We are in the early stages of a profound increase in human freedom in business that might, in the long run, be as important for businesses as the change to democracies was for governments.

The key enabler for this remarkable change is information technology. By reducing the costs of communication, new technologies make it possible for many more people, even in huge organisations, to have the information they need to make decisions for themselves, instead of just following orders from above. For the first time in history, we can have the economic benefits of very large organisations, such as their economies of scale, without giving up the benefits of small ones, such as freedom, flexibility, motivation and creativity.