Field, Anne. "HopStop’s High-speed Management Style." Crain's New York Business. Crain Communications Inc., 07 Dec. 2011. 

For Joe Meyer, managing a highly productive workforce requires breaking the rules, or at least rewriting them.

According to Debra Condren, a business psychologist based in New York and San Francisco, Mr. Meyer's policy is appropriate for guiding self-motivated high achievers." They don't need somebody looking over their shoulder and holding their hand," she said. Such self-starters might relish the opportunity to receive coaching on the spot, whereas other employees would be intimidated.

But to prepare for future growth, according to Dr. Condren, Mr. Meyer might consider providing more formal management training to promising employees "so they're prepared in case the company suddenly needs to double in size," she said. Mr. Meyer also needs to groom at least one employee who can step in, should anything happen to him, said Ms. Condren.

In fact, Mr. Meyer said he had started taking steps to do that. "I have someone here who could be my replacement one day and is just as knowledgeable about every facet of our business as I am—if not more so," he said.