Flat Organization Quotes

You can call anyyne here or call me. We have no formal chain of command.

In the beginning of a company, there is no management and this actually works really well.

Before 20 or 25 employees, most companies are structured with everyone reporting to the founder. It's totally flat.

Keep salaries low and equity high. Keep the organization as flat as you can.

We don't have titles on our business cards. No one really gets any special treatment. No one gets a corner office to put pictures of their family and their dog in.

We like being private because when there is a downturn, as in 2001 and 2008, we do not reduce people. Also, we have flat decision-making. It's quick. We don't have to meet quarterly numbers, and it's all about excellence of work for the client.

We're not too top heavy with executives. I don't have to check with New York or L.A. My crew walks in, we talk about something, and either we do it or we don't. There's not a long, drawn out process.

In the industrial age, the CEO sat on the top of the hierarchy and didn't have to listen to anybody ... In the information age, you have to listen to the ideas of people regardless of where they are in the organization.

Great organizations demand a high level of commitment by the people involved. Eliminate politics, by giving everybody the same message. Keep a flat organization in which all issues are discussed openly. Empower teams to do their own things.

What I've learned is that unless it's an emergency, like a fire or brain surgery, hierarchy is not necessary and may be damaging. If you have a hierarchy, you're repeating the strengths and weaknesses of one person without allowing for the accumulative strength of a group.

The key to management is to get rid of the managers.

The culture at Valve is pretty much crowdsourced. The handbook is a wiki. One of the first things we say to new hires is, 'You have to change something in the handbook.'

If you want to know what it will be like when we are more deeply into the horizontal, simply go to one of the Indian casinos. The Native Americans, who stand for vertical thinking more than anyone else in our culture, have been setting up totally flat casinos for honkies.

Find ways to decentralize. Move decision making authority down and out. Encourage a more entrepreneurial approach.

I don't like having hierarchical structures. So, everybody knows that I'm the boss but, from that, I don't like people to walk on eggshells. I like people to be friendly and to feel loved. I think that kind of fits into creativity stronger. If people are scared, they are afraid to come up with ideas.

I always look at it that I work with my employees as opposed to them working for me.

SpaceX is a flat organization. Anyone gets to talk to anyone, and the best idea wins - even if it comes from an intern.

I can't work in an environment where it's a stiff hierarchy; that's not my kind of way.

...I think that ideally that is how a company works. It becomes a place of ideas, not a place of position.