Ricardo Semler, owner of

Ricardo Semler, owner of Brazil's Semco, a manufacturer of industrial machinery, received a brief writeup in this month's Fortune. Semler, who took control of Semco at age 22, has reduced the hierarchy in the company to three layers, has eliminated most job titles, lets workers choose their managers by popular vote, and regularly distributes the company's financial statements to each employee. Since he took over, the company has grown 24% annually.

As the Fortune article notes, Semler's philosophy is to constantly ask why. Some of his simplest questions are likely to give nightmares to most traditional managers:

Why do we have job titles? Why can't the employees know the detailed financial results? Why do we have a headquarters? Why must a company grow? Why make money?