The Fabric of Creativity

"We were a lot more radical compared to the norm in 1958," says Brad Jones, who leads the industrial-products division. "The gap between Gore and other companies has narrowed. But we're still different. Companies may have fewer layers today, but they still have pyramids and reporting structures. You can still feel the difference in an organization when the only person speaking in a meeting is the top person. It's easier to compare us to a startup company."

Even though Gore is private, it rewards its associates with stock, just as if it were a real startup. Everyone who has worked there for at least one year receives the equivalent of 15% of their salary in the form of stock in the private company, which they can cash out if they leave after they're fully vested (independent consultants determine the stock's value). The stock's appreciation -- its incentive value -- depends on the company's ability to continue growing at a rapid pace. That might make it harder to count on ideas that develop from small, ad hoc teams the way that Elixir did. "As you get to be a bigger and bigger company, it's hard to rely on one-person ideas," says Mongan, who's leading an effort to develop fuel cells to power cars. "Twenty years ago, a $10 million business was exciting. Now we need bigger ideas and bigger markets to keep us going." Fuel cells are a good example: It's a huge long-term opportunity, and already Gore is working with General Motors. It's not a spare-time side project the way that Elixir was.

"Gore has immense patience about the time it takes to get it right and get it to market."

Gore's patient, private ownership has allowed it to sustain innovation over the years. Without the pressures of reporting quarterly results, the company can comfortably take many years to bring a new product from invention to profitability. "Gore has immense patience about the time it takes to get it right and get it to market," says Bob Doak, who leads a Gore plant in Dundee, Scotland. "If there's a glimmer of hope, you're encouraged to keep a project going and see if it could become a big thing."

But a $1.6 billion company can't run on hope. Gore's next big challenge is to keep up its double-digit growth rate even as it gets bigger. That means venturing into the hazards of the greater world, where Gore might find it difficult to safeguard its unusual culture. It means teaming up with giants like GM, the quintessential hierarchical organization. It means expanding overseas to tap new markets and new sources of talent. While the Gore culture is progressive for U.S. business, it's radical almost everywhere else. "Europeans generally like hierarchies, job specs, and knowing who the boss is," says Doak. He had a career in the British government before joining Gore. Recently, he met with a member of Parliament who asked, "How are you getting along at Gore? Is it still the Moonies?"

Gore isn't a cult. But its culture is much like Gore-Tex, its most famous product. As Gore grows from nearly 7,000 employees to 14,000 and then 21,000, it must continue to invent ways to protect its people from the harsh outside elements, even as it lets their big and creative ideas breathe -- and prosper.

Alan Deutschman, a Fast Company senior writer, is based in San Francisco.