Productivity Reimagined

3The Myth of Segmented SuccessMyth: The productive resources of a company can be organized as a collection of independent components. The whole equals the sum of the parts

Rich Sheridan, CEO of Ann Arbor–based custom software developer Menlo Innovations, recently welcomed his granddaughter to his office. Because of the company’s philosophy that minimizes hierarchy, his work area had none of the trappings of his CEO status. Sheridan was surprised at how a young child perceived this.

“We had a lot of our family in town for my middle daughter’s wedding,” says Sheridan. “We had just moved our office, so everybody wanted to see it. So my eight-year-old granddaughter, for whom the age of reason is just kicking in, asked me, ‘Where do you sit, Pop-Pop?’”

Sheridan took her over to a table in the middle of the open office area. “This is where I sit, and here’s my computer,” he said.

His granddaughter looked puzzled, and then asked, “Where’s your name? Don’t you have your name somewhere?”

Sheridan was amazed. “I thought ‘wow,’ she already has it in her head that as CEO, I should have corner office with a placard that showed how important I am. And you know, I felt a little embarrassed. She was somehow implying that I can’t be much of a CEO if I don’t have a placard with my name on it. And she’s only eight!”

Rich Sheridan, however, is no ordinary CEO. According to his leadership philosophy, success depends on team productivity as opposed to the accumulated efforts of individuals. The ...