Hey there! This is aΒ Book EditionΒ π β where I publish our review + summary of a famous non-fiction book in our space.
It is made possible by theΒ book clubΒ in the community, where every two months we decide on a non-fiction book to read, and we review it together in a live event at the end of the period.
So, over the last two months we have read No Rules Rules β by Reed Hastings, co-founder and ex-CEO of Netflix, and Erin Meyer, management professor and author.
The subtitle of the book is: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention, and, in fact, this is a book about culture. Strong, opinionated company culture. Culture you may disagree with.
This is, in a way, refreshing.
Company culture is often the land of the fairy tales: we say nice things about our values, about our mission, and find ourselves nodding to not-particularly-challenging statements.
Can you really disagree with donβt be evil? Or do the right thing?
Netflix culture is different. It is not about universal rules, it is about the specific formula that works well for them. As a company, you may not be able to apply all of this advice, and as an individual, you may easily say: this is not for me.
In this review I will cover the main ideas from the book, adding my own commentary, and references to other books which cover similar topics. Sometimes it will be to reinforce the message, other times to provide a counter-example.
So, here is the agenda:
π¦ Β Freedom & Responsibility β the foundations of Netflix philosophy.
π Β Talent Density β a great workplace is stunning colleagues.
π£Β Candor β saying what you think and giving great feedback.
πΒ Removing Controls β from vacation policies to leading with context.
πΒ Going Global β scaling the culture across multiple countries.
πΒ Conclusion β main takeaways and my personal take.
Letβs dive in!