Ricardo Semler
| Ricardo Semler | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1959 (age 57–58) São Paulo, Brazil |
| Nationality | Brazilian |
| Occupation | Chairman of Semco Group Founding shareholder of Tarpon Investments Founder of Lumiar school and Ralston Semler Foundation |
Ricardo Semler (born 1959 in São Paulo) is the CEO and majority owner of Semco Partners, a Brazilian company best known for its radical form of industrial democracy and corporate re-engineering. Under his ownership, revenue has grown from 4 million US dollars in 1982 to 212 million US dollars in 2003 and his innovative business management policies have attracted widespread interest around the world. Time featured him among its Global 100 young leaders profile series published in 1994 while the World Economic Forum also nominated him. The Wall Street Journal America Economia, The Wall Street Journal's Latin American magazine, named him Latin American businessman of the year in 1990 and he was named Brazilian businessman of the year in 1990 and 1992. Virando a Própria Mesa ("Turning the Table on Yourself"), his first book, became the best selling non-fiction book in the history of Brazil. He has since written two books in English on the transformation of Semco and workplace re-engineering: Maverick, an English version of "Turning Your Own Table" published in 1993 and an international bestseller, and The Seven Day Weekend in 2003.
Semler went to work for his father's company, originally called Semler & Company, then a mixer and agitator supplier in São Paulo. Semler clashed with his father, Antonio Semler, who supported a traditional autocratic style of management whereas young Semler favoured a decentralised, participatory style. Furthermore, Ricardo favoured diversification away from the struggling shipbuilding industry, which his father opposed.
After heated clashes, the son threatened to leave the company. Rather than see this happen, Antonio Semler resigned as CEO and vested majority ownership in his son in 1980 when Ricardo was 21 years old. On his first day as CEO, Ricardo Semler fired sixty percent of all top managers. He began work on a diversification program to rescue the company. A fainting spell when he was 25 inspired him to want a greater work-life balance for himself and his employees.
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