How many layers of management and bureaucracy are there between the decision-maker and the people doing the work at your organization?

Maybe a few? Maybe a lot?

Ever get sick of getting feedback — on someone else’s feedback — that someone else will have to provide feedback on before something is ever approved or finished?

In an intentionally slow but ever-improving process that’s taken place over the course of the last couple of years, we threw out our hierarchical and traditional org chart for a flatter structure in an effort to become an Agile agency, and the results have been measurable, to say the least.

A public relations colleague at a local Fortune 500 company recently posted on social media about how happy she was not having to worry about generating revenue — as if PR shouldn’t feel the pressure of showing ROI in the same way marketing and advertising efforts are bound to bottom-line analytics. While marketing and advertising professionals are obsessed with lead generation that results in sales, far too many PR professionals and agencies have lured themselves into a false sense of security and created a disconnect that isn’t doing themselves or their brands any favors.

Amazon is all over the news this week, as an expose of sorts from The New York Times showed that their work environment may be a little tough.

This should come as no surprise to anyone who has read about CEO Jeff Bezos. He’s a micromanager — detail-oriented and data-driven — just like the company he founded more than 20 years ago. He’s incredibly focused on building Amazon by having Nordstrom-like service for Walmart-like prices. It takes the thin margins of retail beyond the very extreme.