# Netflix's Culture

* * *

WebSlides

##
A bit of context

Patty McCord created Netflix's culture. She wrote the document called "Netflix Culture: Freedom & Responsibility." (2009). So far, it's been shared over 16 million times on Slideshare and has been called "the most important document ever to come out of the Valley" by Sheryl Sandberg.

### We seek excellence

We value candor, transparency, and courage. We embrace context and avoid control, seeking insight and understanding to make sound decisions.

### Diversity & Inclusiveness

## 7 Aspects of our Culture

1. Values are what we Value
2. High Performance
3. Freedom & Responsibility
4. Context, not Control
5. Highly Alined, Loosely Coupled
6. Pay Top of Market
7. Promotions & Development

### 1/7 Values are what we value

Make your values mean something.

Many companies have nice sounding value statements displayed in the lobby. Enron, whose leaders went to jail, and which went bankrupt from fraud had these values displayed in their lobby: integrity, communication, respect, and excellence.

## 9 Behaviors

At Netflix, we particularly value the following nine behaviors and skills. We hire and promote people who demonstrate these nine.

1. Judgment
2. Communication
3. Impact
4. Curiosity
5. Innovation
6. Courage
7. Passion
8. Honesty
9. Selflessness

## 7 Aspects of our Culture

1. Values are what we Value
2. High Performance
3. Freedom & Responsibility
4. Context, not Control
5. Highly Alined, Loosely Coupled
6. Pay Top of Market
7. Promotions & Development

### 2/7 High Performance

- ##
  We're a team

  not a family.

- ##
  We're a pro sports team

  not a kid's recreational team.

- ##
  We have stars

  in every position.

#### Why are we so 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.

## Content that people love

### 3/7 Freedom & Responsibility

Most companies have complex policies around what you can expense, how you travel, what gifts you can accept, etc.

Netflix's Policy: "Act in Netflix's best interest" (5 words long).

### "Act in Netflix's best interest" generally means...

- Expense only what you would otherwise not spend.
- Travel as you would if it were your own money.
- What gifts you can accept? Disclose non-trivial vendor gifts.
- Take from Netflix only when it is inefficient to not take (calls...)

#### Summary of Freedom & Responsibility

1. As we grow, minimize rules.
2. Inhibit chaos with ever more high performance people.
3. Flexibility is more important than efficiency in the long term.

This is a homage.

Patty McCord wrote "Netflix Culture: Freedom & Responsibility". Go to Slideshare to read the whole document.