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Zero Bosses: Distributed Leadership at Scale
Summary
Find out how the company behind Gore-Tex succeeds with 12,000 employees but no traditional hierarchy, no job titles, and no bosses.
At W.L. Gore & Associates, 12,000 employees have thrived under a boss-free system for 67 years. In this course, CEO Bret Snyder shares insights on a distributed leadership model that challenges traditional organizational views. Gore’s approach involves transparency by making all project data accessible, allowing teams to kill underperforming projects. They enforce a "no jerks" rule, ensuring leadership is guided by influence and positivity. Snyder advises evaluating employees based on their holistic contribution to the company's success, reinforcing an ownership mindset by calling them associates. The "waterline principle" encourages experimentation and leads to peer consultation instead of manager approval. To foster leadership, Snyder advocates: leading with humility, respecting everyone, and knowing what success looks like. This course was created by MIT Sloan Management Review. We are pleased to host this training in our library.