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1-Page Summary of Powerful

Overview

Businesses today are in a constantly changing environment. They need to adapt quickly to stay competitive. However, they don’t agree on how best to do that.

These key points represent the survival techniques of Netflix, which are driven by eight central management practices. By adopting these practices, you may well give your company an advantage over other companies in your industry.

This book also explains why managers should listen to employees instead of focusing on the bottom line. It will teach you what not to do when working for a company like Yahoo!, and how companies like Netflix are changing the business world.

Big Idea #1: Keep your business agile by giving teams the freedom to do their best.

The key to a successful business is efficiency. You want to make sure relevant issues are brought to your attention as quickly as possible. However, if you’re too rigid and inflexible with how you do things, then that can actually hurt your business’s efficiency.

In today’s fast-paced and ever-changing market, it is best to make your business as lean as possible. This means that you should have a structureless organization with few procedures.

The first step towards leanness is to get rid of the top-down management style that’s holding back most businesses. The goal should be to be as agile and flexible as possible, which means getting out of employees’ way when they need to make decisions on their own.

Netflix is an example of a company that’s very nimble. They transitioned from mailing DVDs to streaming videos, and they’ve done it with grace and speed. This would have been impossible if the company had stuck to traditional management protocols.

Some companies rely on fixed policies like bonuses or rewards to motivate employees. However, if you give workers the freedom to solve problems and tackle projects in their own way, they’ll be more motivated than ever before. This is because when people are part of a strong team and feel that their contributions truly matter, they will be more driven than ever.

When you give your employees more freedom, they may be able to achieve even better results. This is because making a real contribution to important projects can be rewarding in and of itself. For example, when Netflix was struggling financially, the company laid off over one-third of its workers. The remaining employees had to take on much more responsibility and work harder than before. As a result, each person’s efforts made a major difference for the company’s recovery.

Big Idea #2: To ensure everyone understands the business, managers and employees must communicate.

Imagine you’re at the edge of a river. You want to get across, but there’s only a wooden bridge and it might not support your weight.

If you don’t communicate with employees and management, your business will be like a flimsy bridge that could plunge you into bankruptcy.

It is important to talk about challenges, goals and changes in the market.

To make sure everyone is on the same page, Netflix’s CEO and co-founder Reed Hastings recommends that you explain how your business works to each new hire.

Netflix’s method of bringing together employees to share knowledge has been so successful that the company now holds quarterly meetings for all employees. These meetings are called “new employee colleges.”

Employees should have the chance to ask questions and understand how things work within a business. A good way of doing this is by having open communication from management down to employees. This will help everyone know what’s expected and it can prevent problems before they happen. For example, Netflix has an employee college where employees are encouraged to ask their managers anything about the company or job expectations.