If GPT wrote my book
Over the course of writing How to fire Your Boss and Redeem the Economy, I’ve tried various ways of utilizing AI including RAG, vector databases and advanced voice mode dialogues, with a lot of unimpressive results.
But today was a new pinnacle of satisfaction. Instead of having GPT interview me for a conversation, I uploaded the book and interviewed it as if it were the author. Here’s the back and forth:
GPT:
It looks like you've uploaded the final version of How to Fire Your Boss. How can I assist? Are you looking for a review, edits, formatting, publishing guidance, or something else?
Me:
Hi. It's great to have you on. You're on a podcast, and you wrote that book. You wrote How to Fire Your Boss. So, refresh your memory through it, take a look through, and then I want you to tell the audience, what is co-capitalism?
Thanks for having me. I’m excited to be here.
So, How to Fire Your Boss is about something I call co-capitalism—a way of working that moves beyond traditional hierarchy and reclaims our autonomy, our value, and ultimately, our stake in the economy.
We’ve all felt it. The frustration of being stuck in a system that doesn’t reward us fairly. The feeling that our work is making someone else rich while we scrape by. The knowledge that we could be doing something more meaningful—if only we weren’t chained to a corporate structure that treats us like cogs in a machine.
Co-capitalism is the answer to that. It’s not anti-capitalist—it embraces free markets. But instead of being about squeezing workers for maximum profit, it’s about aligning value creation with the people actually doing the work.
Think of it like this: in traditional capitalism, power is concentrated at the top—bosses, executives, and shareholders who make decisions and reap the rewards. Everyone else works within a rigid hierarchy that stifles autonomy and innovation.
In co-capitalism, we flip that. The people who create the value—the workers—own and control the business. Instead of working for a company, we work within an organization where decisions are made collectively, where pay is tied directly to value, and where there are no artificial power structures dictating who gets what.
It’s built on three pillars:
Agency – You control your work, your time, and your direction.
Value – What you contribute determines what you earn, not some arbitrary salary structure.
Alignment – The company’s success is your success, and vice versa.
This isn’t some utopian fantasy—it’s already happening. Companies like Valve, Mondragón, and Zappos have proven that decentralized, worker-driven business models can not only work but can outperform traditional hierarchies.
What I lay out in the book is how we get there—whether you want to start your own co-capitalist business, introduce these ideas into your existing workplace, or simply shift your mindset to regain control over your work life.
Because here’s the truth: you already are your own boss. You just need to claim it.
And so, how do we go about claiming it, me as an individual? What's my first step?
Great question. Claiming your role as your own boss starts with reframing how you see work—not as a job you do for someone else, but as a value exchange where you control your contribution and rewards.
Here’s how to start:
Step 1: Recognize Your Value
Your first job isn’t to quit your job—it’s to recognize what you bring to the table. Companies profit because of the work people like you do. The more aware you are of your unique value—your skills, your experience, your creativity—the more you can leverage it for yourself.
Ask yourself:
What am I actually good at?
What part of my job would people pay me for directly?
Where do I provide the most value in my current role?
The goal here is to stop thinking like an employee and start thinking like a co-entrepreneur—someone who has something valuable to offer.
Step 2: Shift from Task-Based Thinking to Outcome-Based Thinking
In traditional work, you get paid for showing up and completing tasks. In co-capitalism, you get paid for creating value. The shift is subtle but huge.
Instead of “I answer emails all day,” reframe it: “I streamline communication and solve problems quickly.”
Instead of “I work customer support,” reframe it: “I increase customer retention, which boosts revenue.”
Instead of “I’m just a coder,” reframe it: “I build products that solve real problems.”
Why does this matter? Because companies don’t actually care about your hours—they care about what your work produces. When you start framing your contributions in terms of value, you’ll begin to see opportunities to monetize your skills outside of the corporate structure—whether that’s freelancing, consulting, or launching your own co-capitalist venture.
Step 3: Experiment with Small-Scale Autonomy
You don’t have to quit tomorrow. Start testing autonomy now in ways that reduce your dependence on hierarchy:
Treat your boss like a client. Instead of thinking of them as someone who controls you, think of them as someone paying for your services.
Negotiate for results, not tasks. Ask for more flexibility, performance-based pay, or remote work.
Start a side gig. Find a way to directly monetize your skills—freelancing, consulting, or building a product.
This isn’t about abandoning stability—it’s about creating multiple revenue streams so your income isn’t tied to a single company.
Step 4: Find Your People
Co-capitalism works best in partnerships. You’re not doing this alone. Find like-minded people—colleagues, friends, or online communities—who share your vision for work that’s more autonomous, more value-driven, and more equitable.
Ways to do this:
Start small collaborations (maybe a Slack or Discord group).
Join cooperative work projects or open-source initiatives.
Explore fractional work opportunities where you contribute to multiple projects.
Step 5: Make the Leap (When You’re Ready)
The goal isn’t just to escape your job—it’s to build a better way of working. Some people will start their own co-capitalist business. Others will push for these changes in their current workplace.
Your leap might be:
Launching a co-owned business with partners instead of traditional investors.
Joining an employee-owned cooperative.
Shifting into consulting or contract work where you own your time.
The key is ownership. Co-capitalism is about making sure you get the rewards for the value you create.
Final Thought: You Already Are Your Own Boss
You may not realize it yet, but every day, you make choices that define your work-life autonomy. The difference is that, right now, you’re likely renting your time to a system that profits more from your work than you do.
The goal of co-capitalism isn’t just to make work better—it’s to make sure that we—the people who create value—are the ones who benefit from it.
So, the first step? Stop asking permission. Start claiming your value.
Wow, that sounds really pretty powerful. Now, what is this co-capitalism stuff? How is that different than my regular job? I think you mentioned hierarchy. What's the difference? What's the problem with hierarchy?
Great question. The biggest difference between co-capitalism and a regular job comes down to who owns and controls the value being created.
The Problem with Hierarchy
Hierarchy is the default structure of work. It's top-down, meaning:
Decisions come from above (bosses, executives, shareholders).
The people doing the work have little to no say in how things are run.
The rewards (profits, promotions, control) are concentrated at the top.
In your regular job, you trade your time for money, and someone else—your boss, CEO, or shareholders—owns the outcome of your work.
For example:
If you design a great product, your company profits—but you don’t get a bigger cut.
If you solve a major problem for customers, your company’s value goes up—but your salary stays the same.
If you make an executive look good, they get promoted—but your work remains underappreciated.
Hierarchy separates power from the people doing the work. The higher-ups call the shots, often without understanding the ground-level realities. That’s why companies make bad decisions, waste talent, and fail to fully reward the people creating the actual value.
What Makes Co-Capitalism Different?
Co-capitalism flips the model so that the people creating the value also own and control the business. Instead of one person at the top controlling everything, you and your peers work together in a system where:
Decisions are made collectively, not dictated from above.
Pay is tied to actual contributions, not arbitrary salaries.
Ownership is distributed, so the people who build the company also benefit from it.
This means:
No bosses making bad decisions for you. You and your team decide the direction of the work.
No fighting over scraps while the top takes the profits. You get paid based on what you actually contribute.
No artificial corporate ladders to climb. Your influence comes from the value you bring, not from politics or favoritism.
How Does This Look in Practice?
Co-capitalism isn’t just a theory—it’s already happening in companies that run without bosses and with shared ownership.
Examples:
Mondragón – A massive worker-owned cooperative in Spain where 70,000 employees have a vote in how the business runs.
Valve – A billion-dollar video game company with no managers. Employees choose their projects and share decision-making.
Zappos – Experimented with a boss-free structure where employees self-organized and took responsibility for their roles.
In these models, power is spread out, not stacked up.
So What’s Wrong with Hierarchy?
It’s not just that hierarchy feels bad—it’s that it’s bad business. It leads to:
Wasted potential. People check out because their ideas aren’t valued.
Slow decisions. Everything has to go up the chain, leading to bottlenecks.
Toxic culture. People fight for promotions, hoard information, and play politics.
Bad pay. The biggest profits go to those in control, not those doing the work.
Poor adaptability. Big companies struggle to change because decisions have to go through multiple layers of approval.
Co-capitalism removes the power struggles, inefficiencies, and exploitation that hierarchy naturally creates.
What’s the Bottom Line?
Hierarchy is built to control people.
Co-capitalism is built to empower people.
The goal isn’t just to make work less miserable—it’s to build a system where work is actually rewarding, fair, and driven by value, not power.
So when I say How to Fire Your Boss, I don’t just mean quitting your job. I mean replacing the boss system altogether—so that the people who actually create the value are the ones who benefit from it.
And that? That’s the future of work.
Yeah, on some of those problems, because I know you delve pretty deep into the nature of the problems of hierarchy in the book, can you describe some of those that you went to in terms of the bad business, wasted potential, slow to... Can you describe those in a little bit more detail? How they work? Because most people just say, well, it is what it is. That's work. It sucks for some years, and then I become a manager, and guess what? You become a manager, it sucks even more. You're just trying to get the payback for all the times you were overseeing other people. I get that, but tell me more about these problems.
Absolutely. You hit on something key—most people assume this is just how work is supposed to be. We’re told to climb the ladder, grind through, and one day, when we’re in charge, things will get better. But they don’t. Because hierarchy itself is the problem. It’s not about individual bosses being bad (though some are)—it’s about the system creating inefficiency, wasted talent, and bad business decisions.
Here are some of the biggest problems of hierarchy that I break down in How to Fire Your Boss:
1. Wasted Potential – Why 85% of Workers Check Out
The biggest untapped economic resource in the world isn’t oil or AI—it’s disengaged workers. Gallup research shows that 85% of employees worldwide are not engaged at work. That’s trillions of dollars in lost productivity.
Why? Because hierarchy disconnects people from their own work.
You’re given tasks, not problems to solve.
You don’t get a say in decisions that affect your job.
Even if you see a better way to do things, you need approval to act on it.
Your motivation is tied to obedience, not innovation.
Imagine you’re a software engineer, and you see a way to improve a product. In a hierarchical company:
You can’t just do it. You have to get approval.
The approval process takes weeks.
A manager who doesn’t understand the product weighs in.
Your idea gets rejected or watered down.
You stop trying. Why bother?
Over time, this process kills creativity and turns smart, capable people into passive workers. Instead of solving problems, they clock in, complete tasks, and clock out. The result? Mediocre work, low morale, and lost profits.
In co-capitalism, workers are directly connected to the success of what they create. There’s no bottleneck between having a good idea and acting on it. If something works, the group moves on it immediately.
2. Slow Decision-Making – Why Hierarchy is Bad for Business
The idea that hierarchy is necessary for efficiency is a myth.
In reality, it’s one of the biggest obstacles to getting things done.
Let’s say your company needs to make a major change:
A frontline worker notices a problem.
They flag it to their manager.
The manager sits on it for a while.
Eventually, it goes up the chain.
Executives weigh in (who haven’t done the job in years).
A committee forms to discuss.
More meetings.
More back-and-forth.
More approval steps.
By the time a decision is made, the market has already changed.
This process isn’t just frustrating—it’s bad business. In fast-moving industries, companies that can’t pivot quickly get left behind.
Compare that to co-capitalism:
Decisions are made by the people doing the work.
If a change is needed, it happens immediately.
There’s no waiting on approval from someone disconnected from the job.
Valve, the gaming company, is a great example of this.
Instead of waiting for executive approval, employees self-organize, pick projects, and move fast. That’s how they built Steam, a billion-dollar gaming platform, with zero corporate bureaucracy slowing them down.
3. The Bad Pay Game – Why Workers Always Lose
Here’s the dirty secret of hierarchy:
Your pay isn’t based on how much value you create.
It’s based on:
What the company can get away with paying you.
How much leverage you have.
Your place in the power structure.
Think about why raises suck:
If you ask for a raise, they say budgets are tight.
If you push harder, they say it’s not the right time.
If you threaten to leave, suddenly they have 40% more for you.
That means your real value was always higher—they were just keeping the extra.
Hierarchy naturally funnels profits upward, because the top controls the money.
Executives justify their pay by saying they make big decisions, but we’ve already seen that those decisions are slow, detached, and often wrong. So why do they get 200x more than workers? Because they control the budget.
Co-capitalism fixes this by tying pay directly to value creation.
If your work increases revenue, you get a direct share.
Pay is transparent—no hidden salary games.
Raises aren’t at the whim of a manager—they’re based on actual impact.
In a co-capitalist business, you’d own a stake in what you create. You’re not just getting a paycheck—you’re building real wealth.
4. The Fake Ladder – Why Climbing the Corporate Ladder is a Trap
Hierarchy sells you a dream:
If you just work hard, play the game, and climb the ladder, one day, you’ll be in charge.
But here’s the truth:
Most promotions don’t go to the best people—they go to the most political.
The ladder is a pyramid—99% of people will never reach the top.
Even if you become a manager, guess what? It sucks.
You make more money, but now you’re dealing with pointless bureaucracy.
You become the enforcer of bad decisions.
Many managers are miserable, because instead of doing good work, they’re stuck justifying dumb policies from above.
In co-capitalism, there is no ladder.
You grow by increasing your value, not by playing politics.
You don’t need to wait years for a title—you can immediately step into leadership by solving problems.
You earn more by contributing more, not by sitting in meetings and hoarding power.
5. The Fake Family Lie – Why Work is Not Your Family
You’ve heard it before:
"We’re like a family here."
Translation?
"We expect you to sacrifice for us, but we’ll fire you in a heartbeat."
Hierarchy thrives on this lie, making you feel emotionally attached so that you give more than you get:
You work overtime for free because you’re loyal.
You don’t push for a raise because you feel like part of a team.
You stay at a toxic job because you’ve built relationships.
But the moment profits dip, what happens?
Layoffs.
Cost-cutting.
Restructuring.
The company was never your family.
It was a business. And you were a resource, not a partner.
Co-capitalism removes the lie.
Work isn’t a family—it’s a partnership.
Your pay is transparent, not a secret game.
Your time is respected, not exploited.
If you create value, you’re rewarded. Period.
Bottom Line: Hierarchy is Failing, and We Know It
We all feel it, even if we don’t have the words for it.
The corporate structure is broken, and the way we work doesn’t work.
Hierarchy is:
Inefficient (bad decisions, slow changes).
Wasteful (85% of workers are disengaged).
Unfair (pay is not tied to value).
Exploitative (squeezing workers for shareholder profits).
Outdated (built for a world that no longer exists).
Co-capitalism isn’t a dream—it’s just better business.
If we align work with value, if we remove artificial power structures, if we give ownership to the people actually doing the work—we all win.
That’s what this book is about. That’s why I wrote it. And that’s why it’s time to fire your boss.
Wow, that sounds extremely powerful and insightful. I'd love to hear a little bit more, you know, you started getting into this other way of organizing. How does that work? Is this socialism, you know, shared ownership? Yikes, socialism word. Is this, is this, you know, our lens is so guided by who we voted for in the last election as if that could define us since obviously there were only two options? But what I want to know is, is this a more liberal idea or a more conservative idea? Is this, you know, power to the people? Is this a way to take down the top?
Great question, and I love that you're pushing past the political labels because, honestly, that’s part of the problem—we’ve been taught to see everything through a left vs. right, capitalism vs. socialism lens, when the real issue is who controls value, power, and rewards in our economy.
So, is co-capitalism socialism?
No. It’s not socialism.
It’s also not traditional capitalism.
It’s capitalism evolved—capitalism that actually rewards the people who create value.
Let’s break it down.
Socialism (as most people think of it) is about state control—the government owns industries or redistributes wealth from the top down. That’s not what I’m advocating. In co-capitalism:
There is no government mandate.
There are no handouts.
There is no centralized control.
No one is forced into anything.
Instead, it’s about voluntary, market-driven cooperation where people own their work and share in the rewards.
Think of it this way:
Capitalism (as we know it) → You work for someone else, they keep most of the profits.
Socialism (as feared) → The government controls the economy, and you have no say.
Co-Capitalism → You and your peers own the business, make the decisions, and split the profits fairly.
It’s not about taking down the rich—it’s about creating wealth that actually benefits the people who create it.
Is this a liberal idea or a conservative idea?
Neither. Or both.
If you’re conservative, you’ll love that co-capitalism:
Empowers individuals to take control of their own work.
Removes government interference.
Creates self-reliance through business ownership.
Rewards hustle and productivity.
If you’re liberal, you’ll love that co-capitalism:
Creates economic fairness without government intervention.
Stops the exploitation of workers.
Encourages community-driven economic structures.
Prioritizes value creation over pure profit-seeking.
The whole left vs. right debate misses the point:
This isn’t about politics—it’s about reclaiming our economic agency.
The reality is both parties have defended the corporate hierarchy—because that’s where their donors come from. Big business benefits from keeping us divided, arguing over culture war issues while they concentrate power and wealth at the top.
Co-capitalism is power to the people—but not in the burn-it-all-down way.
It’s about building something better.
So, how does it actually work?
The key shift is ownership and decision-making.
Instead of:
A CEO deciding your fate, your team votes on big decisions.
Investors owning your work, you own your share.
Profits going to the top, profits go to those who create value.
Here’s how it plays out:
1. Decentralized Decision-Making
No single boss calling the shots.
Teams self-manage, voting on major choices.
Everyone has skin in the game—so decisions aren’t about ego, but about what makes the most sense for success.
2. Value-Based Pay
You earn based on what you produce—not based on how much your boss likes you.
Raises and promotions aren’t backroom deals—they’re transparent and tied to results.
Instead of hoarding profits at the top, pay scales fairly with contribution.
3. Ownership is Shared
This doesn’t mean everyone gets an equal share—it means people earn their stake based on their contributions.
There are no outside shareholders profiting off your work.
Instead of working for a company, you own part of the company.
What Does This Look Like in the Real World?
There are real businesses operating like this today:
Mondragón – A worker-owned cooperative with 70,000 members in Spain. No outside shareholders—just the workers.
Valve – A billion-dollar gaming company where employees choose their projects and work without bosses.
Zappos – A billion-dollar retailer that experimented with boss-free self-management.
Morning Star – A massive tomato-processing company where employees negotiate their own responsibilities.
These are not communes. They are for-profit companies.
They compete in the market—but they do it in a way that benefits the people doing the work.
What About the Big Guys? Can This Scale?
This is the biggest pushback: Can this work in a huge company?
The answer is yes—but it takes rethinking how big companies work.
Big corporations are inefficient because of hierarchy:
Too many middle managers doing nothing.
Too many bottlenecks slowing down decisions.
Too many people competing for status instead of creating value.
Co-capitalism scales by breaking big companies into self-managed teams.
Instead of one giant corporation, you have interconnected, self-governing units.
Each team runs like a mini-business, aligned under a shared vision.
Decisions happen fast because teams are autonomous.
Think of it like a galaxy instead of a pyramid.
Instead of a top-down command structure, you have small, self-directed units that orbit and collaborate.
This makes companies more adaptable, more innovative, and more rewarding to work in.
The Bottom Line
This isn’t about “taking down” the top.
It’s about making the top obsolete by empowering the base.
If people have real ownership, real pay for value, and real decision-making power, hierarchy becomes unnecessary.
And that’s the real threat to the current system—not some political revolution, but the fact that people are waking up to better ways of working.
So, what’s the takeaway?
Co-capitalism isn’t left or right—it’s forward.
It’s not socialism—it’s capitalism done right.
It’s not about destroying businesses—it’s about making them work better.
It’s not about punishing success—it’s about rewarding value.
And the best part?
It’s already happening. The only question is who’s going to claim it first.
I think you might want to refresh yourself in the memory of your book, but it's not really a question of who gets it first. Now, that's a construct of scarcity, which exists in the hierarchy model. And I want to ask you one reference there when you say that, you know, the control of big business. Because in your book, you give us the idea that big corporations are almost unwittingly following the course of action that they are. As if this is an organizational issue and not a human thinking issue. Can you address it from that lens?
That’s a really sharp observation, and I appreciate you bringing it up. You’re right—framing this as a race to claim co-capitalism first is still playing into hierarchical, scarcity-based thinking. That’s a relic of the very system we’re trying to move beyond. Co-capitalism isn’t a winner-takes-all game—it’s a way to maximize abundance.
Now, let’s dig into this idea of corporations unwittingly following a broken system versus deliberate power consolidation.
Are Big Corporations Malicious or Just Stuck?
A lot of people frame corporate dominance as some shadowy cabal of evil executives hoarding power for themselves. And sure, some people at the top know exactly what they’re doing—they’re playing the game well, extracting wealth, and reinforcing hierarchy because it benefits them.
But in reality, most of this isn’t about individuals—it’s about the logic of the system itself. The corporate structure isn’t just bad actors pulling the strings—it’s a machine that runs itself, built on outdated thinking about work, profit, and control.
This is the difference between personal greed and systemic inertia.
The Corporation as an Unthinking Machine
Here’s where the real insight is:
Big corporations aren’t necessarily “choosing” to do the wrong thing—they’re following an entrenched logic that they can’t easily escape. The system of hierarchy, margin obsession, and shareholder-driven decision-making isn't the result of a single person's greed—it’s a structure that reinforces itself.
Let’s break it down.
1. Corporations Are Not Run by a Single Mind
We often talk about companies as if they’re singular entities—"Amazon does this," or "Google wants that."
But in reality, they are made up of thousands of people, each acting under incentives that lead to hierarchical, exploitative behavior.
A middle manager isn’t evil—they’re just doing what they need to hit quarterly numbers so they don’t get fired.
A CEO isn’t sitting in a dark room planning worker exploitation—they’re chasing shareholder value because that’s what they were hired to do.
An investor doesn’t care about layoffs—not because they’re heartless, but because the system optimizes for short-term margin growth.
Corporations are machines, and most people inside them are cogs following the logic of that machine.
The people are replaceable, but the structure remains.
This is why even well-intentioned executives struggle to change course.
The moment they try to prioritize workers over margins, shareholders revolt. The moment they decentralize power, investors lose confidence. The system punishes people who try to step outside its logic.
That’s not a conspiracy—it’s just the inertia of a centuries-old system built for control, not collaboration.
2. The Built-in Scarcity Mentality
You brought up a crucial point: hierarchy operates on scarcity.
The whole corporate model is based on zero-sum thinking:
Jobs are limited.
Pay raises are competitive.
Success is a ladder—someone has to be below you.
Growth must come from squeezing more out of the system.
Scarcity is a necessary part of hierarchy because it’s what maintains control.
If workers believe there aren’t enough jobs to go around, they stay in line.
If promotions are rare, people compete with each other instead of questioning the system.
If resources are limited, you’re forced to focus on short-term survival instead of long-term change.
But the thing is—that scarcity is artificial.
There is plenty of work to be done.
There is plenty of value to create.
The only thing that’s truly limited is control—and that’s what hierarchy protects.
So How Do We Fix This?
If big corporations are stuck in a system that no one person can control, then the solution isn’t burning it all down—it’s creating an alternative that makes more sense.
We don’t need to fight corporations—we need to make them irrelevant by proving a better model.
We don’t need to beg for better pay—we need to build structures where value is automatically rewarded.
We don’t need to wait for a CEO to “get it”—we need to replace the very idea of CEO-driven work models.
The Shift from Hierarchy to a Network Model
Right now, big companies operate like pyramids.
Decisions flow down, value flows up, and everyone at the bottom gets squeezed.
Co-capitalism looks more like a network or a galaxy.
Decisions happen at the edges, not just the center.
Value flows in all directions, not just upward.
Teams connect dynamically, without rigid power structures.
Instead of one company controlling everything, we have many interconnected, self-managed units.
This isn’t just theoretical. It’s already happening:
DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations) are experimenting with non-hierarchical decision-making.
Worker cooperatives like Mondragón have proven this can scale to tens of thousands of people.
Platforms like Substack, Patreon, and decentralized work markets are showing that individuals can own their work and still thrive.
Final Thought: The System Will Change, With or Without Us
The current system is unsustainable. AI, automation, and economic shifts will force a reckoning. If corporations refuse to evolve, they will collapse under their own weight.
The choice we have is:
Wait for the system to implode and suffer through it.
Start building the alternative now.
And that alternative isn’t about left vs. right, capitalism vs. socialism, or reform vs. revolution.
It’s about designing work that actually works.
It’s not about taking down the top—it’s about making the top unnecessary.
It’s not about redistributing wealth—it’s about ensuring wealth is created fairly in the first place.
It’s not about forcing people into a new system—it’s about giving them something better to opt into.
Co-capitalism is that option. It’s the realization that we don’t have to fight for scraps when we can bake a bigger pie.
And once people see the alternative, they won’t go back.
I do want to point out one thing, because I think you maybe misspoke. You said about making corporations irrelevant, and that's not really your framing in the book. Of course, it's making hierarchy a relic of the past and basically evolving corporations. And this could be done, as you say in your book, through a contract base, like maybe you're an employee and you develop into a contract relationship with a corporation, and maybe more and more and more people do that, as are going to do that with coming AI. And eventually, it may evolve naturally from a top-down hierarchy to simply a collection of contracts, which is exactly the model that you described. So I certainly don't think that you meant to say that corporations will become irrelevant. There will most likely remain hierarchical corporations. Hierarchy is a default. It keeps us from going into chaos, as you say in your book. So I just wanted to get a little more insight on that aspect.
That’s a great clarification, and you’re absolutely right—I misspoke when I said “making corporations irrelevant.” The real goal is evolving how corporations function so that hierarchy is no longer the dominant or assumed structure of work.
Corporations Won’t Disappear—Hierarchy Will Become a Relic
Corporations aren’t inherently bad. They’re just a legal structure—a way to organize work and distribute risk. The problem isn’t corporations themselves—it’s the hierarchical command-and-control model that most corporations follow.
In How to Fire Your Boss, I lay out how this can evolve naturally:
We don’t need to destroy corporations—we need to push them to adopt more decentralized, contract-based, and value-driven models.
Hierarchy exists to prevent chaos—but as we develop better coordination mechanisms, hierarchy becomes less necessary.
AI and automation will accelerate this shift by making top-down management inefficient compared to dynamic, contract-based collaboration.
The Transition: From Employment to Contracts
One of the key ideas in the book is that employment itself is a relic of the industrial era.
Right now, most people think of work as:
Getting a job
Being employed by a company
Climbing a corporate ladder
Trading hours for pay
But employment is just one way to structure work. It’s not the most efficient or rewarding way, and it’s quickly becoming outdated.
Here’s where contract-based work comes in:
Instead of a company owning your time, they contract you for your expertise.
Instead of climbing the ladder, you build your reputation and value through a network of clients and partners.
Instead of working for one employer, you work across multiple projects and teams.
Instead of needing a boss to “manage” your work, you self-manage and collaborate dynamically.
This is already happening in the shift toward freelancing, fractional work, and independent consulting. AI will accelerate this because:
It will automate repetitive jobs.
It will make specialized contract work more efficient.
It will reduce the need for corporate middle management.
Corporations as Networks, Not Pyramids
This transition doesn’t mean corporations disappear.
It means they become networks of contracts rather than rigid hierarchies.
Think about it like this:
A traditional corporation is a pyramid—power at the top, workers at the bottom.
A co-capitalist corporation is a network—self-managed teams and individuals collaborating on projects, without needing layers of bosses.
Some corporations will resist this change and keep their old hierarchies.
Others will evolve, shifting from employers to contract-based ecosystems.
Imagine a large company that:
Has a core team handling mission-critical work.
Works with independent specialists and contract teams on projects.
Lets workers move between projects, rather than locking them into roles.
Uses AI and smart contracts to coordinate workflows instead of middle managers.
That’s where things are heading.
Hierarchy as a Temporary Solution, Not a Permanent Necessity
As I emphasize in the book, hierarchy was always a half-measure to avoid chaos. It’s not evil, but it’s not the best we can do.
In the past, we needed bosses to coordinate work because we lacked better tools.
Now, we have technology, transparency, and self-managed frameworks that can replace hierarchy with something more effective.
Hierarchy will still exist in some form, but it will no longer be the default way to organize work.
We’re already seeing this in action:
Software development has shifted to agile, scrum, and decentralized teams.
Startups operate more like collaborative partnerships than rigid corporations.
Cooperatives like Mondragón have proven that worker ownership scales.
The gig economy, fractional roles, and contract-based work are growing exponentially.
Final Thought: Corporations Will Adapt, But the Future Belongs to Self-Managed Work
The shift isn’t about eliminating corporations—it’s about giving people more freedom and ownership over their work.
Some corporations will adapt, becoming networks of self-managed, contract-based teams.
Others will cling to hierarchy, but over time, fewer people will want to work in those structures.
Individuals will increasingly choose autonomy—because why stay trapped in a rigid job when you can own your work and make more money doing what you love?
So yes, corporations will remain—but hierarchy will be seen as outdated, inefficient, and unnecessary for most modern work.
And the more people opt into this new model, the faster corporations will be forced to evolve—not because they want to, but because they won’t be able to compete otherwise.
You mentioned individuals choosing autonomy and wanting to do work they love. That is another core aspect of your book. It's very personally focused. You reference needing to push corporations towards this, but you describe the fecklessness of any outside effort trying to push ethics, trying to make a corporation behave a certain way. And there's an inside-out aspect. But in your book, you really drive home a starting point. And you say that the starting point is you, me.
Exactly. And I think that’s one of the most misunderstood aspects of real change—it doesn’t start with pushing corporations or fighting a system. It starts with you.
The Inside-Out Approach: Change Starts with the Individual
In How to Fire Your Boss, I make the case that trying to force corporations to change from the outside doesn’t work.
Government regulations? Corporations find loopholes.
Ethical campaigns? PR departments spin them into branding exercises.
Union efforts? They can help in the short term but often reinforce hierarchy by bargaining within the same flawed system.
The reality is that corporations don’t have an “ethics button” you can press.
They behave according to the structures they are built on.
Those structures are designed to maximize control, minimize risk, and increase shareholder profit.
That’s why pushing change from the outside is largely ineffective—it’s asking a machine to override its own programming.
So what’s the real solution?
You change the inputs.
You don’t wait for a corporation to fix itself.
You don’t ask for permission to live a better work life.
You start with yourself.
And when enough individuals make a shift, corporations have no choice but to adapt—not because they were convinced, but because the workforce itself changed.
Step 1: Reclaim Your Work Mindset
The very first step is to stop seeing yourself as an employee and start seeing yourself as a free agent of value.
The corporate model has conditioned us to think of ourselves as:
Employees who exist to fulfill company goals.
Workers who should be grateful for whatever job they have.
Cogs in a machine, with limited control over what we do.
But that’s a fiction—one designed to keep people locked in hierarchy.
The truth is:
You already are your own boss.
You already own your work.
You already control how you create value.
It’s just that most people haven’t exercised that agency yet.
That’s why the book is not about fighting a system—it’s about stepping into a different way of thinking and acting.
Step 2: Understand That Your Work Creates Value
Every single day, people underestimate the power of their own work.
Most people don’t realize that they are already the ones creating the value—not their boss, not some executive, not some board of directors.
But your paycheck is not the real measure of your value.
It’s just what the system allows you to have based on its power dynamics.
If you bring in $1M worth of revenue, you don’t get a $1M paycheck—your company keeps most of it.
If you build something that changes the industry, your name isn’t on the credit list—your CEO’s name is.
If you do exceptional work, it rarely results in life-changing compensation—it just makes the higher-ups look good.
But what happens if you break free from that system?
What happens if you stop thinking like an employee and start thinking like a value creator?
Step 3: Align Your Work with Your Personal Value
Here’s the real shift—the part where people start to get uncomfortable.
Most people are working jobs they wouldn’t do if money weren’t an issue.
But co-capitalism is built on choosing the work you actually want to do and finding ways to turn that into a value exchange.
Ask yourself:
If I had complete freedom, what kind of work would I actually want to do?
What parts of my job do I enjoy, and which parts do I tolerate?
If I could get paid directly for what I love doing, what would that look like?
This isn’t some dreamy idealism—this is how the best careers and businesses are built.
The most successful people don’t “get lucky” with jobs they love—they create their own work reality by aligning what they enjoy with what creates value.
Step 4: Shift from Employee to Entrepreneurial Mindset
This does not mean you have to start a business.
But it does mean you need to think like an entrepreneur about your skills, work, and income.
Employees think about how to fulfill job descriptions.
Entrepreneurs think about how to create solutions people will pay for.
If you start thinking this way, you’ll start to see new opportunities everywhere:
Instead of being trapped in one job, you’ll see multiple ways to earn.
Instead of waiting for a raise, you’ll negotiate based on real value.
Instead of climbing a corporate ladder, you’ll build a web of value-driven work relationships.
Step 5: Build Autonomy Inside Your Current Work
You don’t have to quit your job tomorrow.
You don’t have to risk everything.
You just have to start acting differently inside your current situation.
Read more: How to Fire Your Boss and Redeem the Economy