3. How does Lonely Planet benefi t from its fl at organizational structure (limited hierarchy)? What does a fl at structure indicate about the organization? When travelers Tony and Maureen Wheeler founded Lonely Planet in the early 1970s, they didn’t intend to create a globe-spanning company. They didn’t necessarily plan to start a publishing company. As newlyweds, they had just completed an overland trip from London through Asia, winding up in Australia. All they really wanted to do was fi nance their next trip—it never occurred to them to stop traveling around the world. So they wrote and published the fi rst Lonely Planet guidebook, Across Asia on the Cheap; it was an instant bestseller among world wanderers.

With just two people, the Wheelers naturally didn’t think about organization. They traveled, wrote, and published whatever they wanted. By the mid-1970s, they had completed Nepal and Trekking in the Himalayas and were working on a group of guides covering Australia, Europe, Africa, and New Zealand. In 1981, Lonely Planet India was published and became a travel best-seller. By then, Lonely Planet had a staff of 10. Watch the video to see how the Wheelers organized Lonely Planet’s management workplace.