[firlefans]

"It's been a year since we've filed for bankruptcy and we're still there." - I work in a company that strives to follow such a model, and it honestly struggles to achieve the kind of efficiency most companies take for granted. I dearly hope it doesn't lead to that end, but from what I can see it's a distinct possibility.

[stcredzero]

I suspect that the highest performance levels come from a group that self organizes around the vision of a leader.

[craftman]

That's the most common pattern indeed. Note they tried to find a vision by themselves without an "official" leader. They were unfortunatly unable to find one apparently.

However, I believe a kind of implicit vision has emerged which is simply to make sustainable such a place. Put another way, people who are attracked by this implicit vision (such as the author of the article) are still with them, and the others have probably left because this was not a vision they were inspired by.