Why Are We Free Everywhere But Work?

We live in an age where freedoms are protected, where all men are created equal.

And yet, the moment we walk into work, we become slaves. We look to our masters to tell us what to do, we hold our hands out and hope that they’ll feed us just a little bit more, and we long for them to show us the smallest of kindness with “You did a good job today”.

Why do we accept that?

It actually sounds a bit crazy, like saying women can’t do the same jobs as men or that dentists should have their own schools (They do have their own schools. They’re dentists, Kramer). If that was a political system, we would revolt. The history books are full of examples. But here we are, in 2012, in the middle of a self-inflicted slavery that no one seems to notice.

We work at jobs we hate to buy things we don’t need to impress people we don’t love.

It’s the lie that the Jones’s have been spinning for decades, and we need to break free from the tornado so we can walk down the yellow brick road our lives were meant to follow.

The million dollar question remains; how do we create a revolution without upsetting the delicate balance of simply getting a paycheck? How do we reconcile pursuing our dreams with the need to survive?

As Bucky Fuller said,

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”

We might just have the beginnings of an answer, but I warn you, it’s going to seem a little foreign at first…

Company Identity, Not Self

No titles, no egos, no hierarchies
It’s not the person who made the work that matters, it’s the organization
No secrets, once you’re in, it means we trust you wholly so there will be absolutely no closed-door conversations

Equal Ownership & Pay

We’re all created equal, it’s time to start paying like it
There is only one, very important question that needs to be answered: is the value that the person you’re about to hire greater than the dilution caused by giving up part of everyone’s ownership and the business’ cash? If yes, then hire. If no, then not.

Imagine how much better Apple’s products would be if every non-retail employee owned an equal share of the company and how much more Apple would be worth

If you’ve created a culture based on selfless performance and not greed, then it’s a very easy decision
Keep the internal team as small as humanly possible, find ways to work smarter, not harder.

Patience for Quality

Quality matters, not speed, we have our entire lives, 50 years at least, why is everyone rushing?
You’ll never have to go back to work on it again or fix something that wasn’t done right in the first place (iPhone’s operating system design or slide to unlock)
See “Jiro Dreams of Sushi” for a real-life example

Organic R&D

Let things develop naturally, if you’re trying to force it, people probably aren’t excited about working on it or buying it, so all you’re really doing is forcing failure
Future projects should be “voted” on by the excitement of the people in the group and a manager should be selected for only that project by the same group
See Valve (who made the Half Life franchise) for a real-life example

In-source Strategy, Outsource Execution

Designed by Apple in California, Manufactured in China
The strategy and the execution blueprint should never be done by someone outside the company
The implementation should always be done outside the company and be managed by an internal person so the external vendors adhere to extreme precision and efficiency

If time and care were put into the blueprint correctly up front, then speed without error should not be a problem
See Seth Godin’s Squidoo a real-life example

Triangular Teams

Each person has expertise in multiple areas, but extreme depth in 1 where he/she is the trusted expert
3 people per team, each with overlapping expertise but depth in different areas (e.g., “I’m good at design, but she’s by far the expert.”)
Then overlap that team onto another triangular team
There should never be more than 1 person with deep expertise in that one area where the person focuses their attention (there is no room for debate with their experienced gut, but you have to find that right person up front)