Powerful: Building a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility

by Patty McCord

When it comes to recruiting, motivating, and creating great teams, Patty McCord says most companies have it all wrong. McCord helped create the unique and high-performing culture at Netflix, where she was chief talent officer. In her new book, Powerful: Building a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility, she shares what she learned there and elsewhere in Silicon Valley.

McCord advocates practicing radical honesty in the workplace, saying good-bye to employees who don’t fit the company’s emerging needs, and motivating with challenging work, not promises, perks, and bonus plans. McCord argues that the old standbys of corporate HR―annual performance reviews, retention plans, employee empowerment and engagement programs―often end up being a colossal waste of time and resources. Her road-tested advice, offered with humor and irreverence, provides readers a different path for creating a culture of high performance and profitability.

Powerful will change how you think about work and the way a business should be run.

Genres: Business, Leadership, Nonfiction, Management, Cultural, Entrepreneurship, Historical Romance

228 pages, Hardcover

First published January 9, 2018

About the author

Patty McCord brings the Silicon Valley concepts of fresh ideas and innovation and applies them to rethinking the way we work. She challenges norms and invites us to reconsider the idea of “best practices.”

From her many years working with companies that range from very large global tech companies to small very small innovative start-ups, Patty saw first-hand how companies can become slow and complacent and employees become cynics and whiners. She spent 14 years at Netflix experimenting with new ways to work. Making the Netflix culture deck become reality for the people who work there. From abolishing performance reviews to challenging the need for policies, Patty believes people come to work as fully formed adults with a desire to make an impact and be proud of what they do and she’s on a mission to spread the word that we can do this differently. She is frequently in the media with interviews and articles from Harvard Business Review, NPR, Fast Company and The Wall Street Journal. She speaks at CEO Forums, Business schools and for large groups around the world.

Reviews

[Gary Moreau · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of a gazillion books about creating the team you need to be the next Netflix. Is it worth it? That depends.

If you’re looking for a passionate, pleasantly irreverent, contrarian perspective on building a high performance team, then the answer is probably yes, and you should consider this book a 5+.

If, on the other hand, you’re looking for definitive answers on how to measure performance and talent, this book is another 1 or 2.

If you agree with McCord that the annual performance review is a colossal waste of time and money, and I could not agree more, great. And if you agree that no company has an obligation to guarantee career development to its employees, you’ll want to display the book prominently on your desk. In this regard, I do agree with her on the obligation part of the perspective, but not the return on investment of pursuing such a strategy, unless, of course, you are another Netflix, and you probably aren’t.

Everything in life and business must be viewed in context. Building a high performance team is no exception. This model assumes that high-performance employees value nothing quite so highly as they value hard-core honesty and the chance to be part of a big, ugly shared challenge. And that fits some of the people some of the time in some companies at some point in their development. For Netflix it was a winner. For you? I don’t know.

What you are guaranteed to get is churn, unless of course you are Netflix at exactly that point in the company’s development. McCord, to her credit, admits that she applied the same standards to herself as she did the rest of Netflix. And she left and the company apparently didn’t stop her, at least not successfully.

I have no doubt she will be a huge success in consulting. Bigger than big, is my guess, particularly in the Silicon Valley biosphere. She definitely has something to offer.

I liked the book. I really did. It’s a quick read and wonderfully written. Without the Netflix brand it’s probably over-priced but that’s okay. I happen to think Netflix is the greatest invention since the electric garage door opener, although I’m showing my age and the fact that I’ve always lived in cold, snowy climates.

But after four decades in the corporate world, none of it in Silicon Valley, but with a decade of experience in China, where I managed a company that was successful despite my inability to speak the language, my unanswered question is how to specifically and objectively identify top talent. I fully understand the Justice Potter standard of “I know it when I see it,” and my record has been pretty good as both a CEO and a board member evaluating other CEOs.

But I’d still like to better understand the why behind the what. I got whiffs of it in this book, for sure, but it ultimately fell short of being the Holy Grail – at least in that one regard.

[Ian · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is a good book hiding in here somewhere, underneath all the bathwater-sipping, survivorship bias, and self-promotion. Something about transparency, decisiveness, information availability, and individual decision-making. But the average employee at the average startup should be pessimistic if they see their founder reading this.

[Ali Abdaal · Rating 5 out of 5]

So good. Listened on audible, need to reread on Kindle and take copious notes. Lots of insights that may change the way I run the business.

[Kair Käsper · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has some good nuggets. It also has some pretty dubious advice that works under specific conditions occasionally presented in a God-like fashion. Skip the book and go through this instead. The book is basically a poor, unnecessarily long elaboration of only some of the key points in the original Culture deck.

What I liked:

- Everyone should understand the business. Previously my thinking has been that everyone should understand the customer, but they indeed should also understand the business itself.
- Making away with as many rules and policies as possible.
- Radical candor and open communication.
- Bonuses should be counted into regular compensation.
- Getting rid of annual reviews.

What I didn’t like:

- The whole sports team, not family thing. “It is not the job of the business to invest in developing people; the job is to develop the product and market”. Often times people have not even thought about what they want in life and a manager asking this question, better yet getting the person closer to the answer will create an emotional bond and result in an unbeatable company culture. The opposite, practiced by Netflix and sports teams, creates a competitive environment based on fear and a company culture that makes it easy for people to leave when hard times hit. And they will hit.

- Letting go of people who’ve done a good job, but who you can replace with even better people. Again - this creates an environment of fear that is attractive only to the competitive kind. After reviewing the deck I understand this is what Netflix is deliberately trying to foster, but feel like it’s going unnecessarily far (if actually true).

- Compensation based on what the new employee might bring in for the company. Economically, this seems like a dumb idea. Should a designer working on Instagram’s filters get a 30x higher salary than the one working on their branding?

- There isn’t much content in this book. I just went through their old culture deck on Slideshare and got 10x more insights in 30min than from this whole book. I also feel that many of the ideas that didn’t make sense at all as described in the book, are actually pretty valid after seeing the deck.

- There are times when the book comes off as arrogant. As if the author is levitating above, sprinkling wisdom down to us peasants. I’ve started to notice this being a common theme among these unicorn veterans who are starting consultancy companies.

[Bella · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excuse my language but I tabbed the $—- out of this book. I’m still trying to write down my notes and digest everything. I can’t wait to share it with my colleagues so we can talk about our thoughts and draw up some ideas. It’s a refreshing read that cuts to the chase. And OMG, thank you to the author for not making it a process or something that sounds like a “listacle,” in which the reader has to go through a linear, step-by-step, “here’s how to implement” kind of thing. The approach is more holistic. McCord knows what she’s talking about but isn’t arrogant about it. Definitely read Powerful if you need some really refreshing, good ideas on how to improve/enhance your organization.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Дуже люблю продукт Netflix, тому цікаво було почитати книгу колишньої HR директорки компанії Петті Мак-Корд, яка була співаторкою корпоративної культури Netflix. За чутками, ця ж культура, зрештою, і призвела до того, що Петті звільнили після 14 років у компанії (у віці 57 років, як я нагуглила).

Основна ідея книги - керівництво має будувати ефективні команди за принципом спортивних тренерів і без жалю прощатися з гравцями, які їм більше не підходять. Про "ми тут як сім'я" чи піклування про професійний розвиток працівників - мови й бути не може. У Netflix ти або високоефективний гравець, який потрібен компанії на даний момент, або тебе попросять піти. Про це відкрито скажуть команді і самому працівнику, і як запевняє Петті, їхніх звільнених колег швидко наймають у інші компанії. Це все наче й правильно (для власників) і як бачимо - мега результативно для бізнесу, але якщо подивитися на це з точки зору працівників, які живуть у постійному страху звільнення, - це щось не дуже прикольно.

Напрошується висновок: невже, щоб бути дійсно успішними, окремі люди і, як бачимо, бізнеси теж, повинні бути такими трохи негідниками, які діють виключно у власних інтересах і йдуть по головах? Мені з сумом доводиться визнати, що мабуть таки так.

Окремо хочу написати про український переклад назви книги. В оригіналі вона звучить як Powerful, коли ж українською це переклали як "Наснага", коли про наснагу у книжці - нічого. Чому не "Величні", "Могутність" чи "Сила"? Адже книга саме про те як побудувати величну, могутню компанію.

[Phakin · Rating 5 out of 5]

สุดจริง อ่านไปก็พยักหน้าตามว่า เออ ผู้บริหารมีทัศนคติแบบนี้ องค์กรมันถึง 'ใหม่' ได้ขนาดนั้น จริงๆ ไอเดียของบริษัทสตาร์ทอัพยุคใหม่หลักๆ ก็คงคล้ายกันหลายอย่าง เช่น เลิกการสั่งจากบนลงล่าง เปิดโอกาสให้พนักงานมีอิสระ ส่งเสริมความคิดสร้างสรรค์ เปิดพื้นที่ให้แลกเปลี่ยนและวิพากษ์วิจารณ์กันได้ ฯลฯ

แต่ที่พิเศษหน่อยสำหรับ Netflix น่าจะเป็นวัฒนธรรมการจ้างงาน เช่น การจ้างคนวันนี้สำหรับอนาคตและมองทีมงานเป็นทีมกีฬาไม่ใช่ครอบครัว แปลว่าต้องมุ่งจ้างคนที่มีความสามารถ ไม่กลัวที่จะเสียคนที่อาจจะไม่เหมาะกับตำแหน่งงานไป และเมื่อมีตำแหน่งงานใหม่ก็ไม่จำเป็นต้องดันคนเก่าขึ้นมาแทนเสมอไป แต่อาจจ้างคนเก่งจากคนนอกมาได้เลย

หน้าตาในองค์กรเลยน่าจะต่างจากองค์กรในไทยทุกวันนี้มาก เช่น Netflix เชียร์ให้คนเก่งที่อาจไม่เหมาะกับองค์กรแล้ว หรือไม่มีที่ทางในองค์กรให้เติบโตต่อ พิจารณาเรื่องการย้ายงานได้เลย เพราะองค์กรไม่ได้ใช้ turnover rate มาเป็นตัวชี้วัดเชิงปริมาณลอยๆ แต่จะดูว่าได้จ้างคนเก่งมากแค่ไหนและรักษาคนเก่งที่เหมาะกับงานเหล่านี้ได้มากเพียงใดด้วย

การหาคนเก่งที่เหมาะกับตำแหน่งงานที่มีจึงเป็นโจทย์สำคัญของผู้บริหาร และเพราะแบบนั้น ผู้เขียนจึงยืนยันตั้งแต่ต้นเลยว่า นอกจากค่าจ้างที่สมน้ำสมเนื้อ (ซึ่งพนักงานสามารถเลือกให้บางส่วนจ่ายเป็นหุ้นของบริษัทได้ด้วย) สิ่งที่ดีที่สุดที่องค์กรทำให้พนักงานได้ไม่ใช่การให้โบนัส จัดกิจกรรมสังสรรค์ ส่งไปอบรมสัมมนา หรือจัดอาหารเครื่องดื่มฟรีให้บริการทั้งวัน แต่เป็นการจ้างคนที่มีประสิทธิภาพที่สุดให้มาทำงานและแก้ไขปัญหาร่วมกันต่างหาก

[Jane Erickson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been fascinated with the high-performance culture of Netflix for some time, so was excited to see all its elements condensed into a crisp, essentialized book like this. The book was written by Netflix's former Chief Talent Officer, Patty McCord, and reads with a frank, no-fluff tone that unapologetically challenges conventional views about management and culture.

My conclusion after reading the book is that the Netflix culture works...for Netflix. For a company in a certain stage of development, in a particular industry, whose brand has a certain cache, and where expertise required for any given position is just as likely to come from without as within.

Why do I think it's limited? Netflix pays top of market rates for an endless stream of superstars, dispels with (admittedly burdensome and unnecessarily prescriptive) HR structures (PTO policies, expense policies, annual performance and compensation reviews, PIP's, etc.), and they not only experience, but encourage churn among employees. Managers are expected to be head hunting at all times, employees are advised to interview elsewhere regularly, and it's made clear to everyone joining the organization's ranks that Netflix does not offer promotion paths to facilitate career growth. For Netflix, the assembly of a sports team is their model: "Just as great sports teams are constantly scouting for new players and culling others from their lineups, our team leaders would need to continually look for talent and reconfigure their team makeup."

Although I don't think Netflix's success with this structure would generalize to most organizations, I wouldn't do the book—or Netflix—justice without recognizing that there's still a lot every business can learn from their approach. They recognize that employee engagement doesn't stem from having kegs on office floors or ping pong tables down the hall, and furthermore, that engagement is not equivalent with performance. They repeatedly emphasize the need for over-communication, that all employees should understand the nature of the business and its top 5 challenges at any given time. They are fanatics about setting clear expectations and goals, and being radically honest with regular performance feedback. They incentivize open questioning and fact-based debates, and they are always thinking about what they need to do now to prepare for the future.

What I love about the Netflix culture is its transparency and honesty, paired with its elevated standards and ruthless drive to achieve results. In the end, though, I prefer a culture with a little more humanity in the mix, where you're motivated to care and invest in individuals, in the hopes that they'll be with you for a longer journey.

[Quintin Zimmermann · Rating 4 out of 5]

The nature of business in the modern technological age is evolving away from behemoth sized workforces to smaller highly skilled teams working deftly in unison within dynamic operational systems.

As the workplace evolves so should human resources - building a high-performance culture that can anticipate and keep pace with rapid change within the business itself and from competitors.

I thoroughly enjoyed Patty McCord's account of her exploits at Netflix which evolved from a DVD-by-mail business to original content streaming.

At Netflix, there had to be re-evaluation of traditional "policy" and "procedures", the jettisoning of time-consuming performance reviews and deification of data over fact.

This book provides interesting insights into the world that we are living in and more importantly, the workplace that our children will be entering.

[Adam Nowak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short, practical, and very well written!

Takeaways:
* performance improvement plans not always make sense
* aim to hire people who are going to help you solve future problems
* it's ok that some people won't be able to always be the best in the company, there's always a time and place for everyone. It's somewhat sad&weird, but on the other hand, it might be done well
* working in a given way (radical candor, demanding excellence on many levels, partying ways with good people because they are no longer useful, etc. make good results for the company, but this approach is not for everyone, definitely)

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very much a "here's what we did" without examining the root cause or true reason for doing so. Unfortunately, it comes across as if Patty McCord is desperately trying to claim a lot of this culture building as her own, despite the culture clearly flowing from the founders. Ultimately an empty book that falls for the notion of culture being a bunch of things that are done, rather than an out-flowing of the true heart within the organisation. A frustrating read that barely scratches the surface.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some very useful nuggets in here, in particular the chapters on communication and how people hate being lied to.

Standouts include:
• On the importance of communication and transparency: If your people aren't informed by you, they will be misinformed by others.
• Also on the importance of transparency: often we think that sharing problems will make people anxious, but not knowing makes us more anxiety-provoking. Holding back hard truths, or sharing half-truths, will only breed contempt. Trust is based on honest communication, and employees become cynical when they hear half-truths. Cynicism is a cancer that creates discontent.
• everyone at the company deserves to know the problems with the business; we need to believe that they're smart enough and mature enough to process hard news
• you're building a team, not raising a family
• give people permission to give critical feedback by helping them see that those who speak up live to see another day
• "If you don't ask questions, you won't get answers"

Four stars because she expressed some firmly held beliefs without strong rationale or alternatives. Examples include the idea that employees' careers are theirs and theirs alone to manage and that orgs should totally go away with annual performance reviews.

[Namo · Rating 3 out of 5]

เป็นหนังสือที่มีประโยชน์มาก สำหรับคนที่อยากบริหารคน บริหารลูกน้อง ทำให้บริษัทประสบความสำเร็จ
นำเสนอแนวคิดที่เรียกได้ว่าเป็นแนวคิดใหม่สำหรับการบริหารก็ว่าได้ เป็นแนวคิดที่ต่างจากบริษิทสมัยก่อน
แถมให้ข้อคิดดีมาก คนที่ไม่ได้มีส่วนในการทำงาน บริหาร ก็ได้ประโยชน์จากเล่มนี้เหมือนกัน แต่ไม่มากเท่ากับคนที่ทำด้านบริหาร (กลุ่มเป้าหมายของหนังสือเล่มนี้)

[Fernando Hatada · Rating 5 out of 5]

Um livro que todo gestor da contemporâneidade deveria ter na cabeceira de cama. Traz reflexões importantes como a responsabilidade que temos em falar a verdade aos nossos liderados para que eles cresçam mais do que nos sentirmos bem conoscos mesmo ao não falar, além da necessidade de se adaptar as mudanças recorrentes do mercado. A Cultura come a estratégia no café da manhã, já dizia Peter Drucker, o pai da administração moderna.

[Mihaela Alexandrescu · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for every HR, HR Leader, Manager, any person that can influence an organisation's performance and growth.

[Glenn Elliott · Rating 5 out of 5]

The foundation of a great business book is a great story and boy does Patty McCord have a great story. She joined Netflix right at the start, carpooled into work with the CEO each day and spent 14 years pioneering a radically performance focused HR approach. What makes her journey especially exciting and valuable is that her experience at Netflix isn’t just a reaction to the unique circumstances Netflix was in - pioneering a new market and a new technology- its the fact that McCord and CEO Reed Hastings set out from the start to build a company based on a different approach to people. So this isn’t the Netflix story told from a people and HR perspective, the Netflix story was always going to be told from a people and HR perspective, that’s what makes what happened at Netflix so valuable as a case study for everyone else.

McCord and Hastings had worked together before and had noticed that as companies grow and startups become scale ups, something bad happens. The talent density tends to drop. The ratio of super top high performers becomes less. It’s something I’ve personally seen and heard of a hundred times. It’s what is behind the constant warnings to entrepreneurs “Watch your culture as you grow”. These warnings are made with good intention, but they are ultimately useless as they come with no guidance as to what to do, how to “watch your culture” and what practically to do to keep that fast growing, autonomous startup mindset as you grow to hundreds or thousands of employees. Powerful is that guidance, it’s the manual.

With several decades of work in the Valley, Patty has developed a love for working with software engineers and that influence means she applies a product manager’s approach to HR. She has a goal of operating with minimal process and constantly tests eliminating procedures. But she does this in an agile way, like a good product manager would. She sets a low bar for people process innovation - “Is it safe to test?”, rather than “will this work”. If it is safe let’s change the process (commonly “lets remove the process) and see. If it turns out he policy was needed just re-instate it.

There are some things in the book that can only work in the Valley, in that unique place where VC cash at times is plentiful and the oversupply of jobs to talent distorts things like no where else on Earth. It’s easy to focus on these things, like “constantly ask your staff to interview elsewhere and see what they are worth” and dismiss the book as not practical to your situation or industry. But that would be a tragedy because the vast majority of the learnings and advice in this book are applicable to so many businesses and organisations.

The new employee college, teaching every single person how to read the P&L, tacking everyone how the company makes money, teaching everyone the key projects and key performance indicators for each department, communicating to everyone constantly what the 5 big challenges are the company is faced with, encouraging a practice of constant, respectful, radical honesty and feedback, understanding that great jobs are challenging jobs where great things get done, accepting that perks and food are at best peripheral decoration and the core thing you need at work is amazing people to work with and a great challenge to overcome - these are the central tenants of Powerful and they are applicable to any business, anywhere.

Powerful is beautifully written and Patty has an engaging, irreverent style. I flipped between the Kindle version and the audio book and can heartedly recommend both, sometimes its great to hear Patty’s voice and emphasis in the material.

Powerful is a fantastic read for managers, leaders, CEO’s, HR people - anyone at any level who cares about business and people and wants to help the people they work with do their best work.

[Viktor Yakovenko · Rating 5 out of 5]

Бывший HRD Netflix, Пэтти Маккорд написала увлекательную книгу о становлении корпоративной культуры в компании - иконе современной индустрии развлечений.
Основной посыл: систематический и последовательный пересмотр фундаментальных HR процессов, в том числе таких как: performance appraisal, job grading & retention:
"Ключевой урок, усвоенный нами в Netflix, заключается в том, что сложная, многоуровневая система управления людьми, которая возникла и разви��алась на протяжении 20 века совершенно не подходит для преодоления вызовов, с которыми бизнес сталкивается в веке 21" - и далее - "...я собираюсь подвергнуть сомнению все базовые предустановки современного менеджмента: а именно такие процессы, как построение лояльности и удержание, карьерное планирование и повышение вовлеченности и счастья. Ничто из вышеперечисленного не работает. Ничто из этого не является управленческой задачей. Мое радикальное предложение: роль бизнес лидера заключается в создании великих команд, которые делают отличную работу вовр��мя. Все. Именно в этом и состоит основная задача управления."
Получилось более чем увлекательно, а если учесть, что сегодня на Netflix проходится 15% мирового интернет-трафика (https://mediananny.com/novosti/2330057/), выводы Пэтти подкрепляются авторитетом безусловного лидера индустрии развлечений.
Там много интересных идей и ярких иллюстраций, но меня, в силу профессиональной трансформации, особенно зацепили следующие три:

① Нанимайте только самых лучших людей. Только так вы сможете расти и при этом не обрастать тяжеловесными и неэффективными процедурами. Ведь правила и процессы нужны, чтобы контролировать массу плохо организованных и не идеально подготовленных сотрудников, в то время как ваши лучшие кадры характеризуются высоким уровнем самодисциплины и неприятием чрезмерной бюрократии.

② Будьте максимально честными со своими менеджерами и требуйте от них того же. Чем быстрее и конструктивней в вашей организации будут обсуждаться сложные вопросы, тем больше энергии будет направлено на их разрешение и меньше - на кулуарные игры и корпоративную политику. У Джона, твоего прямого подчиненного, проблемы с производительностью и/или коммуникациями? Отлично, ты уже поговорил с ним об этом? А когда собираешься? Очевидно, что для реализации этого принципа необходимо много внимания уделить развитию культуры обратной связи. На этом Пэтти и ее команда и сфокусировались, упразднив при этом ежегодную стандартную процедуру performance appraisal: Я что-то сделал не так в мае? А зачем ты мне об этом сообщаешь в декабре, когда год почти уже закончился и у меня минимум шансов изменить ситуацию в лучшую сторону?

③ Удержание (retention) само по себе ничего не говорит о ваших успехах в сфере построения команды. Построение карьеры ваших менеджеров никак НЕ является целью вашего бизнеса, именно поэтому "карьерные перспективы" не могут и не должны быть частью трудового договора. Это означает, в том числе, что даже самые талантливые из ваших менеджером могут покинуть вас в любой момент. Невозможно удержать увлеченного и талантливого человека, который увидел для себя новый масштабный вызов, считает Пэтти, лучше сконцентрируйтесь на том, где в вашем бизнесе возникают новые задачи (вследствие роста и/или изменения стратегии), требующие привлечения новых людей, обладающих иными компетенциями и способностями.

Ну и что? Первая мысль, которая возникает: не имеем ли мы дело с ошибкой выжившего: мы знаем, что Netflix применение этих принципов сделало сильнее и помогло стать лидером, но мы не знаем сколько других компаний, применявших эти же принципы, сошли с дистанции или прозябают в неизвестности.
Тем не менее, Patty рисует очень привлекательную корпоративную культуру особенно если вы уверенный в себе обладатель востребованных рынком компетенций, превыше всего ценящий свободу и самореализацию.

[Kate Sergejeva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Одна из самых толковых книг по управлению и HR, которую я читала. Жаль только что модели западного и не-западного бизнеса так сильно отличаются.
Когда до сих пор присутствует кумовство, когда менеджеры с тоской говорят: «все уже не так и все не то» и продолжают ностальгировать и уже не соответствовать, когда нет прозрачности (и незнание с полуправдой порождают цинизм) и честного своевременного фидбэка(когда сотрудник не понимает за что его увольняют) - тогда почти не возможно следовать принципам о которых говорит автор.

Такие книги должны читать все менеджеры, потому что подбор, грамотное управление и распределение персонала это их прямая ответственность, которую многие списывают на HR.

Для себя сделала пару открытий. Посмотрела на ситуации с другой стороны, поняла что хороший человек это точно не профессия(хотя иллюзий не было), и что менеджер который во время не освободил от занимаемой должности не подходящего под его бизнес человека - несет настоящее зло. Он не дает развитие бизнесу и не дает развиваться этому человеку в другом месте.


Рекомендую

[Nyamka Ganni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Хүний нөөцийн мэргэжилтэн бол заавал унших ёстой номд орох байх шүү.
Би бээр HR.н хүн бишийн тул ажлын ярилцлаганд орохдоо юу анхаарах талаар л бодолхийлж уншив.

Netflix-н байгууллагын соёлоос авах зарим сургамж

** Ажилтнуудаа ажлаа эрх чөлөөтэй хийх боломжоор ханга. Ажлаа хийхэд нь садаа бүү бол. Гэхдээ үүрэг хариуцлагын чухлыг байнга тодотгож норм шаардлага болгох.

** Radical Honesty
Шударга байж аливаа алдаа дутагдлыг цэвэрхэн хэлж ойлгуулах нь хэн хэндээ амар.
Monkey see, monkey do.

** Хүнтэй хүн шиг харьцах хэрэгтэй. Энэ багт муу ажиллаж байна гээд муу хүн гэсэн үг огт биш юм. Өөрт тохирсон ажил, таарсан хамт олноо олж амжаагүй яваа нэгэн байж таарна. Тохирохгүйг нь мэдсэн бол бушуухан явуулах нь зүйтэй. Энэ нь 2 талын алтан цагийг хэмнэх нигуур буй.

[Shkurenko Sanya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Раз я осилил книгу про Spotify, то почему не послушать о Netflix. Оказалось, что это книга не про сам сервис, а про безжалостный HR в этой корпорации и мотивации стать ещё более профессиональней в любой другой. Если бы я был рекрутером, то возможно бы сделал из неё свою настольную библию. А так, не особо интересно для общего понимания работы Netflix.

[Andreea Tătaru · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an insightful reading! It’s really great to read about the process of culture creation of a successful organization such as Netflix. Many organizations try to build a long lasting, healthy culture where people thrive but very few succeed in doing it.
Definitely leaves you with some precious learnings but also thinking whether you’re in the right place.

[Tõnu Vahtra · Rating 5 out of 5]

My prior knowledge of Netflix was limited to Chaos Monkey and big data success stories and I had not read about the culture behind it. The book and the slide deck which predates the book definitely makes a number of bold statements. I like the approach of tackling the rise in complexity with more high performance people and creating the conditions for recruiting and motivating such people.

“Great teams are not created with incentives, procedures, and perks. They are created by hiring talented people who are adults and want nothing more than to tackle a challenge, and then communicating to them, clearly and continuously, about what the challenge is.”

“a business leader’s job is to create great teams that do amazing work on time.”

Notes from the culture deck (https://www.slideshare.net/BarbaraGil...)

The real company values, as opposed to the nice-sounding values, are shown by who gets rewarded, promoted or let go.
Real company values are the behaviors and skills that we particularly value in fellow employees.
Valued at NETFLIX:
*Judgement
*Communication
*Impact
*Curiousity
*Innovation
*Courage
*Passion
*Honesty
*Selflessness

You question actions inconsistent with our values, all are responsible for value consistency.
Great workplace is stunning colleagues. Great workplace IS NOT day-care, espresso, health benefits, sushi lunches, nice offices, or big compensation.
NETFLIX is like a pro sports team, not a kid's recreational team. Coaches job at ever level of Netflix is to hire, develop and cut smartly, so they have stars in every position.
The Keeper test managers use: "Which of my people, if they told me they were leaving in two months, for a similar job at a peer company, would I fight hard to keep at Netflix"
Unlimited loyalty to a shrinking firm, or to an ineffective employee, is not what Netflix is.
It's about effectiveness - not effort - even though effectiveness is harder to assess than effort. Try to measure people by how much, how quickly and how well they get work done - especially under deadline.
Netflix does not tolerate "brilliant jerks"
Manic on high performance - in procedural work, the best are 2x better than the average. In creative work, the best are 10x better than the average, so huge premium on creating effective teams of the best.

The Rare Responsible Person
*Self motivating
*Self aware
*Self disclipined
*Self improving
*Acts like a leader
*Doesn't wait to be told what to do
*Never feels "that's not my job"
*Picks up the trash lying on the floor
*Behaves like an owner
Responsible people thrive on freedom and they are worthy of freedom.

Netflix model is to increase employee freedom as they grow, rather than limit it, to continue to attract and nourish innovative people, so they have better chance of long-term continued success.

Growth shrinks talent density in most firms, process focus drives more talent out (talent is needed to manage complexity).

Alternative option for growth:
*Avoid chaos as you grow with ever more high performance people - not with more rules.
*Then you can continue to run informally with self-discipline and avoid chaos.
*The run informally part is what enables and attracts creativity.
Key is to increase talent density faster than complexity grows.

Minimizing complexity growth:
*Few big products vs many small ones
*Eliminate distracting complexity (barnacles)
*Value simplicity

Two types of necessary rules:
1)Prevent irrevocable disaster
2)Moral, ethical, legal issues

Good VS Bad processes:
*Good processes help talented people get more done.
*Bad processes try to prevent recoverable mistakes

There is no policy or tracking for vacations in Netflix.

Netflix policies for expensing, entertainment, gifts and travel: "Act in Netflix's best interests".

Freedom and responsibility key goals:
*As we grow, minimize rules.
*Inhibit chaos with ever more high performance people.
*Flexibility is more important than efficiency in the long term.

The best managers figure out how to get great outcomes by setting the appropriate context, rather than by trying to control their people. Providing the insight and understanding to enable sound decisions.
Exceptions:
*Control can be important in emergency.
*Control can be important when someone is still learning their area
*Control can be important when you have the wrong person in a role

Managers: When one of your talented people does something dumb, don't blame them. Instead, ask yourself what context you failed to set.
When you are tempted to "control" your people, ask yourself what context you could set instead. MORE CONTEXT!! Are you articulate and inspiring enough about goals and strategies.
High performance people will do better work if they understand the context.

Three models of corporate teamwork:
1) Tightly coupled monolith
2) Independent Silos
3) Highly aligned, loosely coupled

Highly aligned:
- Strategy and goals are clear, specific, broadly understood
- Team interactions are on strategy and goals, rather than tactics
- Requires large investment in management time to be transparent and articulate and perceptive and open.

Loosely coupled
- Minimal cross-functional meetings except to get aligned on goals and strategy.
- Trust between groups on tactics without previewing/approving each one - groups can move fast
- Leaders reaching out proactively for ad-hoc coordination and perspective as appropriate
- Occasional post-mortems on tactics necessary to increase alignment.

One outstanding employee gets more done and costs less than two adequate employees.

Timing - if manager would promote employee to keep them if employee were thinking of leaving, manager should promote now, and not wait.

Developing people by giving them the opportunity to develop themselves, by surrounding them with stunning colleagues and giving them big challenges to work on (medicore colleagues or unchallenging work is what kills progress of a person's skills).
High performance people are generally self-improving through experience, observation, introspection, reading and discussion.

Need a culture that supports rapid innovation and excellent execution.
Need a culture that supports effective teamwork of high-performance people.
Need a culture that avoids the rigidity, politics, mediocrity, and complacency that infects most organizations as they grow..

[Seth Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Going with a 4 here. This book is strong on explaining the experiences and cultural case study that is Netflix. There are real caveats around the application of these models in pieces or in whole to other companies. I appreciated learning about this from Patty's perspective. I found her style to be thoughtful around evaluating each aspect of HR and culture.

[Eglė Zarembė · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book reveal a culture of thriving high-pace fast-changing organisations and can help to recognise some non-working techniques that most companies apply in HR and business in general

[Denis Vasilev · Rating 4 out of 5]

Книга про культуру и HR составляющую работы Нетфликс. Позитивные идеи которым недостает структуры и обоснований

[Simon Eskildsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brutally honest book by someone with serious experience from the field. It’s pragmatic, honest, credible, and invoragtingly subjective. It’s not a classic business book. The stories are real stories from a real company. Patty thinks about Netflix in an refreshingly integrated way. When the company faced an 8-month deadline to get on the next Wii cycle (or would have to wait 2 years), the recruiter who hired the engineers for the team felt it was as much her celebration, as that of the engineering team. Patty doesn’t allow anyone to walk the halls without the ability to regurgitate the mission statement at once; no matter what department they’re working in.

She challenges the classical incentive thinking of rewarding though perks, bonuses, and stock options. The ultimate incentive is to do great work, with incredible people. That’s a classic Silicon Valley cliché, but Patty brings a brutally honest perspective:

2001 we had to lay off a third of the company. The dot-com bubble had burst, and the economy had gone bust with it, and we were on the brink of bankruptcy. It was brutal. [..] And yet everyone was much happier. I was carpooling to work with Reed one day, and I said to him, “Why is this so fun? I can’t wait to get to work. I don’t want to go home at night. We’re working so hard, but it’s great. What is it about what we’re doing?” He said, “Let’s figure it out.” Our first big realization was that the remaining people were the highest performers, and it taught us that the best thing you can do for employees is hire only high performers to work alongside them. It’s a perk far better than foosball or free sushi or even a big signing bonus or the holy grail of stock options. Excellent colleagues, a clear purpose, and well-understood deliverables: that’s the powerful combination.

Certainly, as you can feel from this excerpt, ‘working hard’ is a quality, too. I find that this quality is typically over-glorified, and this book is no exception to that. The team-building strategy employed at Netflix is heavily skewed towards seniority. I find it’s extreme that there’s little to no talk about building talent from interns and new grads. In my experience, with the right attitude, environment, and compounding rate of learning they can get to this level incredibly quickly, with unparalleled enthusiasm.

Radical condor is a large topic in the book. With it, the environment becomes much more stimulating. The trust that comes with it is invaluable for extremely productive debates:

We were combative in that beautiful, intellectual way where you argue to tease out someone’s viewpoint, because although you don’t agree, you think the other person is really smart so you want to understand why they think what they think. That respect for one another’s intelligence and genuine desire to discover the bases of colleagues’ views drove intense mutual questioning and kept it mostly productive and civil, if often quite colorful.

It leads you to ask powerful questions like:

“How do you know that’s true?” Or my favorite variant, “Can you help me understand what leads you to believe that’s true?”

Patty preaches open decision-making. If you don’t make them in the open, people will spin their own destructive stories. Netflix’ execs schedule open debates of top-of-mind topics in front of the entire company. That’s the next level of AMAs.

One of my biggest takeaways from the book is the mantra of “always be hiring.” If you’re seeking the talent density that Netflix does, you can be more picky if you’re always on the lookout. In the people you’re hiring, she points out, seek especially the capacity builders; those who can support new people. Whether that’s management, or technical vision.

“Knowing when it’s time for people to move on goes hand in hand with bringing in top performers with the skills you need. They are two sides of the same coin. If you are not great at hiring high-talent people, then you cannot truly be comfortable letting good people go. You will never be good at one without the other and will never be good at building a high-performance team.”

This is so simple, but profound. If you’re not excellent at bringing in incredible talent, it becomes easier to lower your bar. Input and output go hand in hand.

Overall, Powerful is packed with real advice from an industry veteran. I would’ve liked more balance in the book of what didn’t work at Netflix. That would’ve added to its credibility, since it paints a rose-coloured picture of Netflix’ culture. This is an especially actionable read for anyone who cares deeply about developing the environment and team around them. Recommended.

[Justas Butkus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Radical honesty as a way of augmenting the culture. There is no sense nor urging of reformation - only a calm story of abandoning some of the proverbial “common knowledge” approaches of working with teams and people.

A great read for anyone, at any level of any company - to get a better understanding of ones place in the business and what’s importance in the career.

An essential book on any managers bookshelf. To see how radical honesty helps foster a reliable work connections and build teams for success.

[Marius Greblikas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Netflix ten, Netflix šen, Netflix padarė tai, dabar visi daro irgi, nes tai labai gerai...Jei nors kiek būni IT srityje, tai tikrai žinai Netflix ir ką mes turime šios kompanijos dėka. Tačiau knyga ne apie IT, gal net ne apie pačią Netflix, gal tik iš dalies, nes visa knyga yra per HR (žmogiškieji resursai) prizmę. Labai įdomūs pasakojamai apie specialistų samdymą, komandų formavimą, santykius tarp kolegų, pačios įmonės evoliucionavimą iš „startuolio“ į pasaulinio lygio kompaniją ir t.t.
Įdomu susipažinti su HR politiką ir palyginti ją su IT grandais, kuriuose jau teko man pačiam padirbėti. Tikrai daug dalykų atrodo galėtų būti perimti, tačiau man atrodo, kad sąlyginai lengva formuoti tam tikrą politiką „startuolio“ lygyje ir paskui ją tobulinti ir išauginti, augant pačiai įmonei.
Truputį kitoks sudėtingumo lygis yra įmonėse, kurios turi tradicijas, netgi sakyčiau ilgametes tradicijas, ši užduotis beveik neįveikiama, nes bet kokia naujiena, kardinali naujiena susilaukia labai didelio žmonių pasipriešinimo. Kadangi žmonėms iš prigimties yra sunku keistis ir reaguoti į besikeičiančias sąlygas, tai aš siūlau - įsileisti kiekvieną galimą iššūkį ir keistis, prisitaikyti, mokintis, gilintis, nes tai kas nauja mums, mus padaro įdomesnius...
Skaitykite ir dar kartą skaitykite 

[Kasia Michalak · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best book I've ever read about building the culture of responsibility, wise hiring and managing the company.

[Chintushig Tumenbayar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Хамт олон, баг бүрдүүлэx ямар чуxалыг одоо үед хүн бүр мэддэг болсон. Нөгөө талд чадварлаг албан хаагчидийг багтаа нэгтгэx хүсэл аж аxуй нэгж бүрд байдаг шүү дээ. Би хүртэл заримдаа ажилтан хайсаар өөрөө тэр ажлыг хийж гүйцэтгэx тоxиолдол олонтой. Энэ асуудлаар сүүлийн үед олон ном хэвлэл гарж байгаагийн нэг нь энэ ном гэж ойлгож болно. Заx зээлийн эрэлт хэрэгцээ хурдтай өөрчлөгдөж буй теxник теxнологийн салбарт 2 ч удаа шинэчлэлт хийж эргэлт авчирсан Нетфликсийн хүний нөөцийн албаны хүн та бидэнтэй арга барилаасаа хуваалцаж байгаа нь таатай санагдлаа.