We’re big fans of Malcolm Gladwell’s book the Tipping Point – it’s a business book that’s also a geat read. There are a number of aspects in his book that caught our attention and imagination – the  secrets of Sesame Streets success, and the story of why Zero Tolerance works in society are just two. The one that I really feel for is 150.

150 is the number of humans in a group that will function and thrive as a community, and according to Robin Dunbar’s research it’s all related to the size of the neocortex in our brains – other animals function better in smaller groups because they have a smaller neocortex. Both Dunbar and Gladwell reference an interesting organisation called Gore Associates, famous worldwide for their water proof breathable fabric (and in this house their bendy toothpicks). Reading about Gore really inspired me, in Gore there are no bosses, or job titles, everyone is just ‘an Associate’. There isn’t really any top-down strategy (and definitely no powerpoint or white boards). The way Gore works is to build a plant that is big enough for 150 associates and then they get on with being a successful business. Maintaining the plants with under 150 employees means that managing the company strategy and ethos is more effective – it’s managed by human relationship and peer pressure, not by top-down instruction (or even company songs).

Cofacio right now is rather smaller than 150  but we have been influenced by this story and hope to reflect it in our ethos and in the way the website community works (12 is quite important too).