The one-sentence summary
If in doubt, trust everyone and do nothing.
WHAT THE BOOK SAYS
- The author runs a massive set of companies in Brazil, and insists on working in an unconventional way
- He likes to question everything:
~ Why are we able to answer emails on Sundays, but unable to go to the movies on Monday afternoons?
~ Why do we think the opposite of work is leisure, when in fact it is idleness?
~ Why doesn’t money buy success if almost everyone measures their success in cash?
~ Why does our customised and carefully crafted credo look like everyone else’s?
~ Why do we think intuition is so valuable and unique – and find no place for it as an official business instrument?
WHAT’S GOOD ABOUT IT
- There are some neat little tricks that you can implement straight away, such as always asking why three times in a row
- It gives you an authoritative source on which to base radical ideas so that you can challenge staid working practices or conservative thinking
- There are lots of ideas for maintaining staff loyalty and interest such as:
~ Retire a little (take Friday afternoons off and offset it against retirement age)
~ Up ‘n Down Pay (vary hours and pay to suit circumstances)
~ Work ‘n Stop (take long periods off but declare intention to return)
~ Board meetings that always have two vacancies for any members of staff that want to attend
- One piece of reverse psychology suggests that when anything untoward happens you should do nothing on the assumption that good sense will eventually sort it out
- There are some catchy phrases such as “Corporate yo-yo dieting”, the boom and bust cycles that companies always get themselves into
WHAT YOU HAVE TO WATCH
- He has only run his own company so he can only speak from that experience
- He is probably a pain in the arse to work with, so not all his ideas could necessarily be implemented without causing havoc in most companies