Structurelessness Hides Hierarchy

Eliminating formal hierarchy does not eliminate hierarchy. It eliminates accountable hierarchy. Jo Freeman diagnosed this in 1970: in groups that reject formal structure, power flows to whoever is loudest, most politically savvy, or best networked. Without formal roles, there is no mechanism for review, appeal, or accountability. The hierarchy becomes invisible, not absent.

The tech industry’s experiments confirm this. Valve’s flat structure concealed informal cliques. Spotify’s squad model never actually worked at Spotify. Zappos lost 14% of its workforce when it mandated holacracy. These are not failures of execution. They are the predictable consequence of structurelessness: power still concentrates, but now nobody can name who holds it.