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Part 1: Analysis of the Netflix Culture Deck
Akim Meggett
JWI 522 Strategic Partnering with the C-Suite
Professor Wallace
August 28, 2025
Introduction to the Netflix Culture Deck
Netflix Culture Deck is one of the most essential books in modern business, which describes the fundamental values and principles of operation of the company, and was written by Reed Hastings and Patty McCord as an innovative way to develop corporate culture.
It departs from the traditional command-and-control structures towards a model of high-performance and empowerment, which states that the best workplace is one that is not dictated by rules but one of Freedom and Responsibility.
We are going to examine the most interesting and essential practices in the deck to see how they work to achieve sustainable organizational growth and success.
Looking at these principles, we can realize that they have the potential to create a dynamic and successful business environment even when they are applied to other organizational settings.
This presentation will dissect the main practices, compare them to the philosophies of Jack Welch, and then provide some definite recommendations that could be conveyed to our own organization.
Practice 1: Being free and responsible
This fundamental value stems from the fact that when you employ highly talented and responsible people in an organization, you ensure that you give them freedom to make decisions without so much supervision.
Such a practice brings about a deep sense of ownership and responsibility where the employees can take actions in the best interest of the company and no longer wait to be directed.
The reason is that it would give a massive amount of relevance to organizational growth since it would eradicate bureaucratic red tape, as the company would operate at a faster pace, maintain more innovation, and most importantly, have the ability to attract top-tier talent, which would thrive in self-autonomy.
A significant issue that might arise when adopting this model of management is whether all the employees are aware of what they are supposed to do, and whether they have the business context needed to make the right decisions.
To eliminate this, there should be clear communication from the leadership to the members and an understanding of the company’s objectives to harmonize and avoid confusion.
Practice 2: Candor (Truth and Trust)
One of the key elements in the whole culture is the principle of candor or truth and trust, as Jack Welch calls it, a tool of speed and slashing through business jargon.
In the Netflix context, it would entail being able to give and receive frank, open feedback, even when it can be painful and difficult, to affect a culture of openness.
The practice is very relevant to growth in the sense that it saves time to eliminate problem-causing issues that cannot be seen, it reduces the time of solving problems, and it helps provide a better decision-making process due to maximizing the number of brains on the process.
Candor can also create a very high trust level among the employees since they understand where they are situated and the fact that their leaders are committed to telling them the truth rather than half-truths.
The main implementation issue is to overcome human desire not to give unpleasant news, which can be prevented by example-setting top-down and by keeping a psychologically safe culture.
Practice 3: Recruitment and Promotion of the Best Employees
It is the talent philosophy of Netflix, which is about having a dream team of the A-players and parting ways with adequate performers, the so-called high-performance density.
Populating the organization with outstanding talent leads to the fact that the necessity to micromanage is significantly diminished since highly talented individuals are more likely to self-motivate and work efficiently.
The direct influence on growth can hardly be ignored: having a functioning team, the productivity of the company, and its never-ending innovation, a self-sustainable culture of excellent performance is achieved.
Opportunities in this area are ensuring that there is a low hiring barrier and that the evaluation process is fair, objective, and not mysterious to all employees.
It also becomes imperative to maintain the communication process of releasing employees as a process that involves dignity and respect, so that remaining staff members should not feel nervous or cynical.
Comparison with Jack Welch’s Principles
Both the Netflix and the Jack Welch philosophies have a similar focus on candor as a value that can be used to drive performance in business and create trust.
The emphasis on a team of top talent is followed in both models as well and was emphasized by Welch in his philosophy of differentiation, where he rewarded top performers and moved out the weakest ones.
The central disparity, however, is the approach on which the model is based: the Welch model was more of a top-down model that emphasized strict performance management, whereas the Netflix model is more of a horizontal model that makes use of autonomy and a high-trust environment.
They are well-suited to work in a creative, fast-paced, and knowledge-intensive industry in which speed and innovation, as well as self-regulation, are vital.
This comparison shows that although the key values such as candor and talent focus will always be timeless, their application needs to be transferred to fit the nature of the business situation and the marketplace.
Part 2: Recommendations to Your Organisation
Slide 6: The Change we want to achieve
As a way of attaining new heights of success, our organization must strategically implement some of the principles put across in the Netflix Culture Deck in our current model of doing things.
The goal is to make our workplace the best place to work where top talent can be attracted and retained, a culture of innovation can be supported, and finally, business results can be achieved.
The three radical practices that we shall address are: instituting a culture of radical candor, reshaping people management, and linking pay to performance.
This is not a call to revolutionize our way of doing things but is instead a strategic rethinking of how we are operating that can be easily married with our present structure.
We feel that when these practices are in place, they will have a massive and quantifiable effect on employee engagement levels, productivity, and our bottom line as a by-product.
R1: Developing a culture of Radical Candor
To make a culture of radical candor truly set in, we must be clear in the expectations we have, and we must train on how to both give and receive difficult feedback, and we must be careful that the input we provide is as personal as it is direct.
This indeed needs to be emulated consistently through the top down, with leaders leading by example on the very willingness to be vulnerable and to take honest feedback from one of their subordinates directly.
We will establish safe, structured places to openly discuss things, like regular team meetings or an open feedback loop, to normalize the open communication.
The target is to have honesty and clear feedback to be more of a reflex, an everyday feature of our operations, as opposed to the occasional or feared form of events.
Turning feedback into a positive growth experience and not a fear-inducing one allows us to solve problems quickly and create more effective teams.
Recommendation 2: Redefining People Management
In the new environment, the classic functions of a manager as a controller have to change and transform into a position of a coach and mentor, who dedicates their time and efforts to employee empowerment and professional growth.
We will also fully train our managers to ensure they are trained in this new approach to coaching, which emphasizes guidance and support, rather than micromanagement.
We will ensure that our performance review systems are more continuous and feedback-oriented, instead of a more sporadic and less accessible once-a-year performance review.
Allowing teams to tackle decisions on their own will not only make them more efficient but will also develop a greater degree of ownership and accountability within teams.
The idea is to design a less hierarchical and more responsive organization that feels trusted, able, and willing to contribute to the best of their abilities.
Recommendation 3: Align Compensation with Performance
To find and maintain top talent, we must have a compensation philosophy that is fair, competitive, and transparent, and this should show that we really value the best performers.
We will also be undertaking a detailed compensation review to make sure that our wages are market or even higher in key positions. This will be very important to demonstrate that our best staff are integrated and appreciated.
We will also establish some performance-related bonuses and increases based on clear and measurable performance criteria to enable employees to know how their performance can result in increments.
The new philosophy should be communicated transparently to foster trust and the desire to perform well among employees, since their high performance will be directly rewarded.
Such a practice will assist us in making sure that our best-performing members of the team feel encouraged and less inclined to pursue jobs in other organizations that are in direct competition.
ROI and Expected Outcomes
The adoption of these transformative practices is likely to have many returns, as the first measure will include a marked increase in employee engagement, as indicated in the internal surveys and feedback.
We also anticipate that our best talent will have an increase in the recruitment and retention rate, and this will directly save us the much costly and time-consuming exercise of recruitment and induction.
At a higher business level, such modifications will result in better business performance, and the ROI will be directly correlated with these changes in cultural orientations and various business factors, which include revenue growth.
Our long-term objective is to create a high-performance/dynamic culture that contributes to not only achieving our short-term goals but also achieving long-term sustainable competitive advantage.
This investment in organizations and individuals may take the form of some sort of culture building. By making this investment, we are investing in the long-term success and sustainability of the whole organization.
References
Idiz, D. R., Noordegraaf, J., & Vliegenthart, R. (2025). Culture as window dressing? A threefold methodological framework for researching the locality of Netflix series. Critical Studies in Television, 20(1), 93-117.
Boccio, J. (2025). Netflix and the Platformization of Film and Television Content Discovery.
Barraza, C. (2025). Global Brand, Local Market: A Strategic Analysis of Netflix’s Adaptation Challenges in India.
Kazmi, S., Heisten, M., & St John III, B. (2024). Waiting for the punch (line): the circuit of culture and internal public relations at Netflix. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 29(3), 312-328.
