Gore’s Democratic Culture Drives Innovation

The CEO of W.L. Gore & Associates recently gave a lecture at MIT titled “Nurturing a Vibrant Culture to Drive Innovation.”

Gore is a highly successful and innovative company that has developed a unique democratic environment.  Gore’s culture, which despises bureaucracy and hierarchy, has been credited as one of the key enablers of its explosive growth and market leadership over the past several decades as well as its expansion into entirely new product areas. 

At Gore, there are no job titles, bosses, or chains of command.  Instead, everyone is an “associate,” and team leaders are chosen by their coworkers.  New associates, who are interviewed and hired by groups of their peers, are assigned a “sponsor” to introduce them to Gore’s team-based culture.  New associates are then encouraged to join groups whose projects are best suited to their skills and interests.

Innovation and experimentation are encouraged, and mistakes are not punished.  It is therefore not surprising that Gore, which was started out as a small chemicals company in 1958, has been able to invent numerous industry-leading technologies that have dominated their markets, such as GORE-TEX fabric and Elixir guitar strings.  The 8,000 associates working at Gore’s 45 locations around the world currently generate over $2 billion per year.

Gore has been named to FORTUNE’s list of “100 Best Companies to Work For” in each of the past 12 years.