How Do You Become One Of The Most Outstanding Leaders Ever In Your World?

 Post 6 of the “Leading TODAY! on Wednesdays” series: Being A Billion Dollar Leader

Being a Billion Dollar Leader: Lesson 3: I have to trust my people.

Case Study - The ultimate in trust: Ricardo Semler

Ricardo Semler must be the ultimate example of a Leader who trusted his people.

At the time Semler took over his father’s Brazilian shipbuilding supplies business, SEMCO S.A., in 1980, it had started to struggle and looked like it was in real trouble. What Semler did then was absolutely revolutionary in the field of management. He handed over the running of the company to his people. Totally and completely. He trusted them to do what was needed in order to turn the company around.

Not only did the company become extremely profitable and successful, but Semler’s leadership techniques became a case study for blue chip companies such as IBM^*.

SEMCO grew from a $US4m company with 90 employees in 1982, into a $US212m company with over 3,000 employees in 2003 with a growth rate of up to 40% per annum, making it one of Brazil’s leading businesses.

Semler was so successful in his leadership style that one day he arrived at work to find he no longer had an office! His team had decided he didn’t need one and they needed the space for some more important function in the process of making the business more successful.

How many managers would trust their people enough to hand over complete control of their area of operations to those very same people?

Not that you have to do so in order to be a Billion Dollar Leader, but isn’t that what trust should be about?

All Success

Colin

^* You can read his story in the book “Maverick” by Ricardo Semler, published by Random House Business Books.

Do you like this article from Leading TODAY! on Wednesdays: Ideas on excellence in leadership and Being A Billion Dollar Leader? Feel free to share it with your friends also. Or, why not join us for other articles on my TODAY! Seminars’ Facebook pages on Leadership, SME Business, Good Health, Public Speaking, Networking and Living Life.  Alternatively you can see them on LinkedIn, Ecademy, Twitter or my BlogSpot page or at Google+. This article is copyright to TODAY! Seminars (2011) and cannot be reproduced in any form without written approval of TODAY! Seminars.