Eliminating formal hierarchy does not eliminate hierarchy. It eliminates accountable hierarchy.
Jo Freeman diagnosed this in 1970: in groups that reject formal structure, power doesn’t disappear. It 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.
This is directly relevant to the tech industry’s flirtation with “flat” organizations. 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 or hold them accountable for how they wield it.
The implication for C&C governance: the answer to C&C’s failure in tech is not to eliminate hierarchy. It is to redesign where decisions happen within the hierarchy.