I am a fan of Netflix. I even stood by them when they tried to spin off the DVD business and pissed everybody off (okay, they didn’t communciate well on that one, but I still like the strategic move).

But now I love them even more, because I came across this slideshow about their culture:

There’s a lot in there. It’s 126 slides. I’m still digesting it, but it is really impressive, and it touches on a lot of Humanize elements (ownership, clarity over control, truth, courage…). But I’ll start at the beginning with the discussion of values. This quote stuck out for me:

Actual company values are the behaviors and skills that are valued in fellow employees.

It’s not about values that just sound nice (integrity, honesty, diversity, etc.). It’s about behaviors and skills that are literally valued by you and others in the workplace. So they have nine values: judgment, communication, impact, curiosity, innovation, courage, passion, honesty, selflessness. But for each one, they specifically describe what that looks like in the workplace. Take the last one, selflessness, for example. We all value that, right? I mean, who wants a bunch of selfish people in the workplace? But they have some nice descriptions of what that means:

• 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.

That’s pretty clear. I can see that in my employees. And if they’re not doing that, I can have a conversation with them. And if it keeps up, we can discuss severance packages. Because to say you have “values” in the workplace implies you actually value something. And to value something includes putting money behind it (in the form of salary). If you are paying people who act in opposite ways from what you value, then you really don’t value it do you?