When we have President's Lectures at the school, the speakers from big global companies often pack the house. They are usually grappling with the challenge of running large, or sometimes even global organizations. That's interesting, but often strikes me as trying to steer a supertanker. Not something many of us do.

I often prefer it when speakers from smaller companies give a lecture. It seems closer to the daily experience most of us have -- working in small teams and small organizations.

Filip Nilsson was one of my recent personal favorites among our lecturers for this very reason. In November he gave a look behind the scenes at how a 120-person agency in Sweden's No. 2 city has managed to win Agency of the Year in Sweden for an astounding 15 consecutive years. And not just in Sweden alone: Forsman & Bodenfors consistently wins some of the top awards at global advertising festivals like Cannes Lions, meaning they are doing work that sets new global standards.

Filip's lecture title was "because we're different," and he laid out some key structural reasons why his agency has developed a company culture that achieves excellence.

The main points I took away were:
1. They have a radically democratic corporate structure, with 27 equal partners each holding just under 4% of the company. That's not a typo.
2. Since no one is going to get stinking rich atop this structure, they also try to focus on having real lives too (although in the early days they were workaholics anyway)
3. They have no clear company heirarchy; decisions are made as a group the way Indian tribes used to decide-- by the power of interpersonal persuasion.
4.  They are small by choice, having resisted the constant temptation and offers to either grow bigger or sell themselves to a large holding company.
5. Despite being small, they hold themselves to high standards of creative excellence.
6. The creative work-in-progress is always placed in the middle of the room so that everyone in the company is exposed to it and can offer feedback. It generates crowdsourced creativity.

This structure leads to problems too. It can take a couple of years for new employees to learn the unwritten organigram that everyone has in their heads (who is respected, whose word carries weight, etc.)

But it has obviously worked very well for Forsman & Bodenfors.

The complete lecture is now online, as is Michael Conrad's Tent Talk with Filip. Thanks again to Filip for his visit and inspiration.