#229: Ricardo Semler -- The Seven-Day Weekend and How to Break the Rules

Ricardo Semler (@ricardosemler) is the former CEO of Semco Partners, a Brazilian company best known perhaps for its radical form of industrial democracy and corporate re-engineering. During his leadership, Semco grew from four million in 1982 to two hundred and twelve million in 2003. His innovative -- but very controversial -- business management policies have attracted widespread interest from all over the world. He is the best-selling author of Maverick: The Success Story Behind the World's Most Unusual Workplace and The Seven-Day Weekend: A Better Way to Work in the 21st Century (not to be confused with another book titled in an admittedly similar fashion). Ricardo recently started a podcast called LeadWise, where he has conversations with leaders about "challenging assumptions and changing how we live and work." Entrepreneurship and education are just two of the topics discussed in this wide-ranging conversation. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Ricardo Semler as much as I did! Show notes and links for this episode can be found at www.fourhourworkweek.com/podcast. This podcast is brought to you by FreshBooks. FreshBooks is the #1 cloud bookkeeping software, which is used by a ton of the start-ups I advise and many of the contractors I work with. It is the easiest way to send invoices, get paid, track your time, and track your clients. FreshBooks tells you when your clients have viewed your invoices, helps you customize your invoices, track your hours, automatically organize your receipts, have late payment reminders sent automatically and much more. Right now you can get a free month of complete and unrestricted use. You do not need a credit card for the trial. To claim your free month and see how the brand new Freshbooks can change your business, go to FreshBooks.com/Tim and enter "Tim" in the "how did you hear about us" section. This podcast is also brought to you by Wealthfront. Wealthfront is a massively disruptive (in a good way) set-it-and-forget-it