Holacracy

Have you ever wondered why even the most talented teams often bog down in bureaucracy, indecision, or endless meetings? In Holacracy: The New Management System for a Rapidly Changing World, Brian J. Robertson argues that most organizations fail not because of poor talent or ideas, but because their underlying structure—their operating system—is outdated. Like an old computer running outdated software, traditional companies rely on command-and-control hierarchies that can't handle complexity or rapid change. Robertson contends that the real breakthrough isn't just better leadership, but an entirely new way to distribute power, organize work, and evolve continuously. Holacracy, his system, is a complete operating upgrade for organizations.

Robertson’s bold claim is that Holacracy replaces top-down management with a constitutionally defined process of governance. Instead of bosses directing people, roles and rules define who holds authority, how decisions are made, and how the organization itself evolves. It creates a system where everyone can process their own tensions—those gaps between what is and what could be—into actionable change. Just as evolution shapes life through continual adjustment, Holacracy lets organizations adapt dynamically to reality.

The Problem with Predict-and-Control

Robertson begins with a critique of the reigning management paradigm—the “predict and control” mindset. This industrial-age model, rooted in early 20th-century factory systems, assumes that stability and success come from detailed planning and individual control. But in today’s volatile environment, prediction is illusion. Quoting thinkers like Nassim Nicholas Taleb and Eric Beinhocker, Robertson shows that the future is inherently unpredictable and that power concentrated at the top slows adaptation. In such systems, organizations routinely ignore valuable signals—the metaphorical “low-voltage lights” on their dashboards—because authority isn’t distributed to respond to them.

He shares his own near-disaster story as a pilot to illustrate this: while flying solo, he ignored a minor warning light because other instruments seemed fine. That oversight nearly ended in catastrophe—a metaphor for how companies ignore crucial feedback when hierarchy silences individual voices. In a Holacracy-powered organization, every person becomes a sensor in the system, empowered to act on what they see. The organization, like a living organism, constantly adjusts to achieve its purpose.

A Social Technology for Human Systems

Holacracy is not just a theory—it’s a codified social technology. Robertson describes it as an “operating system” for collective organization. It includes four main components: a constitution that defines rules and distributes authority; a new structure built around roles and circles; a unique decision-making process for governance; and efficient meeting processes for coordination. Instead of hierarchical chains of command, Holacracy creates nested circles—autonomous yet interconnected units, like living cells. Each circle identifies roles with clear purposes, domains (areas of control), and accountabilities.

This distributed system mirrors biological efficiency. A body doesn’t need the brain to micromanage every cell; organs and systems self-regulate within clear boundaries. In the same way, Holacracy empowers individuals to act within their roles without waiting for approval. That autonomy accelerates decision making, improves alignment, and removes ambiguity—problems that plague traditional management.

Why It Matters Today

Robertson situates Holacracy in a broader movement of “evolution inside”—a shift from static organizations toward self-organizing systems. He draws from evolutionary economics, agile software development, and consciousness theory to argue that organizations must evolve like living ecosystems. In a complex world, adaptability beats prediction. Holacracy enables what Eric Beinhocker calls “design without a designer”—a system that continuously improves through distributed sensing and incremental change.

For skeptics, Robertson points to large-scale adopters such as Zappos, which implemented Holacracy to preserve its entrepreneurial culture while scaling to thousands of employees. He also highlights companies like Medium and Precision Nutrition, whose CEOs found relief in giving up command authority. Freed from constant firefighting, these leaders could engage more creatively, while their teams took ownership of decisions.

The Promise of Evolutionary Organization

Ultimately, Holacracy’s vision is radical but simple: replace “the heroic leader” with a process that distributes leadership across everyone. In Holacracy, hierarchy of people is replaced by a hierarchy of purpose. The goal isn’t equality for its own sake, but clarity—each role knows its function and boundaries, allowing the organization to evolve constantly toward its purpose. Robertson likens this to shifting from “working in” the business to “working on” it, embedding governance and adaptation at every level.

“Holacracy is not governance of the people, by the people, for the people—it’s governance of the organization, through the people, for the purpose.”

Throughout this book, Robertson blends philosophy and practice. He doesn’t promise that Holacracy is easy—it demands letting go of ego, authority, and conventional habits. Yet the reward is an organization capable of evolution, clarity, and resilience. What emerges is not chaos, but a leader-full system—a living network where structure liberates creativity, and discipline unlocks freedom. As he puts it, “Seek discipline and find your liberty.”

In the chapters that follow, Robertson walks readers through the mechanics of governance, operations, strategy, and adoption, showing how to install this revolutionary system step by step—and how it transforms not just organizations, but our experience of work itself.

Robertson’s core innovation lies in how Holacracy distributes authority. Instead of concentrating power in managers or executives, the system relocates it to a constitution—a written document that defines clear rules and boundaries for all. This is the backbone of Holacracy. You no longer rely on personal leadership or charisma; authority lives in process rather than people.

From Bosses to a Constitution

In most organizations, authority is personal. A CEO makes decisions, a manager approves your work. Holacracy replaces this setup with a constitutional model. The first step in adopting Holacracy is for the power-holder—often the CEO—to formally sign and ratify the Holacracy Constitution, ceding authority to its governance system. From that point, even the CEO is bound by the same rules as everyone else. Power shifts downward and outward, creating distributed autonomy across all roles.

This shift mirrors the transition from monarchy to constitutional democracy. Robertson calls it “power to the process.” In this model, no one can arbitrarily override a decision; everyone must work through structured governance and operations to express their roles’ purpose. The constitution becomes the ultimate law—protecting autonomy while enabling clarity.

Governance vs. Operations

Robertson distinguishes between two spheres: governance and operations. Governance defines how work is structured—what roles exist, what accountabilities each has, and who holds authority for decisions. Operations use that structure to get work done day to day. If governance defines who decides, operations enact those decisions.

In a governance meeting, people refine the organization’s “DNA.” They may update roles, clarify boundaries, define policies, or create sub-circles. Operational questions—like pricing or marketing campaigns—are handled separately in tactical meetings. This separation prevents confusion and ensures agility: governance evolves structure dynamically, while operations execute within those evolving rules.

Autonomy and Accountability

When you fill a role under Holacracy, you gain full authority to act within your domain without needing permission—as long as you don’t violate another role’s domain. This principle of enclosed property rights creates clear boundaries and shared respect. It replaces micromanagement with mutual autonomy. Accountability arises naturally: others know exactly what they can expect from you, because your role’s accountabilities are explicit.

Robertson illustrates this with a role at HolacracyOne called “Social Media Butterfly.” Olivier Compagne, who filled this role, had complete authority over HolacracyOne’s social media presence. Others couldn’t post to company pages without his consent, because that domain belonged to his role. Similarly, Olivier couldn’t modify training materials owned by another role without its approval. Each domain functions like property—with stewardship, not ownership, as the guiding ethic.

A Parent-Child Dynamic Replaced by Peer-to-Peer

Holacracy breaks the traditional parent-child dynamic between managers and employees. Instead, everyone becomes a steward of their roles—peer leaders responsible for serving the organization’s purpose. Robertson calls this “managerial liberation.” Leaders are freed from being parents who take responsibility for others, and employees are freed from acting like dependent children. The result is mutual respect, transparency, and empowerment.

“Holacracy tells managers: it’s no longer your job to solve everyone’s problems. And it tells workers: you have the responsibility and authority to deal with your own tensions.”

In practice, this distribution of authority transforms culture. People stop waiting for approval and start owning their power. The organization becomes more fluid and adaptive, able to sense and respond through every part of its system—like a well-functioning nervous network rather than a command hierarchy.

In Chapter 7, Robertson introduces one of Holacracy's most powerful ideas: dynamic steering. This concept replaces traditional strategic planning with an ongoing, feedback-driven approach to direction and decision making. The metaphor he uses—a cyclist steering down a road—captures the shift from static prediction to continuous adaptation.

Riding the Bicycle of Business

Imagine trying to ride a bike using conventional corporate strategy. You’d hold a planning session to decide the angle of the handlebars, map the entire route, and then close your eyes and steer according to plan. You’d inevitably crash. Instead, Robertson argues that effective strategy works like real cycling: you keep your purpose in mind, stay attentive to the present moment, sense feedback, and adjust rapidly. The weaving motion of a cyclist embodies what he calls dynamic equilibrium—the continual adjustments that maintain balance and momentum.

Traditional strategic planning assumes predictability. Dynamic steering embraces reality’s unpredictability. When you commit to a fixed path (“We must be X company in five years”), you create attachment to an imagined future and blind yourself to emerging opportunities. Holacracy rejects this mindset in favor of present awareness: sensing reality as it is and moving responsively.

Strategy as Heuristics, Not Predictions

In Holacracy, strategy isn’t a forecast—it’s a rule of thumb or heuristic that helps you make better moment-to-moment choices. Robertson recommends phrasing strategies as “Emphasize X, even over Y.” Both X and Y are positive values, but the statement clarifies which to prioritize right now. For example, HolacracyOne once adopted “Emphasize documenting and aligning to standards, even over developing and co-creating novelty.”

This strategic polarity helped the organization shift focus from creative exploration to sustainable standardization. Robertson shares how this heuristic guided everyday decisions—from rejecting tempting new partnerships to investing in documentation. The strategy wasn’t permanent; once the tension resolved, they dropped it and moved on. Strategy becomes a living compass, not a static map.

Prediction vs. Projection

Robertson distinguishes between prediction (foretelling the future) and projection (extending current data forward). Good organizations use grounded projections—throwing forward from present reality—without pretending to know the future. This linguistic precision reminds teams to stay anchored in facts while exploring possibilities. Projection builds informed readiness; prediction breeds false certainty.

Strategy Meetings and Collective Alignment

To institutionalize dynamic steering, Holacracy introduces strategy meetings every six months. These aren’t planning events—they’re collective sensing sessions. Participants reflect on the organization’s history, group key tensions, and co-create heuristics like “authentically attract even over chasing.” The lead link proposes strategies through integrative decision making, ensuring alignment without coercion. Each participant then identifies projects and actions that embody the new strategic emphasis.

“When dynamic steering is done well, the organization moves like a skilled martial artist—present, fluid, and fearless.”

This evolutionary approach liberates organizations from futile prediction, replaces rigidity with presence, and treats planning as learning. You hold purpose like a compass, not a map—always steering, always adjusting. In a complex landscape, that’s how evolution wins.

Governance meetings are the beating heart of Holacracy. They are where organizations evolve by processing tensions one at a time into new clarity. Robertson compares them to sports games: once players know the rules, the game flows smoothly; without rules, chaos reigns.

How Governance Works

A governance meeting follows a precise, protected structure: check-in, build agenda, process items using integrative decision making, and close. Each step protects psychological safety and focus. In the “check-in” phase, participants share distractions to become present. Then, agenda items are proposed as brief placeholders for “tensions.”

When an item is processed, only the proposer speaks initially. Participants ask clarifying questions (not reactions), share reactions in turn, and raise objections if the proposal could cause harm. Valid objections are integrated until resolution. Any action defines new or amended roles, policies, or accountabilities—the only valid outputs of governance.

From Chaos to Clarity

Robertson uses a fictional “Better Widgets Company” scenario to demonstrate. A salesperson proposes halving widget prices. The facilitator calls out that pricing decisions are operational, not governance. But beneath the surface is a structural tension: no role owns pricing authority. Through integration, the group creates a new “Pricing Manager” role accountable for defining profitable models. One conversation transforms confusion into clarity—a tangible evolution of organizational DNA.

By enforcing strict boundaries between discussion and decision, governance meetings avoid bureaucracy and emotional drama. They produce just-in-time organizational design, not endless consensus.

Facilitators and Roles

Each circle elects a facilitator and secretary. The facilitator safeguards process, cutting off cross talk and enforcing boundaries. The secretary records decisions and maintains governance archives—accessible to all. Holacracy defines these archives as the organization’s DNA, comparable to living code that evolves as new mutations (decisions) prove their fitness.

“Structure that starts imperfect can quickly become well aligned with reality, through a continual process of facing and responding to tension.”

Governance meetings embody Holacracy’s evolutionary soul. They transform frustration into adaptation, confusion into clarity, and power into process. Over time, the rules fade into muscle memory, and the organization becomes what Robertson calls “a fluid tension-processing system.”

Where governance designs the system, operations make it run. Tactical meetings are Holacracy’s tool for aligning teams, tracking work, and resolving operational tensions. They are fast-paced and ruthlessly focused on action.

Structure and Flow

Each circle holds weekly tactical meetings. After a quick check-in, participants review checklists, metrics, and projects—three layers of visibility that build a shared picture of progress. Then, the facilitator invites agenda items: each represents a specific tension, processed through rapid triage. The key question is “What do you need?” The goal: resolve one tension at a time.

Robertson’s examples—from the fictional Better Widgets Company—show how this works. For instance, when customer training overlaps with website updates, team members clarify next-actions and projects on the spot, deferring structural changes to governance. This prevents meetings from devolving into analysis or complaint.

Project vs. Next-Action

Drawing from David Allen’s Getting Things Done, Robertson distinguishes between projects (outcomes) and next-actions (concrete steps). A “clean garage” is a project; “Google recycling center address” is a next-action. This clarity eliminates overwhelm. Holacracy embeds this discipline into collective work—it turns wishful thinking into executable commitments.

Transparency and Prioritization

Each member must maintain transparent lists of projects, share priorities, and process requests quickly. Rather than managing people, the system manages commitments. Robertson introduces the duty of processing (responding to requests), transparency (sharing progress), and prioritization (aligning with circle strategies). These rules form a behavioral backbone for adaptive collaboration.

No More What-By-Whens

Perhaps the most revolutionary idea in operations is abandoning rigid deadlines. Commitments (“by Tuesday”) create stress and false certainty. Holacracy replaces them with conscious prioritization: you act on what matters most now, not by arbitrary dates. Transparency and trust come from real-time updates, not promises. This method invites flow and responsiveness—the organization becomes more present, less pressured.

“33 agenda items in 55 minutes—#HolacracyWins.”

As teams master tactical meetings, they experience speed without chaos. Decision fatigue fades; coordination improves. Governance gives clarity; operations give rhythm—the result is a fast, focused, self-adjusting organization.

Adopting Holacracy is a paradigm shift, not a quick fix. Robertson compares it to teaching children soccer—you start by playing with all the rules, however imperfectly, and skill develops through practice. Organizations must adopt the entire system at once, rather than cherry-picking parts, to realize its full transformative power.

Five Steps to Launch

• Adopt the Constitution formally.
• Set up transparent governance records.
• Define an initial structure based on current reality.
• Hold first governance meetings and elections for facilitators, secretaries, and rep links.
• Establish regular tactical and governance meetings.

Adoption works best with experienced coaching and training. Robertson notes the success of Zappos and Medium, whose rollouts were supported by intensive workshops. He cautions against partial implementations (“Holacracy Lite”), which leave shadow hierarchies intact.

Apps and Upgrades

Once the Holacracy operating system is installed, companies can build “apps”—custom governance processes for compensation, performance reviews, or hiring. For example, HolacracyOne’s Badge-based Compensation App lets people earn badges for skills and receive pay based on market value. This modular approach allows teams to evolve human systems organically.

Why Holacracy Fails

Robertson candidly examines common failure patterns. The Reluctant-to-Let-Go Leader refuses to surrender control; the Uncooperative Middle—disempowered managers—resist change; and Stopping-Short Syndrome occurs when companies install meetings but ignore deeper structural systems like compensation or firing. Without transforming underlying power dynamics, old habits creep back.

“Holacracy isn’t about better meetings—it’s about changing who holds power and how the organization evolves.”

True adoption requires courage and discipline. When done right, it moves organizations from static bureaucracy to continuous evolution—a system that doesn’t just work but learns.

In the final chapter, Robertson explores what it feels like to live and work in a Holacracy-powered organization. The transformation is deeply psychological—it changes identity, relationships, and even sense of self.

Toppling the Hero

For leaders, adopting Holacracy means letting go of the “hero” identity. Founders and CEOs accustomed to control must release the illusion that they are indispensable. Robertson recounts his own struggle to stop being the heroic caretaker of his company. Once he surrendered control to the process, he experienced relief and liberation: “I no longer had to pretend to be superhuman.” Creativity flourished because authority no longer depended on personality; it was structural.

Empowering the Victim

Employees accustomed to deferring to bosses face the opposite challenge: learning to own their power. Holacracy shines a spotlight on avoidance—it’s difficult to hide behind victimhood when every tension can be processed into change. As Alexis Gonzales-Black of Zappos said, “Holacracy is not going to get rid of your problems; it’s a tool that allows you to solve your own.” Empowerment becomes self-generated.

Beyond Personal Politics

Perhaps most counterintuitive, Holacracy intentionally separates personal relationships from organizational governance. Decisions aren’t based on empathy or consensus—they’re structural, impersonal, and purpose-driven. At first, this can feel cold, especially in close-knit cultures. But as David Allen discovered in his own company, removing personal politics actually makes human connection more authentic. “It is an inappropriate use of love and care to use love and care to get something done,” he realized. With the organization’s space freed from emotional entanglement, love and care become more genuine.

A Leader-Full World

In the end, Holacracy doesn’t create leaderless organizations—it creates leader-full ones. Everyone leads their roles; no one dominates. Robertson imagines a future of “adults working together,” where self-management replaces command, and adaptation replaces prediction. Once you experience it, returning to conventional management feels impossible.

“Seek discipline and find your liberty.”

Holacracy invites a profound shift—from control to consciousness, from hierarchy to evolution. It doesn’t just redefine work; it redefines what it means to be free within a system. The outcome is not utopia, but an organism capable of continuous learning—a new way of being together.