The Seven-Day Weekend: Changing the Way Work Works

I think this will be the way all businesses will work in the future. This book details the story about SEMCO a business with no work schedule, no imposed meetings, no job titles, no human resource department and open books. It makes us reflect on what we know about management. To me it makes so much sense why this is a better, more productive way of doing business. Hopefully all organizations will catch on. The only downside is that this book will leave you with so many more questions. I hope there are more to come.

Seven-Day weekend is the second (English) book by Richardo Semler, the CEO of Semco. Semco is a weird Brazilian company known for it's modern HR practices. The history of Semco and Ricardo Semler was explained well in his first English book: Maverick.The author makes a point that the workweek has invaded the weekend via internet and email. Now it's time to abandon the standard week/weekend thinking and have weekend whenever we want and have week whenever we want. So we'll have a seven day workweek AND a seven day weekend.The book is a collection of stories and opinions by Richardo which are organized according to the days of the week. Every day a couple of stories, mostly about Semco but also about other activities in which Richardo was involved in.Some of the more interesting points and stories are, for example, where the author is questioning the need to always grow. In business it seems to be the purpose of the business to grow bigger. Richardo questions this purpose and asks why this is. Cannot companies stay small and then still be successful?Seven-day weekend is certainly worth reading. It's a small book it takes maybe a day to read it. Its well written, it keeps you awake and the stories are interesting. Though, I personally found it less interesting than Maverick (which I had read first). If you need to chose between the seven day weekend or Maverick, I'd go for Maverick. If, after Maverick, you still do not have enough of Semler, then the seven-day weekend is for you.

I really enjoyed this book because it seems to be the antithesis of so many standard biz books out there. No ex-consultant in-depth research of "best of breed" or new "growth paradigm" dreamed up by a college professor - just musings from a man who has created just what might be the best case scenario for the future of work.The book is based upon is Semco, a diversified Brazilian company where Semler is the CEO and whose revenue has grown from $4 million in 1982 to $212 million in 2003. His basic theme is that in order harness the full power and talents of your workers they have to be truly engaged and this means they have the power to pretty much do what they want when the want - as long as it focuses on generating results for the company.While many of the practices he implements might not work so well in your workplace, they will get you thinking of what might be possible and what we may hopefully be heading towards. Overall his approach is similar to Industrial Democracy whereby workers are involved in making decisions, sharing responsibility, and have equal authority in the company.Below are just a few of my favorite quips from the book...- Once you define the business you're in you create boundaries for your employees, you restrict their thinking, and you give them a reason to pass up on opportunities.- Semco has no official structure, no CFO, no HR, no mission statement, no job descriptions, etc. it is a place where people are just considered adults and get their job done.- Semco cares about the core of what an employee does for the company, not the boarding school behaviors like what time they came in. But it is sooo hard to give up control. People should be involved to the point they shout "yes"!- You need to be willing to give up control. Like an entrepreneur who is flexible, intuitive, non-dogmatic, take risks, make money, and have fun.- You must tap into your workers true talents. The best way for people to feel job satisfaction, to feel passion, is to get them doing their calling so that work is more like fun.- If an employee has no interest in a product or project then it will never succeed.- For a company to excel it must put the employees self interest first. An employee who puts his interests first will be motivated to perform.- Without formal job descriptions people can wander into neighboring work activities without being chased away for trespassing.- Workplace stress reflects the difference between expectations and reality.- Unless we click with a worker, unless he latches onto something he is passionate about, our productivity won't be high. Few organizations make an effort to find out whether a person has a calling.- A mission statement can be a beautiful document, and mostly useless if it is not driven from the bottom up. Mission and vision are just the first step and they mean nothing on their own. You are judged by what you do, not what you say.- Privileged information is a dangerous source of power in any organization.- Limit your plans to 6 months. 5 year plans are ridiculous and every 1 year plan has the stuff happening at the end of the year.- If a discussion on salaries is taboo then what else is off limits? The only source of power in an organization is information, and withholding, filtering, or retaining it only serves those who want to accumulate power.- It's easy to talk about diversity, tribes, and dissent; but it can be frustrating, slow, and cumbersome. So much easer just to take control and tell people what to do but then you don't get an employee who is inspired to do their best.- Productivity stagnates when workers are waiting for someone to tell them what to do or following a formal plan.- In most conventional organizations decisions are made at the top and the rank and file is asked to check their brain at the door which leads to hostile and extremist views among the workers.- By giving up or sharing control of small nettlesome issues like dress codes, and of graver matters like factory closings and security, management creates a culture of self-government that has more resilience then my way or the highway.- No one is required to attend any meeting at Semco. Everyone is invited and they can come and go as they wish. If someone isn't interested in a meeting, then their engaged time is spent better somewhere else. This way management knows which projects are worth pursuing.- A full time employee only needs one requisite, to have a material connection with the heart of the biz. Their job had to be central part of the differentiation between the biz and their competitors. The connection between the biz and the job had to be intrinsic and obvious.- In a group environment, the only way to get your idea off the ground is to lobby ferociously in favor of it. If no one buys into it, then leave it on the back burner and return to it later.- The more informed people are, the better they are able to develop and follow their gut instincts.- Harnessing the wisdom of people, the reservoir of talent. This only comes from freedom, from democracy, from asking why...Last but not least, Wiki on Ricardo: [...]

I read this book after I read Ricardo Semler's first book Maverick. This book continues where the first book stopped. Most of the information in it is new, but the general lesson does not differ much from his first book.I still love it, but I would not recommend paying anything over $15 if you already read Maverick.What I love most is that every chapter is one day of the week and he tries to tailor that chapter to something to do or learn on that day of the week.

This book explores a totally different way of thinking when it comes to the business world and the workday. The author shares a recipe for making a business more productive by viewing certain business principles differently. Definitely an interesting read.Romeo Richards, How To Market And Manage A Consulting Firm

I had read sound bites from Semler over the past few months, but finally got the book and devoured it over a holiday weekend. It did not disappoint. It presents some very non-conventional wisdom that challenges all sorts of corporate policies and norms with the question - why not do it differently? I wrote about several of these insights on my blog ([...] This book is highly rated as I am reminded frequently of several of the concepts in the books and I have recommended it to many others. You'll love this one!Jennifer B. Davis[...]