Leaders at All Levels: GE Appliances CEO Busts Hierarchy

In the premiere episode of MIT SMR’s new video series, Leaders at All Levels, GE Appliances CEO Kevin Nolan discusses how a distributed leadership strategy delivered remarkable results. Seeking to boost corporate agility, Nolan made a decision that would terrify some CEOs: He gave up full control and pushed power down to all levels of […]

Jun 24, 2025 - 14:50

Leaders at All Levels: GE Appliances CEO Busts Hierarchy

In the premiere episode of MIT SMR’s new video series, Leaders at All Levels, GE Appliances CEO Kevin Nolan discusses how a distributed leadership strategy delivered remarkable results. Seeking to boost corporate agility, Nolan made a decision that would terrify some CEOs: He gave up full control and pushed power down to all levels of the organization by breaking out parts of the company into autonomous microenterprises. As a result, GE Appliances moved up from its position as the fourth-largest appliance company in the U.S. to the No. 1 spot while becoming the fastest-growing business in its industry.

Picture this: Three employees who love traveling by RV decide to spend a few hundred dollars to wrap a vehicle with the company logo and show up at an RV trade show with GE Appliances products. Today, that nimble venture is a profitable business unit — one that started without CEO approval or budget.

Here are a few elements that make Nolan’s approach work:

The zero-distance philosophy: “Management has to get out of the way,” Nolan says. At GE Appliances, the customer is the boss: There should be zero distance between innovators and the customer, he explains.
Innovation without bureaucracy: GE Appliances’s FirstBuild makerspace operates without corporate funding, proving that innovation can be self-sustaining.
Humility over hierarchy: “Are you the smartest person in the room? If you are, you have a massive disadvantage because you’re not tapping into the smarts in your organization,” Nolan says.
Real accountability: Each microenterprise runs its own P&L, with compensation tied to performance.

Nolan’s approach sounds natural — once you hear him explain it. Of course passionate employees innovate faster than committees. Of course small teams move more quickly than bureaucracies. Yet most organizations do the opposite and concentrate power at the top.

Most leaders don’t know how to apply a distributed leadership model like the one Nolan uses — one that requires a high degree of both autonomy and alignment on business goals.

How to apply a distributed leadership strategy is exactly what viewers will learn from the new Leaders at All Levels video series, hosted by Kate Isaacs, a senior lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and Michele Zanini, coauthor of the Wall Street Journal bestseller Humanocracy. This conversation with Nolan kicks off a series of interviews with CEOs and leaders who have successfully distributed leadership throughout their organizations. His journey from traditional CEO to “coach” offers a compelling glimpse into what’s possible when leaders get out of the way.

Video Credits

Kevin Nolan is president and CEO of GE Appliances, a Haier company.

Kate Isaacs is a senior lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Michele Zanini is coauthor of the Wall Street Journal bestseller Humanocracy (Harvard Business Review Press, 2020).

M. Shawn Read is the multimedia editor at MIT Sloan Management Review.