Bureaucracy Is Killing Our Organizations | Gary Hamel Revisited

Bureaucracy used to make sense. A lot of sense. Information was recorded on paper, it was difficult and expensive to move, and the best way for an organization to make decisions was for managers to consolidate information and send it up a chain of command.

Times have changed, but for the most part, organizations haven’t. The average Fortune 500 company still has eight layers of management passing information from the workforce to the C-Suite.

And it’s absolutely killing our organizations…

Gary Hamel has been described as “the world’s leading expert on business strategy” by Fortune Magazine and is the Harvard Business Review’s most reprinted author of all time.

He believes that nearly every organization is suffering from systemic disabilities stemming from bureaucratic management styles. According to Gary, the solution is nothing short of a revolution in business management principles.

In this episode, Dart and Gary discuss revolutionary management frameworks that business leaders can use to escape the tyranny of bureaucracy and create a thriving workforce.

They discuss why Gary believes that revolutionary management principles will undoubtedly determine the industry leaders of the future, how companies can evolve their management styles in a way that dramatically expands the capabilities of employees, the future of work for employees and employers, and much more.

Topics Include:
- The history of bureaucracy as a management model
- The shocking statistics of disengaged employees
- Top-down versus bottom-up management styles
- Humanocracy: Creating Organizations as Amazing as the People Inside Them
- Innovations in leadership and management strategies
- Roles and responsibilities of future managers
- New management principles for the 21st century
- How to empower employees
- Strategies for reducing risk while pushing innovation
- And other topics…

Gary Hamel has been described by Fortune Magazine as “the world’s leading expert on business strategy,” and the Financial Times calls him a “management innovator without peer.” Hamel has been ranked by The Wall Street Journal as the world’s most influential business thinker and is a fellow of the Strategic Management Society and of the World Economic Forum.

Gary Hamel has been on the faculty of the London Business School for more than 30 years and is the director of the Management Lab. Hamel has written 20 articles for the Harvard Business Review and is the most reprinted author in the Review’s history. His most recent bestsellers are Humanocracy and The Future of Management.

Resources Mentioned:
- Gallup Employee Engagement Trends (2022): https://www.gallup.com/workplace/391922/employee-engagement-slump-continues.aspx
- Humanocracy by Gary Hamel: https://www.amazon.com/Humanocracy-Creating-Organizations-Amazing-People-ebook/dp/B07B9HFSHX/
- The Future of Management by Gary Hamel: https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1422102505/garyhamel-20
- Domination and the Arts of Resistance: Hidden Transcripts by

Work with Dart:
Dart is the CEO and co-founder of the work design firm 11fold. Build work that makes employees feel alive, connected to their work, and focused on what’s most important to the business. Book a call at 11fold.com.