Our Employee Owners band together as a Team to create success for us all.

Disclaimer: These communications are intended for the employees of HB Global. We recognize that the general public will have access. The views expressed in these communications represent Bob Whalen in the context of HB Global and may not apply to broader audiences.

In 2025, we are placing particular focus on the rollout of Radical Autonomy. This may spark some confusion. You don’t see the word “autonomy” in our mission or core values, so why are we focusing so much on rolling out Radical Autonomy within the organization?

Radical Autonomy does not replace our mission or core values. It should be viewed as a way to enhance our culture and a tool to help us live out our mission and core values each day.

The goal of Radical Autonomy is to move decision-making into the organization to the furthest extent possible and as close to the customer as we can. This supports our mission to create value and make HB Global a great place to work. Our core values help us to make proper decisions within the context of Radical Autonomy. We still want our decisions to maintain Trust, to be in the best interest of our Teams, to support the Growth of the organization and employee owners, and to demonstrate our Grit.

The concept of Radical Autonomy is great, but the execution becomes key to its success. Let’s talk about how Radical Autonomy works hand-in-hand with our mission and core values.

Supporting Our Mission

Our mission at HB Global is twofold – to create value and to make HB Global a great place to work.

Radical Autonomy supports our mission of making HB Global a great place to work by increasing job satisfaction. Daniel Pink’s book Drive demonstrates how autonomy is a really important component of employees feeling fulfilled going to work each day. Our goal for Radical Autonomy within the organization is that employee owners feel more motivated and fulfilled in the work they do.

Radical Autonomy also supports our mission to create value by allowing our organization to grow into new opportunities and scale existing operations. These actions help generate value that can then be shared back with employee owners.

Radical Autonomy helps us to grow and scale by helping us to avoid bottlenecks by pushing decision-making into the organization to the furthest extent possible within each level of responsibility. Each person only has so much capacity in a day, so when we delegate decisions and projects, each person becomes more free to take on new opportunities and a greater scope of work. This supports the growth of the organization and the individual.

Supporting Our Core Values

Just as Radical Autonomy supports our mission, it also works hand-in-hand with our core values by creating a foundation for us to live these values. On the flip side, our core values also guide us in how to practice Radical Autonomy.

One common misconception is that Radical Autonomy replaces the concept of Team. In reality, it ties collaboration and teamwork together. When practicing Radical Autonomy, Team becomes a north star for what actions to take. While each employee owner has the flexibility and autonomy to make certain decisions within the scope of their level of responsibility, those decisions must be made in the best interest of the Team. Therefore, the concept of Team helps to guide how we live out Radical Autonomy.

Similar to how Radical Autonomy helps the organization to grow and create value, it also supports the Growth of each employee owner. We get the opportunity to take on stretch assignments, immerse ourselves in new opportunities, and get exposure to new career paths as we practice Radical Autonomy. The Growth of the organization supports the Growth of the individual, and the Growth of the individual supports the Growth of the organization.

In order for Radical Autonomy to work, there must be Trust. A mutual Trust between the supervisor and team must exist for effective delegation and accountability. There also must be significant Trust within the team. Each team member must Trust that their counterparts are using their autonomy for the good of the team. Without Trust, the whole system breaks down.

Radical Autonomy is a huge enabler of Grit. The goal of autonomy is to increase motivation and allow each employee owner to demonstrate their unique expertise and problem-solving skills. With increased motivation and the opportunity to take increased ownership of outcomes, Grit to get the job done effectively automatically follows.

The Importance of Execution

The key to Radical Autonomy is just that: getting the job done effectively. The concept of autonomy only works if we focus on successful execution. For this reason, Radical Autonomy doesn’t mean that we throw established processes out the window to reinvent our own wheel. Systems that we’ve put in place have developed over time as we’ve learned, but Radical Autonomy allows us to evaluate those systems with fresh eyes and bring ideas for improvement to our teams.

We want to push decision-making into the organization to the furthest extent possible. However, those decisions still need to be made within the level of responsibility of each employee owner. This is a crucial part of Radical Autonomy to maintain the team dynamic and to appropriately share experience and knowledge.

Radical Autonomy does not mean we take on an “every person for themselves” mentality. In fact, it means just the opposite. It’s a tool to live out our mission and core values each day while feeling fulfilled in the work we do and creating financial gain for all employee owners by generating value. Our mission and core values continue to be our north star, and Radical Autonomy is a cultural tool that we use to get there.

Have your own thoughts or questions about Radical Autonomy at HB Global? Send them to [email protected].