“We Abolished Managers — Building a trust-based, autonomous organization”
Revealing how a listed company operates without managers through a decade of practice.
Net Protections is pleased to announce the release of “We Abolished Managers — Building a Trust-based, autonomous organization,” authored by CEO Shin Shibata. This book documents more than a decade of practice and refinement since 2012, when Net Protections made the groundbreaking decision to abolish all managerial positions and transition to a self-organizing, role-based organization—operated not through titles, but through trust and shared purpose.
Rethinking the “Normal” in Organizations — Why We Abolished Managers
The book begins with a fundamental question: “Why don’t employees act on their own initiative?”
Drawing from his early struggles in a trading company, conflicts after founding Net Protections, and the growth barriers that followed, Shibata confronted the limits of command-and-control management. Through years of open dialogue and debate with all team members, he arrived at a radical yet human conclusion.
In 2012, Net Protections acted on this conclusion, completely eliminating its managerial structure to build a system where everyone could act autonomously.
To sustain this shift, the company developed “Natura,” an original governance framework built on trust, dialogue, and transparency.
Under this system, team members select roles and projects aligned with their individual Will (intrinsic motivation) and make decisions collectively through shared information and consensus.
It represents management as a system, balancing psychological safety and productivity without relying on hierarchy.
Can an Organization Grow without Managers? — A Decade of Proof
“The best management is when the CEO does nothing.”
Under this paradoxical principle, Net Protections has spent over a decade refining its collective intelligence — driven management model.
The results demonstrate that autonomy and growth can coexist:
- ・Faster decision-making as hierarchical bottlenecks disappeared
- ・Increased opportunities for young members to take on new challenges
- ・Accelerated creation of new businesses
- ・Continuously high employee engagement
・Sustained balance between speed and psychological safety
These outcomes prove that even as a listed company, a “no-manager organization” can operate effectively and sustainably.
The book provides an in-depth look at this journey—from system design and culture-building to real-world practices and lessons learned.
Comment from the Author
“Abolishing managers was never the goal.
What we truly aimed for was to build a system where everyone can work in a state of flow—driven by their own will.
In any company, people should not be controlled or supervised; they should be trusted to act on their own.
Once you accept that premise, even relationships like ‘boss and subordinate,’ or structures of evaluation and command, can be redesigned.
I believe a company is the smallest unit of society where people can feel most alive at work.
Over the past decade, we have experimented to make that ideal real.
I hope this book offers small hints for leaders and teams seeking to build organizations that run on trust.”
Author Profile
Shin Shibata
CEO, Net Protections, Inc.
Born in 1975. After graduating from Hitotsubashi University in 1998, Shibata joined Nissho Iwai (now Sojitz Corporation). In 2001, he moved to ITX Corporation, where he was involved in acquiring Net Protections and later joined the company to launch Japan’s first BNPL service, “NP Atobarai.”
He received the Special Award at the Entrepreneur of the Year Japan 2017 and serves as Chairman of the Japan BNPL Association.
Book Information
- Book title: "We abolished all managerial positions: A teal organization in which all employees are self-propelled"
- Author: Shin Shibata (CEO of Net Protections, Inc.)
- Publisher: Diamond, Inc.
- Release Date: November 12, 2025
- Price: JPY 1,980 (tax included)
- ISBN: 978-4-478-12205-1
The book is available for purchase on Amazon Japan (Japanese only). For English readers, a summary of the book is available here. - https://corp.netprotections.com/en/news/info/corporate/20251111_2/
Future Outlook
Net Protections will continue to pursue both business growth and the spread of trust-based, self-organizing systems throughout society.
Through this book, the company hopes to make self-managed, decentralized organizations the “next standard” for Japanese enterprises.
About Net Protections, Inc.
Net Protections is Japan’s leading provider of BNPL and B2B payment solutions, pioneering the field of “Credit Tech.” Guided by its mission, “Create New Standards,” the company continues to design systems where trust, autonomy, and innovation coexist—both in its services and its organization.
https://corp.netprotections.com/en/
Direct any inquiries regarding this release to:
Net Protections PR
Email: pr@netprotections.co.jp
