Company culture means a lot of things to a lot of different people, not because culture has a lot of definitions, but because culture has been co-opted by perks, ping pong tables, and snacks in the kitchen. In reality, culture is behavioral, it’s the collection of habits that we accept and tolerate within our company and it will make or break your business.
Culture is hard though, because it's your responsibility to hire the right people, nurture the right behaviors, and let people go when they aren't fitting the future. As a group, we're pretty terrible at this, particularly that last one.
To help, on this week's episode of Protect The Hustle, we interview one of the most prolific figures in People Operations and HR, Patty McCord, the former Chief Talent Officer at Netflix and author of Powerful, a book that's taken high growth companies by storm. We discuss how Patty went from Texas border towns and Oregon lumber yards to making the tough decisions to push Netflix to a $160B market cap, which included redefining what HR is supposed to be inside a company.
You can listen to Protect the Hustle on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Stitcher, Radio Public, or wherever you listen to podcasts. There's also a full video version below. Pick your adventure. :)
How HR and People Operations became legal and anything but helping people do their best work within a company
How writing down your values is pretty much the last step in the culture cultivation process
How to model behavior instead of punishing or negatively reinforcing people
How management has ultimate responsibility for all of this
How to apply these learnings to your hiring process
How to nurture your current team and stamp out politics
How to let people go who are no longer a fit for the mission
Special thanks to Patty McCord, who's book, "Powerful", is available now on Amazon or where you typically buy books. It's everywhere.
We're giving away 25 copies of her book to the first 25 folks who leave a 5 star rating and comment on iTunes. Screenshot your review and email it to patrick@profitwell.com and we'll ship you out a copy.