Ricardo Semler: A Revolutionary Model of Leadership

The case follows the story of Brazilian business leader, Ricardo Semler, who took the family marine-pump business, Semco, to multi-national, multi-sector success. To do so, Ricardo Semler dramatically changed his own leadership style by relinquishing control and working less hard, and subsequently transformed the culture at Semco via a radical process of workplace democratisation. Finally, he applied the same leadership principles successfully to other industries: hotels, education, and banking.

Highlight the effects of different leadership styles in different situations; the organizational consequences of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and different types incentive systems; the self-fulfilling effects of leadership behavior; and how leaders can use the change process to transform an organisation's culture