Day 299: Netflix’s Culture

Over the last three days, I’ve been busy researching Tony Hsieh, speaking to some heavyweight marketing friends in Vegas that knew him, and discussing what happened.

A detailed article will follow in my magazine but I can tell you it’s a tragic tale of getting exactly what you asked for but not wanting it.

Similar but opposite to last week where I explained how the sun doesn’t care if it blinds you…

It shines anyway.

In other news…

I got kicked out of a friend’s Trivia Night over the weekend.

Trivia Question: Who has more knockouts than Mike Tyson?

Me: Bill Cosby?

Anyhoo…

Your ONE COACHING THING Today Is:

‘No Rules Rules: Reed Hastings about Netflix’s Culture’

My company is growing at a rabid pace, we’re hiring software engineers to further develop my business coaching software and I can tell you that innovation is a tough animal to control.

This book by Reed Hastings was recommended to me by a friend that owns a $100 million dollar SAAS company.

If you’re interested in helping your clients build a large, and growing, company I highly recommend it.

Here are a few of my key takeaways from the book:

1. Talent Density 

Only keep high performing staff… Reed had to lay off about 1/3 of his staff in the dot com crash and thought is would decimate company morale.

What happened was an increase in “talent density”… only the BEST staff were kept and the staff thrived in a new, accidental, high-performance environment.

To his surprise, output almost doubled with less staff.

As I write this it sounds less than jaw-dropping… but what company is actively laying off its less than elite people?

And what business owner would predict they’ll dramatically INCREASE output with only 2/3 of staff.

In the book, they share a study where one non-high performer can make the entire team’s output down by 30 – 40%?!

“Your greatest successes will come through other people” and it’s mission-critical that you surround yourself with elite performers.

2. Team not Family 

I’ve played hockey with National Championships and World Championships on the line and, as a former hockey player, this one hit me square in the nose.

Family is together ‘through thick and thin.’

A TEAM is “in it to win it” and if you’re not up to par you get shown the door.

At Netflix, winning matters and you’ll need to accept that ‘people changes’ are a guarantee.

Think of this from a sporting perspective.

NFL stands for “Not for Long” for a reason… they have a 30%+ percent turnover each year because they are only interested in fielding the BEST team possible at all times.

All professional sports are similar.

A high performing workplace should be also.

3. Eliminate Controls 

Hastings gave his staff more freedom by eliminating controls. He started by abolishing the vacation policy and the travel and expense approval processes.

In essence, allowing “employees” to make decisions reserved for management in almost every other working environment.

A risky move but it streamlined decision making, big time.

Do you really want managers tied up “deciding if a travel expense is worth it” or do you want them working on high-level and productive tasks?

What Hastings found is that this allowed ALL staff to:

“Act in Netflix’s Best Interest”

By having a talented workforce and creating a culture of radical transparency… the employees and managers kept one another accountable to each other.

You can take four months off a year if you want… but you likely won’t last very long at Netflix due to the ‘peer to peer’ accountability.

4. Creative Atmosphere 

A creative atmosphere is a powerful atmosphere.

He discovered that when companies have policies and procedures that control them… it kills their staff’s creative mojo.

By providing staff almost total freedom they find creative juices “spiral up” and this has proven to be insanely profitable environment.

Transparency builds trust and speed in a high-performance environment.

So, there you have it… the key takeaways from a great book that I highly recommend you read.

If you’re into helping your high-end coaching clients build a high-performance culture like Netflix.

You heard it here first.

Kinda.

Obsessed with your business coaching success,

Karl Bryan aka King Karl

PS.  Rich people are buying staff and opportunities… poor people are buying toilet paper.

PPS. Marriages break up from lack of money… over lack of love X 100.

Business failures lead to destruction, addiction, depression, anxiety, suicides, and unfortunately, far more.

As good business coaches we save marriages, save families, save kids from self-destruction… we save lives!

A true life of purpose.

PPPS. If you’re looking for a proven system to follow for your coaching…. I created business coaching software and high-end step by step training to support it…

It’ll teach you ‘How to find any small business owner $100,000 in 45 minutes without them spending an extra dollar on marketing or advertising.’

Imagine finding your annual $12,000 to $50,000 coaching fees BEFORE you started coaching your new clients?!  And a proven coaching system created for you to follow with your new coaching client. 

Reply to this post if you want to start following a proven coaching system.

PPPS. Forward this to someone that needs to subscribe to my daily emails and get a limited time, complimentary subscription to my business coaching magazine go here:

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PPPPS. They tell me my Podcast is Ric Flair style, Money Makin, Client Getten, Joint Venture Landing, Event Fillin, High-End Coaching Client Findin Gold For Business Coaches.

Entertaining, Informative, Uncensored, Unedited:

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