In structuring their company, the Gores were more inspired by humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow and Douglas McGregor's management theories than by, say, Peter Drucker's. It's a bottom-up approach that companies often talk about, but few execute well.
Gore remains innovation-focused and market-agnostic. More than 45 million medical valves, stents, sutures, and other devices it created are walking around inside people. It makes vents for smartphones and materials for the Mars rovers. Today, the Newark, Delaware-based company has 10,000 employees worldwide and $3.5 billion in revenue.
Compensation--most of the company is owned by employees--is decided by a panel of peers. Associates use "dabble time" to create products that don't yet have a market, as was the case for mercury filters for industrial plants, developed long before regulation demanded them.
Comments