The slides start off by mentioning that Netflix seeks excellence, “Our culture focuses on helping us achieve excellence”. After that they cover the 7 aspects of their culture.
After that, they start covering the first aspect of their culture in depth, “Values are what we Value”. They clarify that they are not about nice-sounding, empty words like “Integrity”, “Communication”, etc… And how companies with “lobby” values like “Integrity”, did not live these values and went bankrupt from fraud.
The actual company values, as opposed to the nice-sounding values, are shown by who gets rewarded, promoted, or let go
So it made sense for Netflix after that to cover how they hire and promote people, and how they are looking for people who demonstrate certain values.
Let us move on to the second aspect of Netflix values, which was “High Performance”. The slides mention that Netflix is more like a pro sports team and that they are looking to have stars in each position.
We’re a team, not a family
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After that the interesting “Keeper Test” gets mentioned and how it can be used by both managers and employees.
Which of my people, if they told me they were leaving, for a similar job at a peer company, would I fight hard to keep at Netflix?
You should periodically ask your manager: “If I told you I were leaving, how hard would you work to change my mind?”
The third aspect is “Freedom & Responsibility”, so what sort of employees is Netflix looking for? They are looking for The Rare Responsible Person:
Responsible People Thrive on Freedom, and are Worth of Freedom
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Avoid Chaos as you grow with Ever More High Performance People — not with rules. Because the alternative options are bad:
We should focus on what people get done, not on how many days worked
The following aspect is really interesting, it is “Highly Aligned, Loosely Coupled”. They start off by mentioning the 3 different models of corporate teamwork:
You don’t need policies for everything
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The next aspect is “Pay Top of Market”. It is the core to a High Performance Culture.
One outstanding employee gets more done and costs less than two adequate employees
What would we pay to keep that person?- If they had a bigger offer elsewhere
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And they finish off with some bad practices and how internal ranking like top or bottom 10% can be toxic.
When materially under-paid, employees switch firms to take advantage of market-based pay on hiring
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My main takeaway points that I would like you to take out of this post are:
I would love to hear about your experiences of good and bad company cultures.
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