Self-Management at Scale: The Movement Redefining Work

Let’s start with the obvious: self-management fascinates us. Not just the concept, but the gritty, real-world execution of it—especially in large organizations. But this fascination wasn’t part of our original design. We didn’t pop out of university diplomas thinking, “What if bosses didn’t exist?” It grew, bit by bit, over the years. Let’s rewind for some context.

We’re two Dutch engineers who once slogged through the trenches of traditional corporate life. Frustrated, disengaged, and disillusioned, we did what many dream of but few attempt: we quit. What followed was a global quest to find workplaces where people thrived, not just survived. We wanted to see what work could be, and we chronicled our discoveries on this blog.

At first, only our moms read it. But then, something clicked. This blog grew. A community formed. Eventually, we turned it into a book: Corporate Rebels: Make Work More Fun. That book led to more adventures and more discoveries. And after visiting hundreds of organizations around the globe, a pattern emerged: the most engaged workplaces were often—surprise—self-managing. Which led to the inevitable question: “How can these companies possibly succeed at scale?”

Turns out, quite well.

Order, Not Chaos

The skeptics picture self-management as anarchy: no bosses, no structure, no accountability. What we’ve found is the opposite. Self-managing organizations don’t lack structure; they’ve just reimagined it. Leadership? It’s still there, but it’s distributed, shared, and earned—not assigned by someone higher up the food chain. Control? It exists, but it’s bottom-up, not top-down. In short, these companies thrive because they’ve embraced autonomy and empowerment without losing sight of alignment and accountability.

We believe in this model so deeply that we decided to put our money where our mouth is. We launched an impact fund to acquire traditional companies and transform them into self-managing organizations.

Our first acquisition? Indaero, a Spanish aerospace supplier. When we acquired it, Indaero was everything you’d expect from a textbook hierarchical company: layers of management, bosses making decisions, and employees following orders. Over the next year, we flipped the script. Hierarchies were replaced with self-managing teams. We opened the books and introduced a profit-sharing model. And the results?

• Revenue: Up 50%
• Profits: Doubled
• Employee Salaries: Increased across the board
• Leadership Participation: Jumped from a handful of people to over half the workforce
• Women in Leadership: Up from 18% to 62%

Not bad for a “first try” in turning work upside down.

Proof at Scale

Indaero isn’t an isolated case. Across the globe, organizations are proving that self-management isn’t just viable; it’s transformative. Here’s a taste:

• Basetis (Spain): Housed in Gaudí’s iconic Casa Milà, this 400-person IT company is driven by a mission to enhance human dignity, sustainability, and democratic participation. With a transparent salary model capped at a 1:7.5 ratio, they exemplify fairness and alignment.
  
• Buurtzorg (Netherlands): A pioneer in home care, Buurtzorg employs 15,000 nurses organized into small, autonomous teams. Their decentralized model has inspired organizations worldwide (including Dutch BuurtzorgT, Buurtwonen, Amstelring and ZorgAccent, the Belgian Wit-Gele Kruis Oost-Vlaanderen, the Australian Chorus, and the Brazilian Laços Saúde), proving that self-management can work on a massive scale.
  
• Clever (Denmark): Part of Denmark’s leading energy companies, Clever operates with 500+ employees as a self-managed organization focused on sustainable energy solutions, thriving within a larger corporate structure.
  
• Codewave (India): An IT consulting and development firm with 100+ employees, Codewave operates on the principles of radical transparency and self-organization. With no formal hierarchies, employees co-create strategies, set goals collaboratively, and share accountability.
  
• Disco Corporation (Japan): A 5,000-person chip equipment manufacturer using an internal marketplace to allocate work and rewards. Their “Will currency” system keeps teams accountable and financially motivated.
  
• Enreach (Netherlands): A 1,200-person communications provider using Holacracy to integrate 17 acquisitions over a few years. Their buy-and-build strategy showcases how autonomy can drive rapid growth while preserving purpose.
  
• Epoch (China): A self-managed factory employing circa 200 employees, Epoch empowers its workforce with decentralized decision-making to redefine traditional manufacturing.
  
• Eppo (Brazil): A 1,000+ employee waste collection company applying self-management to enhance efficiency and create dignified, meaningful jobs in a traditionally undervalued industry.
  
• Haier (China): This global whitegoods leader divides its 80,000 employees into 4,000 autonomous microenterprises, each managing its own profit and loss. Their internal marketplace transforms the corporation into an entrepreneurial ecosystem.
  
• NER Group (Spain): A collective of 20 companies with 2,000 employees that rely on autonomy, consent-based decision-making, and profit sharing, redefining collaboration across industries.
  
• Net Protections (Japan): A Buy Now, Pay Later provider with 300 employees and $150 million in revenue, Net Protections thrives on a manager-free system of catalysts and shows that self-management can succeed in public companies.
  
• Niverplast (Netherlands): A packaging machinery manufacturer with 200 employees, Niverplast thrives on a flat organizational structure where self-managed teams consistently deliver cutting-edge solutions to a global market.
  
• Mindera (Portugal): A global software developer with over 1,000 employees across multiple locations, Mindera applies self-management to foster collaboration and innovation, even under private equity ownership.
  
• Morning Star (USA): The tomato processor relies on a commitment-based system where employees set their own goals and agreements. Even with 2,500 seasonal workers, they remain a flat organization.
  
• P4Q (Spain): A 300-person electronics manufacturer relying on self-managing teams, consent-based decision-making, and profit sharing while maintaining their model under private equity ownership.
  
• Patio (Bulgaria): A network of worker-owned tech cooperatives connecting 1,500 people from 25 countries. Members like Camplight use dynamic roles, transparent salary-setting, and collective decision-making to operate without traditional hierarchies.
  
• SINA (Uganda): A social enterprise empowering marginalized youth through self-managed communities that focus on entrepreneurship, enabling individuals to create impactful solutions for local challenges.
  
• VkusVill (Russia): A 14,000-person retail giant applying self-management principles at scale, empowering store teams to make decisions and adapt quickly in a competitive market.

These aren’t scrappy startups. Among them are multinational giants, manufacturing plants, IT firms, and retail behemoths. Their success shatters the myth that self-management can’t scale.

Why Double Down Now?

The world doesn’t need another management fad. It needs organizations that put people and purpose above profits—and still succeed. That’s why this year, we’re doubling down. We’ll continue to share stories of self-managing pioneers, invest in transforming traditional companies, and explore the frontiers of autonomy at work.

Our goal? To debunk the myth that self-management is a pipe dream and to prove, once and for all, that it’s a movement—not a moment.