100: How Strong Businesses Become Weak Bureaucracies
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100: How Strong Businesses Become Weak Bureaucracies
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About this listen
Ever stood in line for a passport or permit and thought, “How did it get this bad?” Bureaucracy doesn’t start broken—it creeps in. In this episode, we unpack why even great companies calcify: Pournelle’s Iron Law (organizations drift to serving themselves), and Parkinson’s Law (headcount grows 5–7% a year regardless of workload). Wikiquote+1
You’ll hear how complexity multiplies—extra layers, approvals, and legacy tech—until speed dies. (Yes, a major UK rail operator still uses fax to reach crews.) And why some governments deliberately keep paper ballots for auditability: simple systems are often the most resilient. The Guardian+1
Then we get practical: map the customer journey with value-stream mapping, replace approvals with “freedom within a framework” (think Netflix’s culture), flatten spans & layers, and run a quarterly “kill-a-rule” review. You’ll leave with an audit checklist to keep decisions close to customers—and bureaucracy out of your business. Lean Enterprise Institute+1
Sources: Pournelle’s Iron Law; Parkinson’s Law; EAC paper-ballot policy; Northern Rail fax reports; Lean Enterprise Institute (VSM); Netflix culture deck.
Connect with Chris Cooper:
Website - https://businessisgood.com/