The Deep Dive — Innovation and hierarchy at Ideo

When Kevin and I talk about WL Gore, one of our favorite companies, many of the participants in our programs wonder how such a non-hierarchical firm works in practice. Our friend and colleague Ben Bensaou turned us on to this fascinating video about Ideo, one of the world’s leading design firms. One of its most striking characteristics, in addition to its countless innovations, is the near total absence of hierarchy. The video first appeared in 1999 on the American television program, Nightline. It covers the efforts of a highly eclectic team at Ideo, tasked with completely redesigning the classic supermarket shopping cart in just five days. The first of three parts can be seen here. Part two is here, and part three is here. Not to be missed.