No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention

Bringing impressive credentials to this riveting business guide, Meyer (The Culture Map), a professor at the INSEAD business school, and Hastings, cofounder and CEO of Netflix, walk readers through the “unique ecosystem” of the streaming giant’s corporate culture. They chart Netflix’s evolution, drawing from Hastings’s personal recollections, excerpts from Meyer’s more than 200 interviews with current and past Netflix employees, and selections of company PowerPoint meeting slides, emails, and “culture maps.” In order to “connect the dots” and form a coherent picture of Netflix’s management style, the coauthors identify the firm’s 10 key tenets, beginning with its foundational emphasis on “talent density,” and continuing with its “culture of candor.” In its quest to be the best, the company has rewritten many long-standing corporate rules, such as by “removing controls,” with the elimination of limitations on vacation time, among other measures. Sharing this kind of dramatic evolution requires a dense and info-packed book, but the authors break up the text with helpful end-of-chapter synopses to sum up the takeaways and boxed excerpts from employee interviews. Aspiring tech moguls should flock to Hastings and Meyer’s energetic and fascinating account. (Sept.)