Our new release talks about leadership using the SERVE model. It’s a pretty solid and tested approach (with over 700,000 copies sold, so it has some staying power). But this got us thinking: are there other leadership models that are not just different, but downright counterintuitive and even a little “out there,” yet still seem to work and serve their people?
Turns out there are, and here are five of our favorites:
1. No Managers!
The Morning Star Tomato Company, which has been in operation for more than fifty-five years, has a unique approach to leadership: no managers. None.
Instead, employees write "Colleague Letters of Understanding" with one another. People negotiate responsibilities directly, and there is no formal chain of command. If a maintenance engineer wants a new $500,000 piece of equipment, they don't seek approval from a boss. They must persuade colleagues affected by the decision and secure agreement from relevant stakeholders.
What Happened? Many management experts predicted anarchy. Instead, the company became a major industry leader. It appears that people being accountable for themselves, rather than pushing responsibility onto managers, was a winning concept.
2. Employees Set Their Own Salaries.
At Semco Partners, employees help determine their own compensation. Under Ricardo Semler, employees were given access to financial information and salary data and were granted substantial influence over pay decisions.
Semler encouraged employees to review market salary data and participate in compensation decisions for themselves. The transparency throughout the organization, combined with the value placed on individual judgment, proved invaluable.
What Happened? The assumption was that everyone would automatically want to double—or more—their salary. That didn't happen because employees knew excessive pay demands would be visible and would affect their colleagues. Instead, they focused on fairness and compensation in accordance with contribution, shared values, and a measure of equality.
3. Stop Asking Permission.
David Marquet assumed command of the submarine USS Santa Fe. When Marquet took command, he discovered that sailors had been trained to wait for instructions. He felt that this undermined autonomy.
So, instead of saying, "Request permission to submerge," sailors were taught to say, "I intend to submerge." The officer could then challenge assumptions if necessary. The result was that accountability extended beyond traditional command-and-control practices. Responsibility shifted downward.
What Happened? The USS Santa Fe went from one of the worst-performing submarines in the fleet to one of the best, while producing an unusually large number of future commanders.
4. Show Everyone the Numbers—and Teach Them How to Read Them
Springfield Remanufacturing Corporation, which has been in business for more than forty-two years, practices something most companies do the opposite of. Instead of guarding financial information, the organization shares it with all employees.
Actually, they do more than that: they conduct classes to teach employees how to read financial statements. Employees learn about revenues, margins, debt levels, inventory costs, and cash flow. Workers are trained to make decisions based on business realities rather than management directives.
What Happened? The organization continues to thrive. The founders have repeatedly emphasized that if people are expected to act like owners, they need owner-level information and an understanding of how the business functions. As a result, employees become far more personally invested in and committed to the company.
5. Any Worker Can Halt the Production Line
Most companies would treat stopping production as a disaster and therefore reserve that authority for top managers in only the most extreme circumstances. Toyota’s Andon system allows frontline workers to stop the line when quality issues arise, without pre-approval or notification.
The traditional logic is that a company must always keep production moving. Toyota’s stance is different: fix problems immediately, even if production stops. Don’t wait for someone at headquarters or far removed from the front lines to weigh in. Someone on the factory floor can often spot a problem sooner and act on it more quickly than any chain of command.
What Happened? Quality became a responsibility embraced not just by managers but by frontline workers, who took the authority seriously as a sign of trust and confidence in their judgment. The result was a reputation for quality that competitors struggled to match.
There are many other examples. Southwest CEO Herb Kelleher believed that frontline employees—not executives—were what mattered most. Zappos famously offered new hires money to quit after training because, if a thousand dollars could make you leave, you probably weren't that committed to the company culture anyway. Netflix operates with almost no expense policies or lengthy approval chains; instead, employees are guided by a simple principle: "Act in Netflix’s best interests."
Ultimately, it all comes back to the same core idea: serve your people well, and they will do right by you.
