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Sep 15, 2020 · In his new book, No Rules Rules, Hastings discusses one of the guiding principles of his anything-goes, radically transparent management style: The Keeper Test.
- Offer Feedback Anytime, Anywhere
- Pay People More Than They Expect
- Trusting People Is Worth The Risk
- Champion The Brilliant Idea Your Boss Hates
- Own Your Mistakes
- Practice The ‘Keeper Test’
- Give Context, Not Directions
Most people are reluctant to give constructive criticismto their colleagues — especially their bosses. Even if their feedback is well-intentioned, people worry about coming across as harsh. Netflix thinks about this differently. Here’s an example from the book: Rose, a VP on Netflix’s global communications team, met with her colleagues to present h...
In another anecdote from the book, Sarandos (who was then the chief content officer), was giving a monthly update to his staff. He told them the market was heating up, and that they should expect to receive calls from recruiters from other big tech companies. But this wasn’t a warning. It was an invitation — Sarandos encouraged his employees to tak...
Rob Caruso, the new VP of digital products at Netflix, strolled into his first quarterly business review and was shocked. To a crowd of 400 managers, several days ahead of Netflix’s earnings call, when the rest of the world would see its books, former CEO Hastings dove deep into the company’s financials and strategy. Caruso couldn’t believe it. Typ...
Years ago, Netflix users didn’t have the ability to download Netflix content in order to watch it offline. Both former CEO Hastings and the company’s chief product officer, Neil Hunt, were against the idea. They thought that building a download functionality would pull valuable resources away from their main focus, which was making Netflix an excel...
Yasemin Dormen was heading up a Turkish social media campaign for Netflix’s hit sci-fi show Black Mirror. Dormen thought it would catch people’s attention to create creepy, cryptic messages and post them on Turkey’s equivalent to Reddit, to generate buzz for the mysterious show’s upcoming fourth season. But the idea backfired. People found the mess...
Hastings and McCord learned something valuable in the early days, when they saw Netflix’s culture turn around after the company laid off a third of its staff. They realized that the most effective way for them to innovate was to keep only “the keepers.” Since then, Netflix leaders have encouraged managers to regularly practice something called the ...
Adam Del Deo, Netflix’s director of original documentary programming, fell in love with the movie Icarus. It was a gripping documentary about how competitive cycling became embroiled in an international doping scandal, and it had just premiered — to rousing applause — at the Sundance Film Festival. Del Deo wanted Netflix to acquire Icarus. But he k...
- Hal Koss
- Senior Associate Editor
Oct 24, 2023 · Explore the intricacies of Reed Hastings' leadership style, from its evolution at Netflix to its broader implications in the tech industry. Delve into the core principles, challenges, and legacy that define his transformative approach.
- Hire, Reward, and Tolerate Only Fully Formed Adults. Over the years we learned that if we asked people to rely on logic and common sense instead of on formal policies, most of the time we would get better results, and at lower cost.
- Tell the Truth About Performance. Many years ago we eliminated formal reviews. We had held them for a while but came to realize they didn’t make sense—they were too ritualistic and too infrequent.
- Managers Own the Job of Creating Great Teams. Discussing the military’s performance during the Iraq War, Donald Rumsfeld, the former defense secretary, once famously said, “You go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time.”
- Leaders Own the Job of Creating the Company Culture. After I left Netflix and began consulting, I visited a hot start-up in San Francisco. It had 60 employees in an open loft-style office with a foosball table, two pool tables, and a kitchen, where a chef cooked lunch for the entire staff.
Hastings suggests that the Keeper Test works because “everyone at Netflix is happier and more successful when there is a star in every position.” But is it desirable, or even possible, to have...
Nov 3, 2014 · But none of those attributes applies to Reed Hastings, the cofounder and CEO of Netflix. Hastings prides himself on making as few decisions as possible, and he lets his team dream up new products and new initiatives. That may sound like a recipe for failure, but it obviously isn’t.
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May 21, 2023 · Reed Hastings’ book, “No Rules, Rules,” highlights Netflix’s leadership approach of leading with context rather than imposing excessive control.
