing and what the overall aim is.

Ricardo Semler

No-one works for money alone and tapping into what people want from their careers and what they have to offer is essential.

Ricardo Semler

The key to management is to get rid of the managers. (Ricardo Semler)

I once worked it out - after $12 million, all millionaires are the same. That's because we're all humans, confined to human scale. How many homes can you live in? How many meals can you eat? You can have a living room the size of a cathedral, but you won't live in it. It's too big.

Ricardo Semler

The purpose of work is to make the worker - whether a working stiff or a CEO - feel good about life.

Ricardo Semler

One, the people in charge wanting to give up control. This tends to eliminate some 80 percent of businesspeople. Two, a profound belief that humankind will work toward its best version, given freedom; that would eliminate the other 20 percent.

Ricardo Semler

Ways to combat stress, such as playing golf before a conference call or taking a break on the beach during inventory, are essential.

Ricardo Semler

Instead of constantly talking about motivation, organizations should ensure that employees are occasionally delighted.

Ricardo Semler

Everyone has a ‘reservoir of talent'. Intuition, interests and skills form the foundation of talents. These talents are indicators of your calling. The best way to ensure long-term job satisfaction is to act on that calling.

Ricardo Semler

The opposite of work is idleness. But very few of us know what to do with idleness. When you look at the way that we distribute our lives in general, you realize that in the periods in which we have a lot of money, we have very little time. And then when we finally have time, we have neither the money nor the health.

Ricardo Semler

Companies think that they are modern because they have painted their walls in a bright colour or they allow people to bring their dogs to work. This is silly and millennial-washing. The idea is to bring in the mature generation and get them to mentor the co-work with the younger generation from a distance.

Ricardo Semler

And so, what we've done all of these years is very simple, is use the little tool, which is ask three whys in a row. Because the first why you always have a good answer for. The second why, it starts getting difficult. By the third why, you don't really know why you're doing what you're doing.

Ricardo Semler

I believe the old way of doing business is dying, and the sooner it's dead and buried the better off we all will be. (Ricardo Semler)

If you look at any kind of modern organization and you think, 'What are the foremost tools of power?' You will find that it is information.

Ricardo Semler

Bill Gore from Goretex was a very strong influence because he was one of the first larger companies to experiment with freedom in the workplace.

Ricardo Semler

One of the things that is very silly - and I hear from educators all the time - is that schools essentially teach kids to learn. They don't need school for that. Learning is what they do best.

Ricardo Semler

If we do not let people do things the way they do, we will never know what they are really capable of and they will just follow our boarding school rules.

Ricardo Semler