principles in the electrical engineering company he first managed for his parents and then owned. Endenburg wanted to replicate in a business environment the atmosphere of cooperation and harmony he had experienced in the Boekes school. He also recognized that in industrial production with a diverse and changing workforce, he could not wait for workers to trust each other before they could make decisions. To solve this problem, Endenburg worked by analogy to integrate his understanding of physics, cybernetics, and systems thinking to further develop the social, political, and educational theories of Comte, Ward, and Boeke. After years of experimentation and application, Endenburg developed a formal organizational method called the Sociocratic Circle Organizing Method (Sociocratische Kringorganisatie Methode). It was based on a "circular causal feedback process", now commonly called the circular process and feedback loops. The method uses a hierarchy of circles corresponding to units or departments of an organization, but it is a circular hierarchy—the links between each circle combine to form feedback loops up and down the organization. All policy decisions, those about allocation of resources and that constrain operational decisions, require the consent of all members of a circle. Day-to-day operational decisions are made by the operations leader within the policies established in circle meetings. Policy decisions affecting more than one circle's domain are made by a higher circle formed by representatives from each circle. This structure of linked circles that make decisions by consent maintains the efficiency of a hierarchy while preserving the equivalence of the circles and their members. In the 1980s, Endenburg and his colleague Annewiek Reijmer founded the Sociocratisch Centrum (Sociocratic Center) in Rotterdam. Essential principles Endenburg's policy decision-making method was originally published as being based on four essential principles, all in order to emphasize that the process of selecting people for roles and responsibilities was likewise subject to the consent process. As explained below, however, it is now taught through the method of three principles, as Endenburg had originally developed: Consent governs policy decision making (principle 1) Decisions are made when there are no remaining "paramount objections", that is, when there is informed consent from all participants. Objections must be reasoned and argued and based on the ability of the objector to work productively toward the goals of the organization. All policy decisions are made by consent, although the group may consent to use another decision-making method. Within these policies, day-to-day operational