Exploring Maverick's Influence on Modern Workplaces, with Zahid Malik

Nov 1 2023 • 23 mins

Ricardo Semler’s radical book Maverick is now 30 years old. Happy was an early adopter of some of its key principles, and when software company cofounder Zahid Malik was looking for implementation examples, Happy was just about the only one he found.

As Semler’s work suggests, implementing a culture of trust, freedom, and autonomy can have a transformative impact on a company. By allowing employees to make decisions, fostering open communication, and providing guidelines and frameworks, organisations can create a happy and productive workplace. But it’s important to strike a balance and ensure that the right people are in the organisation who can thrive in a Maverick environment.

Zahid is the founder of called Risr. They specialise in providing software for education and training organisations to help them manage and run their assessments, exams, and continuing professional development. While he’s faced challenges in implementing the principles of Maverick, he’s striven to create autonomous units within his organisation, allowing teams to make decisions and operate in ways that best serve their customers.

Zahid’s top tips for a happy workplace

Having freedom and autonomy is crucial for a happy workplace. Allowing employees to make decisions and have control over their work contributes to their overall satisfaction.
But not everyone may thrive in an environment like this, so it's essential to ensure that employees align with the company's values and ways of working.
Providing employees with clear guidelines and boundaries within which they can exercise their freedom helps bring structure and prevents chaos in the workplace.