One of the more informative parts of a company web site is its “careers” pages. Not only do you see where some of their pain points are, but sometimes you also learn where the company is headed. Today, after seeing Netflix listed on one of my alerts, I went over to see they are looking for a PM for International pursuits. After my first (About time!) and second (That’s gonna be a painful position.) thoughts I went ahead and looked. All pretty much as expected but near the end was a requirement that applicants must read “7 Reasons to Work at Netflix” which piqued my curiosity.
Aside from recalling a recent article I read about why delighting the customer may not be such a good thing, the points covered seemed reasonable to me. Then I got to “Rules Annoy Us”. My opinion of the company rose a great deal just on those three words. Their one absolute rule, “Integrity”, says it all. However, this one really belongs in the next section, the one I had to plagiarize for this post, values.
6. Clear Values
Lots of organizations have lofty value statements; but sometimes they are not reflective of what the organization actually values. To understand the real values of a company, watch how people interact with one another, who gets promoted, and who is let go.
At Netflix we value – and reward – the following nine behaviors. The more these sound like you, the more likely you are to thrive at Netflix. Feedback on how employees can improve in these nine dimensions is frequent via online 360 reviews. We do our best to push each other to embody these values fully.
Judgment
- You make wise decisions (people, technical, business, and creative) despite ambiguity
- You identify root causes, and get beyond treating symptoms
- You think strategically, and can articulate what you are, and are not, trying to do
- You smartly separate what must be done well now, and what can be improved later
Innovation
- You re-conceptualize issues to discover practical solutions to hard problems
- You challenge prevailing assumptions when warranted, and suggest better approaches
- You create new ideas that prove useful
- You keep us nimble by minimizing complexity and finding time to simplify
Impact
- You accomplish amazing amounts of important work
- You demonstrate consistently strong performance so colleagues can rely upon you
- You focus on great results rather than on process
- You exhibit bias-to-action, and avoid analysis-paralysis
Curiosity
- You learn rapidly and eagerly
- You seek to understand our strategy, market, subscribers, and suppliers
- You are broadly knowledgeable about business, technology and entertainment
- You contribute effectively outside of your specialty
Communication
- You listen well, instead of reacting fast, so you can better understand
- You are concise and articulate in speech and writing
- You treat people with respect independent of their status or disagreement with you
- You maintain calm poise in stressful situations
Courage
- You say what you think even if it is controversial
- You make tough decisions without excessive agonizing
- You take smart risks
- You question actions inconsistent with our values
Honesty
- You are known for candor and directness
- You are non-political when you disagree with others
- You only say things about fellow employees you will say to their face
- You are quick to admit mistakes
Selflessness
- You seek what is best for Netflix, rather than best for yourself or your group
- You are ego-less when searching for the best ideas
- You make time to help colleagues
- You share information openly and proactively
Passion
- You inspire others with your thirst for excellence
- You care intensely about Netflix’ success
- You celebrate wins
- You are tenacious
Having recently written an almost identical sentence, the line about value statements not being reflective of reality rings so true that I had to pause. As companies grow and corpbots begin to infiltrate and take over, a reality-free group-think begins to take hold of comms, HR, and the other functions that are not essential to the core function of the firm. It is this self-awareness of their marginal value that often seems to drive “values” that can be stretched to include all of the Ark Fleet Ship B people in the company. This is one aspect of organizational evolution I’d like to see Clayton Christensen write about.
Reading through the value list I’m not feeling completely smug though. I immediately see those points I wish I were more ______.
- Judgment: It’s easy to remember the unwise decisions. Far fewer after about 22 years of learning however.
- Innovation: It isn’t always possible to reduce complexity though it is almost always a good goal.
- Impact: “Important work” is fine, “self-important work” not so much. There has to be a balance between analysis and a desire to act quickly. I’ve run into more reactive bonehead management decisions than analysis-paralysis so it depends upon having all of the other values to prevent both.
- Communication: I find I listen a lot more than I used to, however when that C-level guy starts spouting dreck I start putting my things away and looking for the exit. Also, I have often wished my off-the-cuff banter were more like my writing. Just another thing to work on.
- Courage: It’s always right to talk about errant behavior. However, I believe much of the time it is better to do this one-on-one and let individuals extract their own foot.
- Honesty: Wow, that’s a high bar. Only things I’d say to someone’s face? No, when I’m home talking with friends I feel free to comment on behavior or personality traits that, while annoying, don’t necessarily affect company direction. There are very few cases I’ve seen people live up to a standard that mandates true candor. More often it seems that people appreciate unvarnished honesty about only those things that don’t affect or relate to them. I’m probably don’t admit my mistakes as quickly as others would like me to, but I’d add my own rule here: Make your apology/admission in the same scope as the blunder was made. The guys who blast people in a group and then apologize in private, one-on-one, and only over the phone…they richly deserve the “outing” they subsequently receive.
- Passion: I don’t celebrate wins so much. I’m always more interested in the next challenge than acting like a clueless frat boy. I’ll celebrate in my own time, in my own way; you go right ahead.
I think I’m pretty much dead on when it comes to Curiosity and Selflessness categories. I’ve always told the people I work for that I don’t care about their incentive programs and goals set for me that come into conflict with a “do the right thing” philosophy. One of my favorite sayings is:
It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit. – Harry S. Truman
Ever notice how many BD guys are downright offended by this thinking?
You can decide for yourself how these compare with the values you’ve heard from corporate drones. Does any company really live up to such a standard? I don’t know what it’s really like to work at Netflix, but I must say I really like their values!
