How do the best founders build exceptional teams? Learn how a practical approach to HR can transform the culture at your startup.
In this episode, Patty McCord, former Chief Talent Officer at Netflix and author of 'Powerful: Building a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility,' shares her wisdom on fostering a high-performance culture.
Patty, Yaniv and Chris discuss:
- Finders Keepers: How the Netflix 'keeper test' can help you hire appropriately for the current stage of your startup.
- All Groan Ups Here: How treating employees as adults and providing honest feedback can strengthen your workplace.
- Vanishing Acts: Why eliminating 'HR theater' serves everyone in the long run.
This is a long episode, but worth every minute of your time. Don't miss it!
00:00 Intro
02:20 Guest Intro: Patty McCord
03:35 Mistake #1: Tolerating Mediocre Performance
04:01 Hiring Smart and Hardworking People
07:51 The 'Netflix Keeper' Test and Layoffs
12:49 Scaling and Team Composition
23:30 Mistake #2: Not Sharing Business Context
34:30 Promotions and Flexibility in the Workplace
37:04 Empowering Employees with Context and Authority
37:20 Mistake #3: Command and Control Culture
38:23 The Importance of Problem Solvers
38:56 Encouraging Ownership and Responsibility
41:20 The Role of Curiosity in Startups
41:57 The Significance of Implementation
42:50 Psychological Safety and Intellectual Debate
44:03 Humility and Leadership
46:09 Mistake #4: Avoiding Hard Conversations
47:11 The Misuse of 'Psychological Safety'
48:15 Effective Feedback and Radical Candor
55:03 Mistake #5: Practicing 'HR Theater'
01:01:13 The Ultimate Perk: Working on Hard Problems
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Key links
The Startup Podcast is sponsored by Trilligent. Trilligent is your startup's one-stop-shop for regulatory, PR, and international expansion advisory. Their unique startup-friendly offering is essential for any startup looking to go beyond their home shores or deal with complex regulatory environments. Go to https://trilligent.com and book a call with their COO Laura to learn more – tell her we sent you!
The Startup Podcast is also sponsored by Vanta. Vanta helps businesses get and stay compliant by automating up to 90% of the work for the most in demand compliance frameworks. With over 200 integrations, you can easily monitor and secure the tools your business relies on. For a limited-time offer of US$1,000 off, go to www.vanta.com/tsp.
Get your question in for our next Q&A episode: https://forms.gle/NZzgNWVLiFmwvFA2A
The Startup Podcast website: https://tsp.show
Learn more about Chris and Yaniv
Work 1:1 with Chris: http://chrissaad.com/advisory/
Follow Chris on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrissaad/
Follow Yaniv on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ybernstein/
Editor: Justin McArthur https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-mcarthur
Intro Voice: Jeremiah Owyang https://web-strategist.com/
#startup #entrepreneur #hiring #culture #netflix