Are You Burying Talent or Multiplying It?

The first session is always the same ritual: a room full of people meeting for the first time.

They share their stories, their hopes, and their ambitions. The room is always full of excitement and curiosity.

Every start of a new cohort reminds me of the early days.

Of the people who joined our very first Masterclasses, years ago, when “self-management” still raised more eyebrows than interest.

What fascinates me most isn’t the six weeks themselves.

It’s what happens after.

​The puzzle

We’re still in touch with many alumni. And it’s endlessly interesting to see where their organizational adventures take them.

One of them is Pande Kadek, CEO of Fajar Benua, an Indonesian company I’ve written about before.

During this week's Masterclass kick-off, I was reminded of a conversation I had with Pande some months ago at an event in Japan.

Over dinner, Pande shared a puzzle that had haunted him for years.

Before Fajar’s transformation, the company was all about command-and-control.

Inside the organization, employees showed little entrepreneurial behavior. They followed procedures. Played it safe. Waited for instructions.

And yet…

Many of Fajar’s fiercest competitors were founded by former Fajar employees.

The same people who appeared passive inside the company became bold entrepreneurs the moment they left it.

For years, Pande couldn’t wrap his head around it.

He asked me over dinner:

"How could the same people transform so radically overnight?"​

Ask the expert

His question reminded me of a story told by Jabi Salcedo from NER Group, and our colleague at Krisos.

Jabi once shared this during a Masterclass Q&A (the weekly expert sessions of this learning program).

Years ago, Jabi was invited into a foundry of about 700 people to start a journey toward radical decentralization.

On his first days, he noticed a guy sitting alone behind a computer. He was not part of any team, and had no clear role.

The guy explained that a previous boss had removed him from his team because he was considered “useless.”

Another boss had done the same.

Eventually, no one knew where to place the "useless guy."

So they sat him in front of a screen that simply counted the number of mistakes in the foundry.

When Jabi asked what the man actually did, no one could answer.

He produced no measurable output.

In most traditional organizations, this is the moment where someone gets labeled underperforming.

And is made redundant.

The useless employee who organized two planes

But NER works differently.

Before any transformation begins, they talk to everyone in the organization.

They engage in adult-to-adult conversations about fears, expectations, and dreams.

So instead of judging, Jabi sat down with the "useless guy."

At first, it didn’t help. To Jabi he also really did seem disengaged and unmotivated.

Until the conversation drifted to his life outside the factory.

Suddenly, everything changed.

The man lit up.

It turned out he was a die-hard supporter of his local football club. A club that had just qualified for a European competition.

Proudly, he showed Jabi a newspaper.

A full page about him.

The article described how he had organized two planes and six buses to get supporters to an away match in another country.

Let that sink in.

Inside the organization, he was seen as useless.

Outside of it, he was coordinating logistics on a scale many managers never touch.

The man wasn’t talentless. The system was.

Bureaucracy buries talent

In Jabi’s story lies the answer to Pande’s puzzle.

At Fajar (and in countless traditional organizations), talent wasn’t absent.

It was buried.

The old operating system rewarded compliance, not initiative. So people learned to play safe.

To stay quiet.

To keep their energy underground.

And once they stepped outside the system, those same people flourished.

Talent wasted, it turns out, is worse than talent lost.

Autonomy multiplies talent

After the Masterclass, Pande had a breakthrough.

The problem was never the people.

It was the design.

If you want entrepreneurial behavior, you can’t bury people in bureaucracy.

So Pande transformed Fajar into a flat, decentralized organization.

And people were invited to act like entrepreneurs inside the company, not just after quitting it.

The result? Much better business outcomes.

And, just as important, a more human workplace.​

Stories yet to be written

As I looked around the room this Tuesday, I couldn't help but wonder:

What stories will this cohort write?

We'll find out soon, or later.

And if you're ready to design a system that multiplies talent instead of burying it, you might want to join the next Spring cohort.