In the media · 1980–2026
Four decades of headlines.
From “Virando a Própria Mesa” to Semco³: Ricardo Semler’s journey told through the pages of Harvard Business Review, Time, BBC, The Guardian, Financial Times, Folha, and Estadão — the press of seven countries across four decades. Every milestone links to the original source — and when the newspaper page is in the open domain, the clipping appears on hover.
46
years of headlines, from 1981 to 2026
4
continents of coverage
40+
outlets, from Time to Harvard
4M+
views on the TED talk
Era 01
1980–89
Semco and “Virando a Própria Mesa”
The decade of succession and participatory transformation: the first traces in the press in 1981, Semco as an HR case study in 1987, a publishing phenomenon in 1988, and the debut in Harvard Business Review.
1980
Biographical milestone
At 21, on day one, he replaces the old board of directors. Folha’s 1987 profile already noted the profit-sharing program had been running “for seven years”: the transformation began right along with the succession.
~Mar 1981
Jornal do Brasil + Jornal do Commercio (RJ)
The first traces in the press
The Brazilian National Library’s newspaper archive records mentions of “Ricardo Semler” in Jornal do Brasil and Jornal do Commercio as early as 1981 — years before he became a fixture of business news.
Jan 06, 1984
O Estado de S. Paulo · p. 23
“Managing director” of Semco do Brasil S.A., he announces continued investment after acquiring Flakt (Sweden’s Asea group) and BAC (America’s Merc).
Jun 21, 1987
Folha de S.Paulo · Classifolha, p. C-19
“Ricardo Frank Semler, 27, CEO of Semco”: ~700 employees, revenue of Cz$ 400 million, and the profit-sharing program in place “for seven years.” A year before the book, Semco was already making news as an HR case study.
Feb 1988+
Exame
Semco becomes a recurring case study in Exame
The magazine follows the experiment from February 1988 onward (the quality control circles at Semco), with “Quem ganha o jogo é o time” (1990), “Os executivos dos anos noventa” (1990), and testimonials from executives at Rhodia, Monsanto, and Garrett. Between 1988 and 1990, more than a thousand visitors toured the Santo Amaro factory to see it up close.
May–Dec 1988
Book · Editora Best Seller
Launched with a lecture at FGV-EAESP in May 1988; by June, Folha already listed it in the top 10, with the slogan “the best remedy for the ills of Brazilian business.” In Jornal do Brasil, mentions of Semler jumped from about 2 a year to 31 in 1988. It would become the best-selling nonfiction book in Brazil’s history; in October 1993, La Vanguardia reported 460,000 copies.
Jul 20, 1988
Veja · Páginas Amarelas
Interview in the Páginas Amarelas
“A 28-year-old businessman, a law graduate, owner of Semco.” The interview echoed all the way to Brasília: the Diário do Congresso Nacional and the Senate records quote passages from issue no. 29.
1988
Rádio Eldorado + PNBE
Business commentator on Rádio Eldorado and Nova Eldorado AM, and part of the founding core of PNBE (Pensamento Nacional das Bases Empresariais). At 28, a public voice reaching far beyond his own company.
Jan 09, 1989
Folha de S.Paulo · Opinion, p. A-3
“Não temos miséria suficiente” (we don’t have enough misery), an op-ed by Semler
His debut as an opinion writer on Folha’s Tendências/Debates page, a space he would return to many times over the following decades.
Sep 1989
Harvard Business Review
“Managing Without Managers”
His first first-person article in HBR and his entry into elite US business media, before Maverick: 800 employees setting their own hours, open salaries, factory committees.
Era 02
1990–99
Maverick and international fame
In Brazil, the absolute peak of his presence (72 mentions in Jornal do Brasil in 1990): Roda Viva, two awards, a manifesto, and a weekly Folha column. Abroad, Maverick becomes a phenomenon through the British and European press.
Jan 15, 1990
TV Cultura · Roda Viva
Ninety minutes on Roda Viva
At 30, on the eve of Collor’s inauguration: the “bionic manager,” radical transparency (“employees audit our books; there’s no second set”), and the prediction of “a very handsome default” on domestic debt, two months before the Collor Plan. The full transcript and video are in the FAPESP archive.
Nov 01, 1990
O Estado de S. Paulo · front page + Economy p. 3
The Gazeta Mercantil Balanço Anual poll, at the height of the Collor Plan crisis; Olacyr de Moraes came second. The award ceremony, in September 1991, would produce the manifesto episode.
Sep 10–11, 1991
Folha de S.Paulo · front page, editorial, full text
Semler skipped the ceremony: he was abroad, speaking to General Motors’ board, and had received death threats after denouncing bribe-taking by inspectors. He sent a written speech, read by Clóvis Bojikian: “world history shows that elites have never introduced changes that favor society as a whole... Only we can end corruption.” Folha ran the full text, an editorial, and Clóvis Rossi’s column; the impact was national.
1991–95
Folha de S.Paulo · first section
A weekly columnist in Folha’s first section from September 1991 to March 1995, plus stand-alone op-eds in Tendências/Debates (“O emendão e o ventilador,” 1991; “Câmbio, roger, câmbio,” written from London, 1993).
1992
Estadão + Folha
At the height of his public influence, courted even for politics, he launches “Embrulhando o Peixe — Crônicas de Um Empresário do Sanatório Brasil”: a signing at Masp and a hardcover edition sold out months before the event.
Oct 30, 1992
O Estado de S. Paulo · Economy p. 5
For the second time in three years, the top vote-getter in Gazeta Mercantil’s Balanço Anual among executives from across the country.
1993
World Economic Forum
World Economic Forum “Global Leader of Tomorrow”
The Forum’s official list — the Class of 1993 — includes “Semler, Ricardo F. — Semco SA” among the global leaders of tomorrow.
1993
Book · Warner Books (US) + Century (UK)
The American and British launch takes Semco to the world: the cover of The Guardian’s culture section, a tour through more than 20 countries, and translations from Swedish to Czech, in at least 14 languages.
Jun 25, 1993
Financial Times (UK)
“Secrets of the Semler Effect — The Man Who Set Corporate Culture on its Head”
Tim Dickson’s feature at the peak of the first international wave: the man who turned corporate culture upside down.
Sep 01, 1993
BBC Radio 4 · In Business
“Who Needs Managers?”, Peter Day reporting from Brazil
In the wake of Maverick, Radio 4’s business program visits “the company that tore up the management rulebook.”
Oct 30, 1993
La Vanguardia (ES)
A full page: “La revolución del sentido común”
The cover of the Economía y Negocios supplement and a full-page interview, in Madrid, for the launch of “Radical” (Plaza & Janés). In the same period, “Das Semco System” became a bestseller in Germany (Heyne, 1993), praised by Wirtschaftswoche, and Colombia’s El Tiempo ran a piece by Semler himself.
1993–95
US regional press + UK trade press
Maverick’s international wave
Dallas Morning News (“Democracy at Work”), The Plain Dealer (“Democracy as a Management Strategy”), the Conference Board’s Across the Board (an article by Semler himself), and the Mail on Sunday (Robert Heller): between HBR, the regional press, and academia, the case traveled across the entire US and UK.
Jan 1994
Harvard Business Review
“Why My Former Employees Still Work for Me”
His second HBR article, right after Maverick: how the satellite program (outsourcing to former employees) saved Semco in the 1990 crisis.
Dec 05, 1994
Time
One of three Brazilians on Time’s list of young world leaders, alongside Marina Silva and Ciro Gomes, with coverage in Revista da Folha.
1997
Exame + Folha
The only Brazilian at the world’s biggest speakers bureau
Exame notes that Semler was the only Brazilian represented by the Leigh Bureau, the American agency behind the world’s top speakers — his international consecration on the circuit. That same year, Semco Cushman & Wakefield expanded to Chile and Argentina.
Era 03
2000–09
Seven-Day Weekend, the British axis, and Lumiar
The second English-language book sparks the second international wave — Guardian and Observer up front — while the BBC devotes radio and TV to him, Fortune covers the case, Australian TV produces two pieces, and Semler opens the education front.
May–Jun 2000
BBC World Service + Radio 4
“Global Business: The Semco Story” (2 parts) and “In Business: Still a Maverick”
The World Service devoted two ~27-minute editions to Semco, still available on BBC Sounds today; days later, Peter Day revisited him on Radio 4.
Sep 2000
Harvard Business Review
“How We Went Digital Without a Strategy”
The third article in the HBR trilogy. It opens with “I own a $160 million South American company named Semco, and I have no idea what business it’s in”: the pivot to services and digital.
Nov 26, 2001
Fortune + CNN Money
“The Anti-Control Freak” in Fortune
Fortune profiles the anti-boss in November 2001; CNN Money would return to the theme in 2002, asking what fulfillment at work really looks like.
2003
Book + education
“The Seven-Day Weekend” and the founding of the Lumiar School
Lumiar’s first major story ran in Estadão (“A escola reinventada em São Paulo — sem salas de aula,” the school reinvented, without classrooms), followed by Gilberto Dimenstein’s series in Folha Sinapse (“Ricardo Semler faz escola”). In 2015, the method would be licensed to Abril Educação.
Apr–May 2003
Guardian, Observer, Times, Management Today (UK)
The British blitz for the Seven-Day Weekend
The Guardian’s G2 runs “‘Idleness is good’” and The Observer the era’s defining interview, “Who’s in charge here? No one” (Simon Caulkin) — Caulkin, The Observer’s management editor, would champion the case for the entire decade. The Times: “Pragmatic, inspirational and intriguing advice.”
Dec 02, 2003
BBC Four · TV
“Ricardo Semler – the Anarchist Millionaire,” a prime-time documentary
“The maverick Brazilian business guru is profiled” (Radio Times). It premiered at 8:30 pm on BBC Four, with reruns in 2004.
2004
US trade press + Boston Globe + CNN
The year of the “Maverick CEO”
BizEd (“The Maverick CEO”), Across the Board (“The Anti-CEO”), CIO Insight (“Set Them Free”), the Boston Globe, and CNN’s profile: more than 3,000 employees and 1% turnover, according to Semco itself.
Jun 15, 2005
SBS Dateline (Australia)
“Brazil’s Caring Capitalist,” a report by Peter Martin
The Australian public TV report that traveled the world as “The Caring Capitalist” (Journeyman Pictures). Two years later, ABC would air Kerry O’Brien’s interview on the 7.30 Report; in the same window, Época published “O Informal de Harvard.”
Sep 22, 2005
MIT Sloan · Distinguished Speaker Series
The “Leading by Omission” lecture
In the MIT Sloan Distinguished Speaker Series, where he was a visiting professor — a period in which he also served as a visiting scholar at Harvard Law School. The video is on MIT TechTV.
Nov 29, 2005
strategy+business (PwC/Booz)
“Ricardo Semler Won’t Take Control,” by Lawrence M. Fisher
The era’s most complete long-form profile: 27.5% annual growth for 14 years and the metric that traveled the world — “$100,000 invested in Semco 20 years earlier would be worth $5.4 million,” by the company’s own numbers.
Aug 2006
Book · Rocco
“Você Está Louco!” (you’re crazy!), the third Brazilian book
“A life managed differently”: a launch note in Folha, a review in Ilustrada, more than two months on the bestseller lists, and the 13th best-selling business book of 2007.
Era 04
2010–19
TED, Semco Partners, and the Dutch wave
Dutch public TV discovers Semler before TED; the holding-company phase brings Valor, WSJ, and New York Magazine back to the case; the 2014 talk renews his worldwide visibility; and the Netherlands becomes the hottest market, culminating in the Semco Style Institute.
Sep 2010
brand eins (DE)
“Mach es zu deinem Projekt!” (make it your project!)
A profile in the succession issue of Germany’s cult business magazine: Semler as the boss who “likes to make himself dispensable.”
May 20, 2011
GloboNews · Conta Corrente
An interview on innovation in education
On Brazilian cable TV, Lumiar and the education agenda were already sharing the stage with management.
2011–14
Valor + WSJ + New York Magazine + Estadão
The Semco Partners phase in the business press
“É ele mesmo, cinquentão” (Valor Eu&), “Semco Partners vai investir em serviços” (Valor), the Paychex joint venture in WSJ Americas and Reuters, “The Boss Stops Here” in New York Magazine, and “A ‘Starbucks’ do imposto de renda” (Estadão, the H&R Block JV). Meanwhile, he returns as a Folha columnist and opens the Botanique hotel.
Feb 2013
VPRO Tegenlicht · Dutch public TV
“De kapitale kracht van geluk” (the capital power of happiness)
A portrait episode on Semler and Semco, with an exclusive ~90-minute interview as a bonus. A year and a half before TED, Dutch public TV was already treating Semler as documentary material.
Jun 23–24, 2014
Nieuwsuur (NOS) + De Baak
“Ondernemen op z’n Braziliaans” (doing business the Brazilian way) and the seminar with 1,600 paying attendees
On the eve of De Baak’s “Ricardo Semler & friends” seminar, Nieuwsuur devotes a report to “the company without a boss.” The event sells out, #SemlerNL trends, and coverage spreads across Nu.nl, BNR, and Management Team. The Semler–Van Brakel partnership would be born there.
Oct 09, 2014
TEDGlobal 2014 · Rio de Janeiro
The TEDGlobal talk
On the Session 10 stage (“Lateral Action”), he coins his signature line, “If you’re giving back, you took too much.” G1 and the Brazilian press cover the event in Rio.
Feb 08, 2015
VPRO Tegenlicht / Backlight
“De nieuwe wijsheid van Ricardo Semler”
The second dedicated documentary in two years, filmed on Semler’s property in Brazil, with ~2 hours of interviews. The international version circulates as “Capitalising Happiness”; Catalonia’s TV3 aired it as “Capitalitzar la felicitat.” No other TV network in the world devoted two documentaries to him in so short a time.
Feb 10, 2015
TED.com
“How to run a company with (almost) no rules” published online
The decade’s biggest mainstream milestone: more than 4 million plays on TED.com, plus the official YouTube channel. Recorded in Rio in October 2014, published in February 2015.
Sep 2015
FOX Business · Stossel
A profile on John Stossel’s show
A profile segment on FOX Business, with reruns into 2016. That same year, his Endeavor CEO Summit talk became his biggest Portuguese-language piece on YouTube.
Dec 11, 2015
WISE · Qatar Foundation
In the “Eminent Voices” series, as “Founder of the Lumiar School”
A video interview by the Qatar Foundation: the institutional consecration of the education era.
May 2016
MT/Sprout (NL)
The Semco Style Institute is born
“Hoe Ricardo Semler de zakenpartner van Arko van Brakel werd” (how Semler became Arko van Brakel’s business partner): coverage of the institute’s founding in Utrecht (Semler, Van Brakel, Farouk el Kodady, and Luuk Willems). The same year, Época Negócios runs “Precisamos libertar as pessoas de toda a estupidez que criamos nas empresas” and De Groene Amsterdammer the essay “Iedereen de baas.”
Feb 2017
FD · Het Financieele Dagblad (NL)
“Wie zijn personeel laat beslissen, maakt winst”
“Let your people decide, and you turn a profit”: the Dutch financial daily reports that the Semler style is winning converts in the country.
Mar 19, 2017
The Tim Ferriss Show · #229
“Ricardo Semler — The Seven-Day Weekend and How to Break the Rules” (2h08m)
Two hours of conversation on one of the world’s biggest podcasts. The same year, Semler launches his own podcast, “Leading Wisely,” and Handelsblatt hails him as a pioneer of corporate democracy.
Mar 02, 2018
NRC Handelsblad (NL)
“Nederland is een behoorlijk anarchistisch land”
An interview in Rotterdam: “the Netherlands is a fairly anarchist country,” he tells NRC — in the country where, as the paper noted, nobody likes the word boss.
source: NRC Handelsblad · Mar 02, 2018Mar 07, 2019
XING NWX · Elbphilharmonie Hamburg
The “Still a Long Way to New Work” keynote (#NWX19)
The peak of the German phase: a keynote at Europe’s biggest New Work event, in Germany’s most prestigious concert hall, covered by the trade press. It cements Semler as a canonical reference of the German-speaking New Work movement, which began with the bestseller “Das Semco System” (1993).
Era 05
2020–26
Education, new projects, and a selective global voice
The decade of the move to San Diego and the return to the subject he loves most: education. His media presence is selective, concentrated in his own channels, keynotes, and a few chosen major interviews.
Jan 2020
GloboNews · Diálogos
An interview with Mário Sérgio Conti
On GloboNews’ Diálogos: a long conversation about management, education, and Brazil.
Jul 15, 2020
UOL + IdEA-Unicamp
“Conversas na Crise,” a livestream hosted by Paulo Markun
An hour on entrepreneurship, the economy, and education during the pandemic — reuniting him with Markun three decades after the 1990 Roda Viva.
Apr 15, 2021
Exame (BR)
“Falta grandeza ao Brasil” (Brazil lacks greatness), an interview
From his home in the Serra da Mantiqueira, days before the move to San Diego.
Aug 2022
MT/Sprout (NL)
“Weg met de hiërarchie” (down with hierarchy)
One of the most-read profiles on the leading Dutch management site, which keeps an entire section devoted to Semler.
2024–26
Podcast + keynote circuit
“Leading Wisely,” global talks, and the “Round Pyramid”
The current moment: his own podcast, the keynote “The NEW future of work in the age of AI” via Oration Speakers, and the “Round Pyramid” model, announced as the step for 2026.
Mar 2026
NeoFeed + Valor (BR)
“Ricardo Semler quer, agora, ‘virar a mesa’ do ensino” (now Semler wants to turn the tables on education)
The launch interview for the UnTethered/DesColada learning platform and the Nova Lumi school; Semler, 66, speaking from San Diego, echoed in Valor Eu& (“O fim da escola”). Almost four decades after “Virando a Própria Mesa,” the Brazilian press is back covering him as he turns over another table: education.