Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst can't be like other bosses Flickr/opensourceway As the world's first and only billion-dollar fully open source company, Red Hat has a unique corporate culture. The employees collectively have more power than any one person, even the CEO.

No one is more aware of this than Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst. He calls it a "meritocracy" meaning leaders arise based on their brains, not their spot on an org chart.

Whitehurst took the CEO job in 2007 after being COO of Delta Airlines, a cultural shock if ever there was one.

Like much of corporate America, airlines are modeled after the military. They are hierarchical and the boss holds the power. A public act of disagreement is insubordination quickly followed by the words "You're fired."

With Red Hat's meritocracy, the collective holds the power and people don't follow an idea unless they believe it's a good one (even if it's the CEO's). The CEO could even be called a moron on open forums where ideas are discussed -- and argued over.

"It's not about everybody holding hands and singing Kumbaya. A lot of people find our culture kind of harsh," Whitehurst told Business Insider.

But it's also a brilliant, unique culture that foreshadows what the workforce will look like when millennials enter in droves.