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>What is the large company, public or private, that is run democratically without a CEO? It's structurally made virtually impossible to do such a thing. Noneth

>What is the large company, public or private, that is run democratically without a CEO? It's structurally made virtually impossible to do such a thing. Nonetheless, this approach was successfully applied in Argentina. There's a good documentary about it http://www.thetake.org/ http://www.thetake.org/

Animats 11y ago
The closest example may be Visa International before it became a public company. Visa used to be a chaord, a strange organizational form dreamed up by Dee Hock. Visa was owned by banks who were competitors, and they needed for it to be a neutral intermediary. Hock wrote a book, "Birth of the Chaordic Age", on how this worked, but the idea never caught on.
- twic 11y ago
  I'd never heard of this - it's fascinating, but also has a rather Buckminster Fuller-esque '60s tang to it: http://www.fastcompany.com/27333/trillion-dollar-vision-dee-hock http://www.fastcompany.com/27333/trillion-dollar-vision-dee-... And in case anyone wants to discuss chaords: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10443224 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10443224
twic 11y ago
John Lewis, a department store and supermarket chain in the UK, is a bit like this: http://www.theguardian.com/business/2012/jan/16/john-lewis-model-lessons http://www.theguardian.com/business/2012/jan/16/john-lewis-m... That said, they do have a Chairman who is basically a CEO; he answers to the employees rather than shareholders, but i'm not sure how much that changes things. And of course there's the Co-op, which is a patchwork of regional and national organisations under a common brand which between them provide a range of services so wide they're virtually a shadow state: http://www.co-operative.coop/ http://www.co-operative.coop/ I have no idea how they are actually run.
cpeterso 11y ago
In theory, a company is run by the board and the CEO reports to the board. But most boards seem to be disconnected from day-to-day operations. Perhaps the both the board and CEO could be replaced with a "high council" or triumvirate, maybe including employees in rotating terms.

Animats 11y ago

The closest example may be Visa International before it became a public company. Visa used to be a chaord, a strange organizational form dreamed up by Dee Hock. Visa was owned by banks who were competitors, and they needed for it to be a neutral intermediary. Hock wrote a book, "Birth of the Chaordic Age", on how this worked, but the idea never caught on.

twic 11y ago
I'd never heard of this - it's fascinating, but also has a rather Buckminster Fuller-esque '60s tang to it: http://www.fastcompany.com/27333/trillion-dollar-vision-dee-hock http://www.fastcompany.com/27333/trillion-dollar-vision-dee-... And in case anyone wants to discuss chaords: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10443224 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10443224

twic 11y ago

John Lewis, a department store and supermarket chain in the UK, is a bit like this: http://www.theguardian.com/business/2012/jan/16/john-lewis-model-lessons http://www.theguardian.com/business/2012/jan/16/john-lewis-m... That said, they do have a Chairman who is basically a CEO; he answers to the employees rather than shareholders, but i'm not sure how much that changes things. And of course there's the Co-op, which is a patchwork of regional and national organisations under a common brand which between them provide a range of services so wide they're virtually a shadow state: http://www.co-operative.coop/ http://www.co-operative.coop/ I have no idea how they are actually run.

cpeterso 11y ago

In theory, a company is run by the board and the CEO reports to the board. But most boards seem to be disconnected from day-to-day operations. Perhaps the both the board and CEO could be replaced with a "high council" or triumvirate, maybe including employees in rotating terms.