Flexibility or genuine freedom?

I’m often asked what kind of manager I am in the organizations I own, co-own, or invest in. Honestly, I’ve never liked that question. I don’t see myself as a traditional leader—let alone a "boss." Do I work with people? Yes. Am I their boss? No. I don’t have employees—I have coworkers. Even though I might sign their paychecks, I approach the relationship differently.

I love responsibility, but I despise the traditional aspects of staff management. I thrive on making high-impact decisions, but HR? Not my thing. And, truth be told, I’m not particularly good at it.

I spend less than 1% of my time on “managing” my coworkers. I set the vision and framework and let them handle the rest. They self-manage 99% of the time. Some of them I’ve never met in person. I recently hired someone I’ve never even spoken to. Why? Because, as I learned at Harvard Kennedy School, job interviews are one of the least effective ways to assess candidates. So, I’ve stopped doing them. I’ve also stopped calling for meetings.

Studies show that there are over 3 billion #meetings held every day, and management spends 40-50% of their time in them. Meetings, most of the time, are expensive and not particularly effective.

We don’t do titles here. I often don’t even know where my coworkers are in the world. They’re free to work on their own projects, start their own companies, and pursue side gigs without ever needing my permission. This isn’t kindergarten. As I write this, one coworker is relocating from Denmark to the U.S., another is working remotely from New Zealand, and some are scattered across Denmark, New York City, and England. My closest collaborator? My personal assistant, obviously. She runs my life so I can focus on the bigger picture. Whether she’s in Hong Kong, India, or at a music festival, I don’t care—because we don’t have a holiday policy. They can take as much time off as they need. And there’s no such thing as "calling in sick" because there’s no such thing as being “late.” I care about results, not time spent at a desk.

Our work environment is built on freedom. We have deadlines, milestones, and a loose budget, but no KPIs, no extensive reports, no Excel sheets tracking every move. We have no CRM or software monitoring where people are or what they’re doing. What we have is #freedom. Even salaries are determined by my coworkers—they tell me when and why they deserve a raise based on the value they’ve created. They’re free to upskill, learn, and grow in whatever direction they choose.

The result? I rarely have people quitting, taking extended leaves for burnout, or feeling overwhelmed by stress. We’re creating a healthier work culture—by design.

So, maybe it’s time we rethink management altogether.

In the U.S., 65% of employees would rather fire their boss than receive a raise. Research even shows that having a bad boss can shorten your life expectancy. So what do people really want—flexibility or true freedom?

?[1] https://hbr.org/2016/04/how-to-take-the-bias-out-of-interviews

[2] https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.486.4807&rep=rep1&type=pdf