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Powerful: Building a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility
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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.
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Hardcover, 228 pages
Published
March 9th 2018
by Silicon Guild
(first published January 9th 2018)
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Start your review of Powerful: Building a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility
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 revi ...more
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 revi ...more
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.
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 h
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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 busi ...more
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 busi ...more
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 developm ...more
My conclusion after reading the book is that the Netflix culture works...for Netflix. For a company in a certain stage of developm ...more
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 ...more
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 ...more
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 long ...more
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 long ...more
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
...more
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.
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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 peo ...more
“Great teams are not created with incentives, procedures, and perks. They are created by hiring talented peo ...more
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.
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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 engineerin
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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 fo ...more
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 fo ...more
One of the best book I've ever read about building the culture of responsibility, wise hiring and managing the company.
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It's a good book but I was expecting more from it. I think it happened because I had the chance to attend a workshop with Patty and it was very good. My feeling is that the book was not bringing that many news for me.
I part I like the most of this book is how Netflix "consider their employees as adults". Yes, I know it seems silly here, but c'mon *so many* companies don't do that. Companies and managers like to babysit their employees to a point that it looks ridiculous sometimes. One of the bes ...more
I part I like the most of this book is how Netflix "consider their employees as adults". Yes, I know it seems silly here, but c'mon *so many* companies don't do that. Companies and managers like to babysit their employees to a point that it looks ridiculous sometimes. One of the bes ...more
I read the Netflix culture slides a few years ago and was completely blown away. So I was pretty excited when I came across this book from Patty. The book does a great job of fleshing out concepts from the slides and helped me understand how strategic a good HR function can be. Go Patty!
The most disruptive and actionable book for HR and culture leaders you'll find.
Outstanding. ...more
Outstanding. ...more
Good written and entertaining book with the central theme of building culture of discipline, freedom and responsibility. It reflects all the important topics from the Netflix culture document, going deeper and explaining impact of the Netflix core values.
The book is in many points (understandably) reflects HR vision. Patty is speaking more about personalities and less about teams, giving impression of putting more accent on individualistic, maybe even a bit aristocratic approach.
There are many o ...more
The book is in many points (understandably) reflects HR vision. Patty is speaking more about personalities and less about teams, giving impression of putting more accent on individualistic, maybe even a bit aristocratic approach.
There are many o ...more
The nature of business in the modern digital and information overload age is ever-changing. The foundation of Patty McCord's book Powerful - Building a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility is that the as workplace progress, so should human resources.
The author challenges the old, traditional corporate HR that include annual performance reviews, retention plans, engagement programs, etc.
She clearly speaks her mind in the early chapters that these activities and actions are a mere waste of time ...more
The author challenges the old, traditional corporate HR that include annual performance reviews, retention plans, engagement programs, etc.
She clearly speaks her mind in the early chapters that these activities and actions are a mere waste of time ...more
The most precious point about this book is the author, Patty McCord. She is the co-founder of Netflix as the HR person who knows well about the company's business. The rare combination of these three roles and qualities of the author granted the rare and valuable perspectives in the book about modern management practice for the millennial company and workers.
What I love most about this book is Patty's down-to-earth, no-nonsense, facts-based straight Texan talks about the critical business proble ...more
What I love most about this book is Patty's down-to-earth, no-nonsense, facts-based straight Texan talks about the critical business proble ...more
Definite departure from the typical corporate culture I am used to. Right now, I can only imagine working in an environment like that. An open and honest work environment sounds wonderful when coming from a place where that type of feed back is not promoted. Transparency and open communication goes a long way, this book focuses a lot on changing work place politics and HR standards by using these methods. I wish more places would start leaning into ideas like this. Failing to do so and keeping t
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Another good story of an organization built on radical honesty and deliberate and principled organizational design. One clear distinction from e.g. Basecamp's philosophy (see It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work) is Netflix' focus on winning rather than having fun playing.
The book at times felt like a long farewell letter to Netflix or an acknowledgements section, mentioning employees' glorified stories or quotes without necessarily not making the points clearer. ...more
The book at times felt like a long farewell letter to Netflix or an acknowledgements section, mentioning employees' glorified stories or quotes without necessarily not making the points clearer. ...more
A decent short book which presents some of the core ideas from the “Netflix culture deck” (pay market salaries, be fast to replace people, get rid of useless process like annual reviews, ...). I think the Netflix deck actually is a better document than this book, but this one is short and blissfully free of the filler found in many business books.
The thing I dislike about both the deck and this book is how lacking in context they seem to be. The Netflix model works really well for certain kinds ...more
The thing I dislike about both the deck and this book is how lacking in context they seem to be. The Netflix model works really well for certain kinds ...more
Perfect read as someone who works for a Tech start-up. I found the Netflix culture story as innovative and exciting but also one that a lot of companies could adopt certain principles from. Having worked in recruitment for multiple companies and now in Talent Acquisition and HR, this is a book I will recommend to others but also continuously revisit when working on certain projects. The only downside is of course that this model will not work for every company or start up particularly if the cas
...more
May 17, 2018
Jamie Bowen
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
business-personal-development,
2018
Patty McCord joined Netflix at the right time, i.e. at the beginning, which allowed her and the rest of the executive team to create a culture that they wanted and free from the shackles of old management theories. How exciting must this have been? I believe this shines through in this book and it's an easy read. Quite how easy this would be to do a company whose been going for a number of years and with an embedded culture, I'm not sure but I believe so much can be learnt from this book. Great
...more
There is a old way and new way how to approach people and organizations. Patty McCord presents us the new way - the way that is most efficient both for emoloyee and the company. The biggest value for me was that innovative thinking was brought in nutshell, easily readable format and ready to be tested (even in parts) in your own organization. It made me review my values and thinking how to manage teams and make people to cooperate for same goal!
Great teams are made when every single member knows where they’re going and will do anything to get there. Great teams are not created with incentives, procedures, and perks. They are created by hiring talented people who are adults and want noting more than to tackle a challenge, and then communicating to them, clearly and continuously, about what the challenge is.
Great teams are made when things are hard.
Great teams are made when things are hard.
I might not agree with all the ideas in the book, but it doesn't prevent me from seeing it as a great example of concise culture development. Behind most of our actions hide mental models about the outside world and people - "Powerful" is a testament to a certain view of people and work organization. If you don't focus solely on ideas, you might see the process they underwent in gradually building the organization and its tactics according to their beliefs. The thing I appreciate the most is abs
...more
Fabulous insights about the culture of one of the biggest and fascinating companies of the world. Some things will astonish you, others perhaps leave you perplexed, but you can't stop from recognizing the sheer passion the author, Patty McCord, has for Netflix and how her vision about people, work and top notch performance lead to the company's success. Also, she loves engineers! Recommended :)
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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 compla ...more
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 compla ...more
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“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.”
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“Excellent colleagues, a clear purpose, and well-understood deliverables: that’s the powerful combination.”
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