[Paul Graham]

"In effect there are two different ways to run a company: founder mode and manager mode. Till now most people even in Silicon Valley have implicitly assumed that scaling a startup meant switching to manager mode. But we can infer the existence of another mode from the dismay of founders who've tried it, and the success of their attempts to escape from it."

Please forgive the Paul Graham link: this is a genuinely good point about running companies. And I don't think it's limited to startups: the dichotomy isn't between "founder mode" and "manager mode", but between purposeful companies built to be communities aiming at a focused goal and institutions that can move slower and less efficiently.

Skip-level meetings should be normal. Flat hierarchies are good. Everyone in a company should have the ability to have the ear of the CEO if they need it - and, likewise, the CEO should be able to freely talk to anyone in a company. A good idea can come from anyone; people with exceptional talent can show up anywhere on the org chart. Less regimentation and less bureaucracy allow those people to flourish - and, in turn, allow the organization to make better choices.

It's also a representation of what matters to an organization. Hierarchies emerge from people who care about hierarchy and chains of command; flatness emerges from people who just care about getting stuff done. The latter, in my view, always makes for a better place to work.

#Startups

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