I just finished reading a terrific book about the Korean War entitled, “” by the late David Halberstam.

Early in the book, Halberstam contrasts the armies of North Korea/China and the United Nations in terms of “strategic management.” It surprised me to learn that the Communist’s army pretty much had free rein in terms of how and when to deal with the U.N., while the United Nations’ troops (primarily, these were Americans) were bound to a fairly rigid hierarchical command and control structure.

In essence, the Reds were given “The Big Picture.” They were told that the South Koreans desperately sought emancipation and, basically, that individual companies and platoons were fully permitted to “freelance” in terms of getting this accomplished. This then resulted in a series of early, stunning Communist victories; victories that were based on speed and audacity while U.N. troops wasted vital amounts of time, both awaiting orders from “Up-Channel,” and then awaiting further re-definition of those orders.

Sound like your favorite corporation?

Just the other day, I pre-recorded an interview (for my talk radio show The American Entrepreneur --- M-F 3:00 to 6:00 pm on 1360 AM) with Mr. Matt Mullenweg, Founder and CEO of WordPress, the most popular blogging engine in use today. Just 26 years old (he created the first version of WordPress while still in high school), more than 25 million world-wide bloggers today employ Mullenweg’s open source software to host their daily thoughts.

When I asked Matt how he maintained and improved not only WordPress, but also a half dozen related products, he demurely stated, “It’s not all that difficult when you’ve got some of the world’s top people doing the work.” When I next asked him where, exactly, this work was being done, he replied (and I’ve become somewhat used to this now that I interview so many millennial business owners), “All over the world.”

In fact, WordPress professionals are located in 55 cities throughout the globe. This would not be strange if WordPress were IBM or SAP. The interesting thing is the fact that WordPress employs all of 65 people. Total. And of course, those are the ones that are actually on the payroll. The others are (and here I’ll coin a brand-new phrase that may or may not catch on) “Wikipedia-ites.”

My “other job” is Director of the Entrepreneurial Studies Program at Duquesne University. For years and years, Duquesne took advantage of the fact that it was (and still is) a Spiritan-based institute of higher learning. What this means is that the Holy Order of Spiritans basically donated their time and labor in return for the opportunity to influence the School’s curriculum. I've been told that, in the Halcyon Days of the University, as much as one-third of the personnel operating costs were provided at no cost by the hundreds of Spiritans.

This can work wonders with one’s bottom line.

What we are seeing today is an amalgamation of “the spirit of giving,” and commercial, profit-making business. For just as Wikipedia is dutifully and religiously watched over and edited by tens and thousands of volunteers around the world, so also are the contributions of WordPress fanatics. These people donate, and quite freely, their hours because WordPress provides to them an outlet for their thoughts. A world-wide outlet, I might add.

When I asked Matt Mullenweg just how he manages his enterprise, he seemed a bit surprised. “Don’t you have a hobby?” (unless “dog walking” applies, I do not). He then asked with a certain degree of incredulity, “Are not there things in this world that you do either just for the common good or because you enjoy doing them?”

It’s a whole new world. My generation (I’m a boomer) more or less spans the period between the centralized command and control approach that was initially practiced by the railroads and perfected in World Wars I and II by the military; and the time of the “Knowledge Worker” --- a “class” of employees that came into being in the 80’s and 90’s.

When you’re making atomic structures --- things like cars and airplanes for instance --- terms like “Centralized Management” and “Economies of Scale” do make sense. But when you’re dealing with electrons and ideas, productivity increases exponentially with the amount of intellectual freedom the management structure provides.

Mr. Mullenweg and others of his generation (primarily working with electrons) have found ways and means to effectively and economically manage disparate and far-flung “nests” of “contributors” (I just can’t bring myself to call them employees). When one introduces this kind of “work,” one immediately finds himself jettisoning time-proven concepts related to hiring, measuring performance, and, of course, compensation. These kinds of structures almost cry out for such concepts as: profit-sharing, equity allotment, and, of course, tele-commuting.

If you want to read about these kinds of businesses and how they manage themselves (by the way, I’ve yet to find a single millennial business owner who hides anything in terms of the inner-workings of his or her business --- this is both refreshing and frightening!), just read by Jason Fried (CEO and Founder of 37signals), by Tony Hsieh (CEO and Founder of Zappos.com) and of course, Mr. Mullenweg (apparently, Matt has not yet found the time to scratch out his book --- thank the Lord for that, at least he’s human!).

It’s a whole new world baby. And I’m very happy that I’m still around to see it!