If you haven’t checked it out yet, I strongly encourage you to get a copy of business thought-leader Gary Hamel’s latest book, The Future of Management which argues that the future of business design is all about democratic, non-hierarchical structures rather than the traditional command-and-control models. Sound familiar? Yup!

The book also mentions Rite-Solutions, one of the WorldBlu List of Most Democratic Workplaces 2007 awardees.

Kareem Mayan, a member of the WorldBlu Global Advisory Group, let me know that The New York Times had a review about it on Sunday, December 30th entitled, “Orders From on High? That’s So Yesterday.” (Thanks Kareem!)

Here’s an excerpt from the review:

. . . Mr. Hamel argues that these innovative companies realize that employees should not be treated like 13-year-olds who need clear boundaries on their freedom. Employees are on the front lines and are often closest to customer needs. As a result, they should have power to reveal to their hierarchies what products and services are needed, and they should be involved in deciding how the company’s time and money are spent. Moreover, they should be pursuing a passion or a mission, not just quarterly profits.

The implication of all this is that we don’t need as many managers in organizations. Yes, we still need some managers and some centralized processes to prevent an organization from spinning wildly in all directions. But the best organizations will be those whose employees have the power to innovate, not just follow orders from on high, Mr. Hamel says. In such an environment, the notion of a whole class of managers evaluating and re-evaluating each action of those below them in a vertical hierarchy becomes nonsensical. [Read more. . . ]

I love these ideas (as you would imagine) and I love that the Harvard Business School Press published the book. However, if the future of management is NOT about management, why must the book be titled, “The Future of Management?!” Perhaps (equally generic but a bit more accurately!) the book should be titled, “The Future of Leadership.”

What I’ve found in studying dozens of democratic companies around the world, is that the future is about tapping into the leadership potential of each individual, not spending time managing people — which is so “yesterday.” It’s an entirely different mind-set and and entirely different energy. And it is indeed, is the future of work.

Kudos to Gary Hamel for getting these ideas out there. Check out the book when you can; I’d love to hear what you think!