As mentioned in yesterday’s Video of Week: Reed Hastings on Netflix, Netflix published one of the most powerful culture manifestos ever seen in Netflix Culture: Freedom & Responsibility. With 124 slides, it’s comprehensive, but not overwhelming.
Here are notes from the Netflix culture deck:
- Seven aspects of the culture
- Values are what we Value
- High Performance
- Freedom & Responsibility
- Context, not Control
- Highly Aligned, Loosely Coupled
- Pay Top of Market
- Promotions & Development
- Values the following nine behaviors and skills
- Judgement
- Communication
- Impact
- Curiosity
- Innovation
- Courage
- Passion
- Honesty
- Selflessness
- Adequate performance gets a generous severance package (meaning, people that are OK get fired)
- A team, not a family
- The Rare Responsible Person
- Self motivating
- Self aware
- Self disciplined
- Self improving
- Acts like a leader
- Doesn’t wait to be told what to do
- Picks up trash lying on the floor
- Netflix Vacation Policy and Tracking – there is no policy or tracking
- Netflix Policies for Expensing, Entertainment, Gifts & Travel: Act in Netflix’s best interest
- Managers: When one of your talented people does something dumb, don’t blame them. Instead, ask yourself what context you failed to set.
Anyone that cares about culture, or is working on establishing a strong culture in their startup, should study the Netflix culture deck.
What else? What are some more takeaways from the Netflix culture deck?
David Cummings on Startups 