Netflix 如何打造卓越文化 | Elizabeth Stone(CTO)
How Netflix builds a culture of excellence | Elizabeth Stone (CTO)
High Talent Density: Netflix’s Foundation
Elizabeth Stone: We can’t really have any of the other aspects of the culture, including candor, learning, seeking excellence in improvement, freedom and responsibility if you don’t start with high talent density. And in some ways, it’s very reflective of Reed Hastings as founder of Netflix. So when he founded Netflix and grew the company over time, it was with a belief that there could be a different approach to building a company that would make it a place that people thrived in and loved being and would feel different than other places, both in the quality of that talent density, but even more importantly, the excellence and the outcomes. And that that’s where people would derive a lot of sense of fulfillment. So it is very deeply seated at Netflix from its original days. And in order to do that, you have to really hold yourself to a lot of stuff that doesn’t feel like natural human behavior.
The Economist CTO
Lenny: Today my guest is Elizabeth Stone. Elizabeth is chief technology officer at Netflix, and as far as I can tell, the first economist to ever be named CTO at a Fortune 500 company. Prior to this role, Elizabeth was vice president of Data and Insights. Before Netflix, she was vice president of science at Lyft, COO at Nuna, a trader at Merrill Lynch, and an economist at Analyst Group. In our conversation, we cover a lot of ground. We talk about how an economics background has helped Elizabeth in her career and why she expects to see more economists rise in the ranks of tech companies. She shares some of her secret sauce for rising so quickly at so many companies so consistently. We delve into Netflix’s very unique culture of high talent density, radical candor, and freedom and responsibility. We also talk about the structure that Netflix has for their data and user research teams, which she believes is a part of Netflix’s secret to success. We also get into what biking and triathlons have taught Elizabeth about life and how she brings that into her work and so much more.
A huge thank you to Ali Rao for introducing me to Elizabeth. If you enjoy this podcast, don’t forget to subscribe and follow this podcast in your favorite podcasting app or YouTube. This helps tremendously and I really appreciate it. With that, I bring you Elizabeth Stone after a short word from our sponsors.
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Elizabeth, thank you so much for being here and welcome to the podcast.
Elizabeth Stone: Thank you. Thank you for having me.
From VP of Data to CTO
Lenny: So when we booked this conversation, you are VP of data in Netflix. And since then you got a promotion, you’re now the CTO of Netflix, which feels significantly more fancy. Question for you, what is life like now that you are CTO versus VP of data? How is it most different? I’m imagining more meetings.
Elizabeth Stone: I would say the biggest thing that changed is probably the amount of context switching and the degree to which I feel behind or I have a lot to learn. And I felt like I had a lot to learn in the VP of data and insights role that I was in before in part because we cover a lot of different areas of the business and there’s always people to learn from, but the engineering organization just takes that to 100 basically. So more people to get to know, more problem spaces, aspects of technical expertise that I’m just not as deeply familiar with. And yeah, a lot more meetings.
The Value of an Economics Background
Lenny: I imagine many higher stakes meetings as well.
Elizabeth Stone: Yes. So thankfully not a lot of meetings that Netflix feel like now you’re really in this scary room, but it does feel like the role has more consequence, which is actually an exciting thing.
Secrets to Rapid Career Growth
Lenny: Kind along the lines of what you just talked about being a CTO. Your background is actually unusual. You’re a trained economist, you got a PhD in economics. And from what I can tell, you’re the first CTO of Fortune 500 company that is an economist trained in economics. First of all, is that true? I don’t know if I think that’s true, but you tell me.
What “Invested” Really Means
Elizabeth Stone: I have not checked the list. That was one of the things I did not do after getting the title. It might be unusual. I’ve heard a lot of feedback on that, so I don’t know if I’m the one and only, but I will definitely say it’s probably unusual.
Lenny: Yeah. So I guess the question is just, do you think this is an anomaly and going to continue to be really rare? Do you think this some are going to see more at tech companies? And generally do you think tech companies should hire more economists?
Challenges of Live Content
Elizabeth Stone: Yes to the last question. That’s the easiest of it. But one of the things I observed even with the focus on data science where I’ve been deeper for a period of time is that economics is a flavor of data science. So it is a set of technical skills for sure. It’s a way of framing certain problems or solving challenges.
And so when I was first switching from economics into tech, it was before there was a lot of sort of the frenzy around data science that we’ve seen more recently and it was harder to make that argument that economics is a flavor of data science and maybe complimentary to other versions of data science. And I feel more strongly about that now that I’ve seen it up close. And so maybe by extension I would say just like I think data science can be helpful for a lot of different problems that you might not immediately think, “Oh, this is something that we should bring data to,” I think that economics is generally valuable for a lot of different challenges and it’s a useful perspective to add to things, especially in a business context and especially in how we want to simplify problems in a way that makes them feel tractable.
So I feel like that’s been a benefit to me to have had that type of formal training and then bring that perspective or way of thinking to different roles. And so I don’t know that many people at Netflix think of me as an economist, but I find it comes out in the way I think about things. So to the extent that that’s true generally, I think it’s useful in a lot of companies. And I feel like even since I made the switch towards tech, I’ve seen it become much, much more common to think about the value of having economists on teams.
Lenny: Just to pull on that thread a little bit more, is there something very tactical or concrete that you can share that you find helpful with that background that you found helpful in your career?
The “World-Class” Standard
Elizabeth Stone: Other than the dismal dry science of it all? So one example would probably be in an understanding incentives and thinking about unintended consequences. I think that that is true both in terms of internal leadership, so being part of a management team that’s thinking about how do we clarify priorities or motivate a company or define the problems we want to solve. And then part of it is more externally oriented. How do we want to think about what Netflix is to consumers and how we want to think about competition?
There can be a rational way of thought, which is one version of economics of shouldn’t rational intelligent people behave in the following way. And then there’s the, well, if given certain incentives, what might you see that we didn’t think was optimal or we weren’t expecting to happen but could be a consequence or repercussion here? And so I think that that type of framing, I don’t know if it’s unique to economics in a way because it has elements of psychology to it as well and planning ahead has become really useful for thinking through cause and effect. So that has come up in a lot of different spaces in Netflix and in other roles I’ve been in.
Helping Teams Raise Standards
Lenny: I was looking at your LinkedIn and looking at your career over the years. It seems like you’ve had a meteoric rise at four different companies. And I’ll just walk through them briefly. So at your first job, you went from associate to vice president in three years. At the next company, Nuna, you went from manager of data science to COO in two years. At Netflix you went from VP to CTO in three years. I think that’s really rare. I’m curious what is your secret sauce to being so successful at so many places and especially in the context of what advice can you share with folks earlier in their career?
Feedback Is a Hard Skill
Elizabeth Stone: This is one of those questions that sparks the reflection that I wouldn’t normally do, so that’s great. I really don’t think of it as a secret sauce, but maybe I can walk through some of the things that I think have been instrumental. As you listed that out, it sounds like the two to three year point is the real sweet spot, so maybe there’s something about that timeline. But I think some things almost feel trite in how I would say them, which is I’m very dedicated to the work and to the teams I’m part of. It’s been part who I am for a long time that I give everything I’ve got to the job that I’m in. And I think that dedication and that I get joy out of that has mattered. It matters because I enjoy what I’m doing. I do the best work I possibly can, less so for myself and my own ambition and more so because I think of myself as being part of a team and so I really need to deliver for that team.
I think that framing in my mind and that motivation has helped me in a few fronts, which is the way in which I build partnerships with people I work with that I really care about setting other people up for success and being someone that people want to work with, so I learn from them, they learn from me, and we get better outcomes for the business together, I have found that part of that is being someone that people can leverage to translate from technical to non-technical and non-technical to technical. So that I do think has been a relative advantage in my role. So while I was often sitting in more technically-oriented teams, a lot of the advancement in my career was to roles that required that type of communication fluency. It grew out of being able to partner with people across the businesses who didn’t necessarily have the same background, but where we needed to really connect spaces so that we could be more effective.
That was something that I think really the training for that came from analysis group where it was a very quantitative set of work that we had to find a way to communicate to judges and juries for economic cases. So that was something that was trained in other roles and I think I’ve been able to leverage. I’m a relatively introverted only child, so I observe a lot, which means that I learned from other people. And in each of these roles I have tried really hard to watch what other people are doing, think about how could I learn something from them, whether it’s the thing that I want to be able to do myself or it’s the thing that I think, “Oh, that doesn’t quite fit or feel authentic with my style.” And I do a lot of that introspection. So I have been surrounded by amazing people in all these roles and I have a feeling that I learned a lot by osmosis and observation and then have been able to leverage that to be stronger in the roles I was sitting in.
High Standards Don’t Mean More Time
Lenny: I took a few notes here. A few things you mentioned is just like, dedication, essentially working really hard and taking your work seriously, being part of a team and setting other people up for success, translating complex tech language and problems to non-tech people, and then being really good at observing and learning from other people around you. Is there an example or two that you could share of some of these to make it even more concrete for people? Like dedication. Is that just like working many hours, being part of a team? Anything along those lines to share a story maybe to help people put this into practice.
Elizabeth Stone: No, and it’s a good clarification because the dedication piece really isn’t about long working hours. It’s more about how much I care about excellence, I guess. So giving it my best in those situations. And that might not mean that I work really wild hours or I work weekends or I’m the one who’s willing to sacrifice the vacation. I’ve actually tried to avoid setting that as an expectation, but more that I hold myself to a very high standard.
So an example would be, especially as I’ve gotten more senior in roles, there can be an expectation that it’s okay for other people to wait on me. So whether it’s the timing for a meeting or providing input on something or reviewing a document or following through on something I said that I was going to do, and I really try to avoid that, which means that if someone sends me something, I try to be very responsive about it. If I know that I said I’m going to do something, I follow through on it in the timeline that I said I was going to do. If I have a meeting, I try to be on time to that meeting.
Those are all flavors of dedication to the work that show up in, “Oh, it seems like Elizabeth works really hard,” but the motivation factor is other people are relying on me and I want to show up for them. And so that’s when I say dedication and it’s related to the second point around showing up well for the team, those would all be examples of I feel urgency in responding to people and doing high quality work.
For the other parts of technical to non-technical, I think a great example is actually a very timely one at Netflix, which is, we are making strides to offer live content types. So live events, live TV shows. We announced this week that we’re going to be hosting WWE starting later this year and early next year, 2025. That is easier said than done. I know that there’s a lot of entertainment companies that have live content. But Netflix has really been in the streaming content business, so live content is something new for us and it’s something that’s going to require a really close partnership between our content organization and our products and technology organization because there’s a content strategy to it, there’s a business strategy, there’s a technology strategy to it. A big part of my role is, can I explain how we’re going to approach those technical problems in a way that builds competence with the content team? Can I try to understand their content strategy in a way that sets the technical teams up for success and we understand what we need to be able to deliver on here in terms of requirements.
I don’t think I’d be able to do my current role well if I wasn’t able to do that type of translation for something that’s going to be a big bet for the business and something we want to invest in jointly. And then to set my partners up for success in that. So I am going to do everything I can to make sure we deliver well for my content partners because I feel like that’s what’s best for Netflix in the business.
Core Pillars of Netflix Culture
Lenny: Amazing examples. In terms of life content, I think about the Love is Blind. I think it was for premier, whatever, reunion that we got sucked into that show. So good job. And I think there were some issues with that, right? That reunion streak.
The Keeper Test and Candor
Elizabeth Stone: Well, yeah, that was about a little less than a year ago now. So the amazing thing about failure is you learn a lot. We learned a lot. We’ve taken notes on it and we had a couple successful events after that, including the Netflix Cup last October. And we’ve got some exciting events coming up. So I think that’s something that strengthened us, but did reveal that we’re tackling a hard problem.
Lenny: Yeah, the Twitter feeds during that, Love is Blind premiere were hilarious. People are pissed.
Okay. And then in terms of the, keeping a high bar for yourself, I love that. I think about a quote that… There’s a VC, Ann Miura-Ko, at Floodgate and she did this interview with Tim Ferris. She shared that her dad always asked her, “Are you doing a World-class job with this? Are you doing a world-class job with your homework? Are you doing a world-class job with your piano recital?” And that’s the bar that he always had for her. And I feel like that’s a really good way to think about work and life in general if you can.
Making Feedback a Daily Habit
Elizabeth Stone: Yeah, my mother used to describe to me, probably still does, though it required more repeating when I was younger, that the last 5% is the 5% that really mattered. And so it is that framing of the extra effort you put into something to make it world-class or to make it excellent. And so I do like to push myself that way and I hope it sets a good example for other people too. It’s very consistent with especially the company cultures that I tend to thrive in where that’s the general expectation of the culture. So you don’t feel like you’re doing it alone, because then I think you can start to feel frustrated by that.
Do High Standards Mean Constant Anxiety?
Lenny: I know that this is a big part of Netflix culture and I want to get into it. But before that, I’m curious just what that looks like with people that report to you. How do you help them level up in this skill of having a really high bar? And an example I’ll give as you think about maybe an example is the way I described this to my PMs was, you want to have this aura that you’ve got this that, “If you give Lenny something, he’s got this. He’s going to follow up, he’s going to close the loop, he’s going to get it done. If he can’t get it done, he’ll tell me, I feel like this thread will not disappear. He won’t drop this ball.” Is there anything that you’ve learned as a good way to help someone learn this kind of skill, understand why this is so important?
Elizabeth Stone: It shows up for the people who report to me, is one part example setting. So if I don’t do it, why would they do it? I treat that very seriously that we should all be held to the same standards.
And as a second thing, I give feedback when it’s not up to the standard. So I think one of the things I’ve observed especially with people on my teams is that the expectations aren’t always clear and you can’t assume that they’re clear if you don’t share them. When something’s not meeting expectations or really showing up as excellence, I think it’s a combination of both giving the feedback on that and being direct about it and being specific about what would it take to get this to the bar that I am expecting or to show up in the way that I’m expecting.
And then the third and probably most important thing is help them fill that gap. So that would mean… Let’s take an example. It certainly has happened frequently in many jobs. A document is okay, it’s not great, it’s not going to be easy for people to follow, it’s not as crisp as it could be. There’s things that would strengthen it. I can both give the feedback on that to make sure like, yes, it’s going to take another round of iteration, yes, we’re going to have to work another week on this and not be done with it, but pushing people to get there, and then jumping into the document and helping.
So I feel very strongly about, and that’s kind of what I mean by setting an example of like, “Let’s work on this together,” and then through that, help people uplevel themselves so the next time around they know the expectations and they’ve had help getting there in the past. So that’s probably happened a thousand times in my career where I jump in with both feet because something needs to be better and I think the teams are better for it afterwards, or I hope they are.
Maintaining High Talent Standards
Lenny: I think that’s such a good framework just to kind of mirror back what you said, “Set expectations that the bar is going to be really high and here’s what I’m expecting from you.” Give them very specific feedback on where the gap is and then help them fill that gap. I think a lot of people may feel this and hear this and they’re like, “Oh man, I don’t want a manager that’s like this high of an expectation person and it just feels really stressful.” But I’ve had these managers and I feel like that’s when I’ve learned the most and leveled up the most, is having someone that had really high expectations and then helped me understand, “Here’s where you’re not doing as well as you can. I know you can do better. Go back and work on this.” I know that sounds annoying, but I think in practice it ends up helping you most in your career. I imagine you’ve seen a similar result.
Elizabeth Stone: I think so. I mean you’d have to ask some of the people on my team. So I might look at it differently that they look at it.
Freedom and Responsibility
Lenny: [inaudible 00:23:52] differences.
Practicing a Culture of Candor
Elizabeth Stone: It’s a hard skill because it’s not always easy to give feedback, especially if you feel like you know someone’s put a lot of effort into something. And so I give a lot of thought to how I deliver that feedback so it feels like we’re on the same team and I’m trying to help them be successful, not to help encourage failure. And that’s where I think that third piece of the framework of jumping in to help can make people feel like, “I’m in a safe space. My manager wants me to be successful. My manager’s helping me here.” I do often do that behind the scenes. So maybe that’s another flavor of this, which is, I don’t do it live in the big meeting in front of all the people where the presentation doesn’t go very well. I do it afterwards where it feels like a safer space to say, “Here’s a way this could have gone better. Let’s think about this differently next time.” So it gives people a little grace and a little bit of an ability to absorb that feedback without feeling like it’s kind of on a stage.
The Fate of Chaos Monkey
Lenny: Another thing someone may be feeling when they’re hearing this is like, “Oh my god, it’s going to take me so many hours to just get it to a place Elizabeth is happy with.” And I know you said that this doesn’t mean necessarily many hours. Do you have any advice or thoughts on just how to avoid burnout and working all the time, but also keeping this really high bar and high expectations?
Elizabeth Stone: It truly is not about time. I even found myself in a meeting earlier today saying, “If we’re clear on the objectives of something, it might be that the last 20% of polish on the document is a really bad use of time. So if we’re going to come together to talk through…” Like quarterly business review was the example, what were the highlights? What were the low lights? What were the learnings from the quarter? Where are there places of misalignment? The reason we’re doing the quarterly business review is to have a really candid conversation about how we think things are going, to have a debate about things where maybe we’re stuck. It’s not to have a perfectly polished document for that conversation.
So my feedback in that instance would be, I would much rather have someone spend the time thinking about what’s the conversation we really want to have? “How do I tee that up?” Not, “Could I spend another 20 hours to make it look like everything’s perfect in this document?” And so I think in that sense it’s not just excellence, like you wrote the perfect document, I should probably be careful to not use that as the only example, but instead we really got to the outcome we wanted to get to because we were thoughtful about it and we put a lot of energy and time and iteration into making sure we got to that outcome.
Data Team Organizational Structure
Lenny: And is this an example where you gave someone feedback that they spent too much time on the polish or is this earlier? And to give the pyramid of this framework you kind of shared of set expectations, give specific feedback, help them fill the gap and then do it in private, is this the expectation setting in this example or is this feedback you spend too much time on this?
Elizabeth Stone: This is expectation setting. So one of the things in my new role is that there’s some practices that the team has had where they’re trying to understand, Are we still going to have those practices? What’s going to be the same versus different about those things?” and get an understanding of my expectations. So it’s great that people ask that question so that I can be clear about, “Oh wait, if you’re on the last 20% of this polishing the dock, I’d rather spend time over here. And here’s how I would like the conversation to go so we all get something out of it instead of it feeling like it’s just a leadership reviewer on my behalf.” So in this specific situation, it was setting expectations ahead of time so that we can set everyone up for success.
Staying Connected to the Frontlines
Lenny: Awesome. Okay. So we’ve kind of been talking around this, but this is an important part of the Netflix culture. Just broadly, Netflix has a really special and unique culture. Even though it’s been around for I think over 25 years now, it feels like the culture has come up many times. There’s that initial culture deck that came out that blew everyone’s minds. There’s a recent book, No Rules Rules I think it’s called. And it feels like Netflix has done a great job at maintaining its culture.
It feels to me there’s these three important elements, and maybe there’s more. One is very high talent density and a focus on high performers. Two is candor and being really direct. And then three is giving people freedom and responsibility and getting rid of useless processes like vacation time and things like that. So maybe just to dive into that first one of high talent density and this focus on high performance. I guess the question there is just like, what does this look like in Netflix? And I imagine part of it is hiring, part of it is performance reviews. And then just why is it so important? Why is this such a focus on Netflix? What happens when you have such a high talent density?
Elizabeth Stone: It’s just so intrinsic to who Netflix is as a company. And in some ways it’s very reflective of Reed Hastings as founder of Netflix. So when he founded Netflix and grew the company over time, it was with a belief that there could be a different approach to building a company that would make it a place that people thrived in and loved being and would feel different than other places, both in the quality of that talent density, but even more importantly, the excellence and the outcomes and that that’s where people would derive a lot of sense of fulfillment. So it is very deeply seated at Netflix from its original days.
A big piece of that talent density is definitely hiring. So who are the people coming in and joining the team? But a lot of it is, we can’t really have any of the other aspects of the culture, including candor, learning, seeking excellence and improvement, freedom and responsibility if you don’t start with high talent density.
And so in some ways it’s not the end, it’s the means to the end in what Reed and the rest of the leadership team has been trying to build. And so in order to do that, you have to really hold yourself to a lot of stuff that doesn’t feel like natural human behavior. What I mean by that is giving the feedback, this gets into the second bucket. So giving feedback, being candid around your expectations when they’re not being met, what could be better in helping people improve, and be able to receive that type of feedback yourself in order to keep talent density high? Because no one comes to Netflix as a perfect human being and stays a perfect human being the whole time. We all have ways that we could grow and improve. And so in order to keep that bar high, you have to be willing to have those types of very uncomfortable conversations. It’s an uncomfortable amount of candor and feedback in order to keep that bar high.
And then the other piece of it is another thing that doesn’t come naturally to humans, which is making a call in pretty timely fashion if someone’s not able to meet the bar, and to say either, “I don’t think the role you’re sitting in is the right role, or I don’t think that Netflix is the right place for you,” and to make that something that is part of best practice to get to a point where you could make that decision. And that’s where we refer to the keepers test, which is really just a mental framing to make sure we hold ourselves accountable for this. Where if I’m asking myself the question, “If this person on my team came to me and said, ‘I’m leaving today. I have a different opportunity and I would like to take it,’ would I do everything I could to keep them at Netflix?” If not, then I should be having that tough conversation about, “Should you really be here? Are you in the right role?”, if I might be a little bit relieved if you said you were leaving.
The reason the keeper test and that question is useful is because no one wants to think that way. It’s very hard to say to someone, “I think this isn’t the right fit. I think you should move on from the company.” So we have to introduce some of those reflections in order to encourage the behavior. And we also then want to get to a place where when you’re having that tough conversation, people aren’t surprised by it. That is easier said than done. But you can only get to that conversation around, “I don’t think Netflix and you are the right fit for one another” if you’ve been giving feedback along the way. And so it feels like in its most ideal state, it’s a mutual observation. In practice, it’s not always that smooth. Obviously we are humans. But that all feeds on itself in order to make sure that we’re really holding ourselves to what we say our behavioral norms as part of the culture.
A Habit of Daily Reflection
Lenny: How is that operationalized? Is that just mental model that you should have in mind? Or is it like every quarter you should go through this exercise? Is it part of the performance review process? How does that actually operationalize at Netflix?
Elizabeth Stone: It’s definitely a mental model. So when we talk to managers about what does it mean to be a manager at Netflix, it would mean you should be with some frequency asking yourself this about the people on your team. People ask me frequently, “Am I passing your keeper test?” So it becomes part of a regular manager direct report, one on one. And it is just another way of saying, “Am I meeting your expectations? What’s going well? What’s not going well? How are you thinking about things?” And that can sometimes be a very awkward conversation to have. So in the middle of a lot of like, “We have to talk about this project or that deliverable or this thing that’s happening,” to take the time to step back and just say, “How am I doing?”, can feel loaded sometimes. And the keeper test, while it feels like a very heavy concept, creates a lightness around being able to have that conversation regularly. So we do operationalize it. A point that you made, I’ll just clarify, we don’t have performance reviews.
Rapid Fire Q&A
Lenny: Oh, wow.
Elizabeth Stone: So we don’t have a practice that a lot of other companies do where we would think about reflecting on a rating of how things are going. We do have an annual cycle of 360 feedback where you request and receive feedback from a lot of people, but it’s not an input to some output, it’s just for the value of the feedback and to make sure we’re keeping that muscle. And we have an annual compensation cycle where we reflect on how are people doing? And so you think about performance as part of both promotions and as part of compensation, but in that way it has to be part of the day-to-day and part of the operating rhythm because we don’t create a process where that would come to the surface.
Lenny: Interesting. I didn’t know that. So the idea there is just ongoing, like the whole… So what many people dream of, no performance reviews, we’ll give you ongoing real-time feedback. We don’t have to wait six months. I feel like people talk about this but rarely do this, but that’s how you guys operate.
Elizabeth Stone: In ideal.
Lenny: In ideal, yeah.
Elizabeth Stone: In practice. It’s like you have to keep reminding yourself, “This is our ideal” because it’s really easy to rely on the annual 360 cycle. And all of a sudden I do get about 300 pieces of feedback. And some of those things are on things that happened six months ago and I think, “Oh, I wish you had told me this at the time, that would’ve been more living the Netflix culture.” So we have to push ourselves to do it that way. But yeah, that is if working well, it’s very timely direct feedback. The 360 site goal is sort of the annual check-in on, “Let me get the full picture. Let me be able to distill some themes. Let me tee it up for a conversation with my manager.” And then it does remove the sort of crutch of an every six month performance review or something like that.
Lenny: When you talked about this example of someone asking you often, “Am I meeting your keeper test?”, it makes me feel like someone’s just super nervous. They’re like, “Am I passing your keeper test?” And it makes me feel like it could create a culture of just like a lot of stress and worry and this hunger games mentality of like, “I got to compete and worry and I might die or get fired any day.” I’m guessing the solution to that is partly cultural. This is just the way we work. You don’t need to stress all the time, but you may be let go if you’re not meeting this keeper test. How do you avoid this just constant worry that you might be fired any day and that you may not be hitting the bar?
Elizabeth Stone: In my personal experience, I have felt a lot more at ease by having these conversations than by not having them. So in many roles I’ve had, I haven’t been sure how I was doing or things I could be doing better on, and I didn’t quite know how to get that information. And that made me feel much more stressed or nervous or at risk than having it be part of the culture to have those conversations.
So the thing that I think can be nerve wracking, and I feel it myself, is the high bar for excellence at Netflix and if we’re doing this while you’re surrounded by amazing people. And that can feed a sense of, “Am I doing well enough compared to how everyone else is doing? I know the bar’s high.” For the most part, that can drive people and in a good way, but in some ways it makes people nervous. And that’s where I think it’s helpful to know we expect to have these conversations so you can just kind of let your shoulders relax a little bit of, “Yes, the expectations are high, but my manager says I’m doing a great job, or my manager says I’m not doing a great job, but they gave me concrete things that I could do better.” And so I think knowing is better than not. And so in that sense, it’s the culture combined with the conversations around performance I hope take a little bit of that stress out of it. But I’ve certainly heard it a lot that without that conversation, people can be nervous.
Lenny: That’s such a good point and such a good example that I feel like every company wants to have a high bar and have only high performers and keep the bar really high for every person they hire. I’m curious, I know this could be its own podcast and book, but just in terms of hiring people that are amazing and keeping this bar of excellence, is there anything you can point out that might be helpful to other companies hiring to help identify amazing people and make sure that bar stays high? One thing I know is you guys pay a top market for salary. I think that’s one unique thing about Netflix, is we just pay people. So maybe that’s an part of this answer, but just what advice do you have for people to keep a really high bar in their talent?
Elizabeth Stone: Yeah, I mean on the compensation point, we pay what we call personal top of market, meaning we want to be highly competitive in the pay, but we don’t want pay to be like the golden handcuffs of Netflix sets market rather than paying people a strongly competitive compensation. So I think that that’s important for attracting and retaining talent and has been a big part of the culture, but almost more importantly, we hope we don’t have to rely on that to want people to want to be at Netflix or for us to be able to assess whether people are going to thrive at Netflix.
The way that I’ve thought about hiring with that context is we know we’re going to offer you very highly competitive compensation, but are you going to come to Netflix and help us identify the right problems to solve or new ways to solve existing problems? And that’s a different way of hiring than you might think about, especially at scale where you’re saying, “Does this person have this skill, this skill, this skill? Check they’re going to fit in this box and they’re going to deliver this work that I need them to do.” I’m being intentionally simplistic. I recognize a lot of people don’t hire actually that way. But at Netflix we try really hard to say we’re looking for the new perspective or the person who’s actually going to make us stronger as a team. So thinking about additive skills, additive perspectives, people who are going to push our thinking on something. That tends to help us with thinking about talent density because you’re constantly introducing people to the team who uplevel.
So then the questions you have to ask in an interview might be different because yes, we’re trying to assess do you have the baseline skills to be successful here, but we’re also looking for the things that make people exceptional or even stronger than the team we’ve got. And then you think about making the magical teams comprised of all those amazing minds and what can you get out of that. And that feels like more that the talent density and practice.
Lenny: Got it. So the advice there essentially is, don’t look for someone just simply great. Look for someone that raises the bar for the whole team, brings in a whole new perspective.
Elizabeth Stone: Yes. That’s a great way to say it. Yeah, it’s a good way to say it.
Lenny: I think what’s great about this idea of just maintaining excellence consistently is that the best people want to work with the best people. And as soon as there’s one person that sucks and the company allows for that, it just brings everyone down because they know, “Hey, we can be okay. We’ll stick or no one’s going to do anything about it.” And when you make it clear, we only want the best and only hire the best and only keep the best, it keeps the best there, right? I imagine that’s part of the strategy.
Elizabeth Stone: Yeah. It’s definitely the goal. And I think understanding that having gaps in the team and people’s skillsets or their behavior can be really toxic for other people on the team. So it’s a cost.
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So I asked on Twitter what questions to ask you. And there’s a great question that came in from Nan Yu. He’s the head of product for Linear and he asks, “What practices does Netflix do that other companies should not attempt to do because their talent level is so much higher than other companies?”
Elizabeth Stone: That is freedom and responsibility in a nutshell. So let me explain that. It’s a good question. It’s kind of related to what I was saying earlier, that talent density is a prerequisite for a lot of the other ways we operate. So if we want to create a work environment where we are not prescriptive about how people solve problems or the scope of problems that they could tackle, assuming they’re highly impactful for the business, and we don’t have a lot of process around that work, so think about being able to make large innovations to our engineering systems or introducing new ways to think about metrics and experimentation, we get a lot of those things because we give people the freedom and the space to explore and question things and experiment in a way with solutions. I think that that would be very hard if not dangerous if we didn’t have a high talent density.
It’s really not a top down do A, then B, then C. Even in how we go through some of our planning processes or thinking about how we think about priorities, there is a lot of room for contribution across all levels of the team and that requires talent density. And then there’s things like you have to have amazing people if you’re not going to have really strict guardrails that would influence the consumer experience or business stakeholders experience. We do give people a lot of responsibility on those things. So I think the lack of process and prescriptiveness is all hinging on we’ve got amazing people who are smart, but even better have strong judgment.
Lenny: This is kind of what you always hear from people giving founders advice is, “Just hire amazing people, get out of their way and let them do their job,” which is often not a successful experience. What are examples that either things that came out of this freedom, I don’t know, products or features or ideas that came out of this or policies or processes you don’t have that everyone else might have? So I know there’s no vacation time, there’s unlimited vacation time, I assume. Is that still a thing? Unlimited vacation time?
Elizabeth Stone: Yeah.
Lenny: Okay, cool. All right, great. And I know performance reviews, you talked about that. So I guess in either direction, is there an example of something that came out of this freedom or some process that which surprised people that you don’t have or a framework or system?
Elizabeth Stone: We’ve been able to deliver… I’ll speak to my own team around innovations in our content delivery network or innovations in encoding or innovations in discovery and personalization. We’re not driven by some leader saying, “I think this is a priority.” They were driven in many cases by individual contributors who had great ideas for innovation. So a lot of the stuff that Netflix has succeeded in, came from creating space for people on the team. So there’s probably thousands of examples of product features and things like that that came out of creating this space. And right now, the trick is finding the sweet spot so that we can operate efficiently at this type of scale without snuffing out some of that, what was kind of the core beauty of the culture.
Lenny: Maybe a last question around just the culture. We talked about candor a bit. I’m just curious if there’s an example that comes to mind of an example of candor that you recently saw or had to be the candid person that might be interesting to share where it’s like, “Oh wow, that’s what you mean when you say a culture of candor.”
Elizabeth Stone: There’s a couple things that come to mind. I am generally a transparent leader, meaning I share information freely and openly. It’s part of the culture to context, not control, which means part of my job is to make sure that people have the context they need to do their jobs well. And in practice, that means I take notes in leadership meetings and I share those notes with the whole organization. And that is sometimes it includes candor around reflections on things that aren’t going well or problems we need to solve. Sometimes it’s just letting people know, “Here’s what leadership’s talking about so that they have a sense of what’s top of mind.” But it’s a version of transparency that I feel strongly about, doesn’t exist a lot of other places. I think it’s a version of candor too in being able to share… I can’t always share every detail of everything that we’re talking about, but I do try to share things that probably push the boundary a little bit in the team, feeling like they understand what’s happening across the company and what I’m thinking about.
And then there’s a second example that comes to mind, which is, until two years ago, individual contributors didn’t have levels at Netflix. So all engineers were just senior engineers, all data scientists were senior data scientists, and we did not have a leveling system. We introduced IC levels two years ago almost exactly. And it was a big, big, big shift because it was seen as something that was sort of sacred of it. A lot of people came to Netflix because we didn’t have it. We didn’t have process around promotions. This is probably part of why we never had performance reviews, because promotions really weren’t at play. And it gave people a sense of freedom of not having to worry about that type of structure. But when you get to a scale of an organization, we needed some type of scaffolding to say, “We want to talk about how we compose teams. When do we need the person who has 30 years of experience? When do we want to have a new grad?” Because that’s what the work requires. We didn’t have a language for it.
So I introduced Levels a couple of years ago and we had quite a change rollercoaster is the only way I can describe how it went.
Lenny: That’s a good phrase.
Elizabeth Stone: Yeah, it was sort of like being the tumble dry machine for a few months, and so really talking through it with the team. That’s just context and backdrop. For an example of candor recently, which is, we had kind of a postmortem or a retro on how has it gone with IC levels. So it’s kind of like wells, not wells. And I would normally think in a lot of cultures it would be like, “Well, we got past that change. We’re living that change.” Don’t reflect on it. Because that kind of opened some of that early debate. And I felt differently about it. I think it’s a good example of being candid about, this was a big change for us. It hasn’t all gone perfectly. There’s a lot that we can do better in how we implement levels at Netflix. And I would rather share that information than pretend it’s all gone swimmingly and we achieved every objective. So I think that I try to build examples like that because I do think that level of candor and reflection helps build the sense of community and trust across the team.
Lenny: That’s an awesome example. Kind of along the lines of that, but also this category of freedom and responsibility, something Netflix innovated long ago, and I’m curious if this is still a thing, is this idea of Chaos Monkeys, which essentially are a program that runs on your infrastructure that just kills random processes and things and just to see what breaks and make sure things are stable when things actually start falling apart. Is Chaos Monkeys… Was that what it’s called? And then is that still a thing? Is there still some Chaos Monkeys running around the servers?
Elizabeth Stone: Not unbridled Chaos Monkeys. No.
Lenny: Okay. Contains chaos and niche.
Elizabeth Stone: Bur no, we carry too much responsibility, speaking of freedom and responsibility for the member experience to inject pain, though we do do a lot of experiments to test resilience, and that does probably mean injecting things that we’re not quite sure whether A is better than B. And so that happens across engineering systems really at scale. But it is not for pure chaos, it’s for intentional learning and so we can avoid making bigger mistakes. And then as we go into new efforts like cloud games, we have a beta that’s out now, Live would be another example. We do try to come up with intentionally low profile examples where we can test the bounds of our systems in a way that’s unlikely to damage the member experience. But that’s less randomness, more by design. And so we’re doing that in a few places that feels mostly good engineering practice so we can understand when it’s really showtime and we’re going to really test our systems, will they be able to perform like we want them to.
Lenny: RIP Chaos Monkey.
Elizabeth Stone: Yeah.
Lenny: So kind of along these lines of data, so data itself has always been at the heart of Netflix. My understanding is the way the data team and the insights team is structured has been one of the reasons Netflix has been so successful. And that’s the team you led before you moved into this new role. Can you just talk about how these teams are structured and why this structure is so effective?
Elizabeth Stone: Yeah. I certainly like to think of it as being special. It’s unusual. I can explain why. So the scale of company that Netflix now is very often data oriented teams are embedded in other parts of the business. So it could either be they’re embedded in a business line like ads or games, or they are organized more functionally separating data engineers from data scientists, from analytics engineers, from consumer researchers. We’ve resisted that and kept a centralized team that is both functionally diverse. So across all those types of functions that I just described and works on nearly every area of the business from within the team. I sort of understand why a lot of companies move away from this because it really does require basically extraordinary partnership that we would have people working on data problems that don’t report into the teams that are relying on them.
But the benefit we get is we get to think about our functional expertise. So are we really world’s best data engineers, world’s best data scientists? And how do we continue to be ever better from a functional and technical perspective? It gives people better career paths because there’s more mobility across the teams. It feels like a team that has a functional expertise with a lot of different problems to solve. And so I think it enables more cross-pollination of ideas in a way.
It also allows us to be really objective. That is probably the most important thing, that our job is not to tell the story that someone wants to hear with the data or to solve the problem that someone thinks is most important. It’s for us to have our own perspective about things. I think that that uplevels the whole organization because it means that we’re able to be truth tellers or to be curious in a way that might not fit if we had a different organizational structure. We have to balance, that would be a good partner, deliver on the things we agreed were priorities, be flexible with how we’re spending our time, but it gives us agency and responsibility beyond that. And I feel like the team takes that very seriously. So I’ve seen examples of that in how we bring data to a lot of spaces, including how we partner with engineering on data-related topics or how we partner with content that I’m not sure we would’ve gotten to if not for having that kernel that’s sort of a center of excellence around it.
Lenny: And it’s Data and Insights, that was the team that you ran. Insights, is that describing user research or what does that have function actually?
Elizabeth Stone: So part of Data and Insights is a Consumer Insights team that includes a lot of different flavors of research really. So in some ways, consumer is even a misnomer because there’s parts of the team that do internal research, for example, on tools and products for our studio productions. So that’s more of a user research-oriented versus consumer. And then the parts of that team that are consumer-oriented do things all the way from content screenings to make titles the best version of themselves before they’re on the service to more traditional UX research to think about how can we deliver the best title discovery experience or how can we think about things that improve accessibility? And then that team has a global remit. So there’s also teams that are more local or regional expertise in understanding consumer needs and entertainment.
So Consumer Insights and a team, formerly known as still kind of known as a shorthand, data science and engineering, combined together to create data and insights probably about two years ago. That’s another piece that’s unusual. It becomes truly a full-stack data and research expertise. And so we could tackle a problem like, what’s the right way to think about recommendations and how best to surface them in a way that combines attitudinal research, qualitative and quantitative with behavioral research on more of the data science, data engineering analytics side.
Lenny: It’s super cool because I think it’s really rare that what people think of user research is within the data org. And I think that might be a solution to some of the backlash a lot of user research teams get where they’re like, I don’t know, what are you guys doing all this anecdotal evidence if it’s under the same org. I feel like that leads to a lot more credibility and avoids this like, “Oh, data’s telling me this thing. This user research team is telling me this thing. What should we do?”
Elizabeth Stone: Yeah, I mean, Consumer Insights is one of the newer teams for me; it wasn’t in my background to lead a team like that and not in my individual training, but they are critical for making sure we keep a consumer orientation, a member orientation on things. I have loved to watch the teams collaborate on problems because we talk about it as a superpower internally in combining those skill sets. So I think the Consumer Insights team at Netflix has had a lot of credibility in a certain area of expertise and we took it to the next level by combining it with other functional expertise. So it’s not required in every problem space. So we try not to overdo it and say we need to be collaborating everywhere because that just feels like the wrong expectation, but we try to make the most of it in spaces where we really benefit. So yeah, it’s worked out really well.
Lenny: Awesome. Okay. I want to ask two more questions before we get to our very exciting lightning around. And they’re both skills that [inaudible 01:00:08] have told me you’re very good at. One is that you are very intentional and thoughtful about staying close to individual teams and individuals within the company, even though you’re higher and higher in the org. I’m curious how you do that, how you actually practice this skill of staying really close to teams at the bottom of the ladder and individuals that are working on things on the ground basically?
Elizabeth Stone: A lot of it is how I spend my time and fighting to preserve opportunities to connect with people. So examples would be, I still have biweekly office hours, people sign up for slots. It can feel a little like speed dating for 20 minute slots, but I get to meet a whole bunch of people and hear about work, hear what’s top of mind. People book them out many months ahead and it’s just an opportunity to stay in touch. And then I do Ask Me Anything sessions with teams of different sizes depending on how intimate we want it to feel, but truly anything is fair game as a way to get to know me as a person, for me to hear questions, to try to be candid about what I can answer or can’t answer. And so those things have helped me maintain connection, but both of those examples are about making the time for it.
So what I have found as my role has changed is that it just wouldn’t happen if I didn’t make it a priority. And then through those types of sessions, I do think I become or I hope to become more approachable so people know, “You can send me a Slack message, you can send me an email. Like I mentioned earlier, I’m going to respond to you as quickly as I can because I want to hold myself to that bar.” And so that builds a flow of communication between me and the team that I really value… I don’t think I would want to do my job if I didn’t have those points of connection, so that helps too.
Lenny: And you also send that email to everyone after every leadership meeting, so they’re like, “Oh yeah, Elizabeth.”
Elizabeth Stone: Yeah, they hear from me. Yeah.
Lenny: Kind of related to this, so we have a mutual friend, that’s how we got connected. Ali Rao, she was a data scientist at Airbnb, now she’s at Uber. She had a question that she wanted me to ask, and it’s about how good you are at being present. So her question is something she’s noticed about. “Something I’ve noticed about her is how 100% present she is no matter who she talks to. Do you have any advice for people to get better at this? Because it’s so hard in the day of email and iPhones and Slack.” Her questions like, “When does she respond to stuff if not sometimes in meetings?”
Elizabeth Stone: I actually think I’m the most present when I’m having conversations like this one. I do preserve a lot of time to have one-on-one conversations where I’m genuinely curious about how someone’s doing, how I can help them, what they’re excited about that’s authentic. And so while my EA would probably cringe at saying I like to spend time doing a lot of those one-on-ones, it is relatively easier for me to say the human connection is part of what I enjoy about this. I think that’s true for a lot of people in what we get out of work and life, but I try to live that in those meetings. I’m probably not as good when we’re talking about meetings of 30 people and I’m multitasking, so I’ll admit to doing that for sure. But I think the one-on-one conversations I treat as being pretty sacred.
One of the things I’ve noticed that helps me continue to invest in that and maybe is helpful for other people is some of my greatest friends and connections, including people like Ali, are people I met along the way professionally. So I worked very closely with Ally’s husband, Keith Henwood, at multiple places, both Analysis Group and at Lyft. And that means that it’s created opportunities and it’s been points of connection. And so you get back what you give basically.
There are people in my life who are part of my life because I worked with them or because I crossed paths. And I like to think that if I can make a positive mark on them, it’ll come back and be at some point too. So I think to distill that is that I truly enjoy it. It’s what I get out of especially work. And then it’s my community. And that’s served me really well over time. And so I have given people advice of, “This is a small community, think about what you’re investing in other people because that will matter down the line for yourself too” and I try to live that myself.
Lenny: Yeah, that’s such good advice. There’s kind of two things that come to mind there. One is treat people the way you want to be treated. Someone once said that maybe. And I think you’ve come back to this a couple times, this idea of just pay attention to what gives you energy and that you’re good at and just almost double down on that. Just make that more and more of a superpower.
Elizabeth Stone: Yeah, that last part resonates. It’s been a big part of my personal and professional practice to reflect on how I’m feeling, what I’m excited about, what I’m enjoying. I do think it helps me be more grounded, which maybe helps me be more present or helps me be a better manager or leader. That might be part of the secret sauce too, but it is part of my practice.
Lenny: I can’t help but ask, is this an actual practice? Do you do this on a regular basis or is this just something you think about like, “I should reflect back”?
Elizabeth Stone: I wish I was so advanced to say I meditate and I create all this structure. It’s more that I think I mentioned maybe I’m an introvert, so I do spend some time alone. That’s how I recharge. And early mornings, especially people who know me sometimes are horrified at the time of day I send emails, but early mornings are a quiet time for me where I do try to have a daily check-in of just how are things going, why am I feeling anxious, why am I feeling excited. And it’s kind of a muscle you build. So while I don’t write in a journal, I don’t have a meditation practice, I do have a time of day when I try to keep it protected from other things so that I can think for a second.
Lenny: What I think about there is Jeff Bezos has this approach in the morning. He just calls, he putters around. He has no meetings until I think 10:10 or something. He just wants to putter around, read the newspaper, see what’s going on in email, which I’m trying to do. I really like that. That feels really good. I’m just going to putter around. I have no responsibilities in the morning.
Elizabeth Stone: I’ve never heard that. I’m going to adopt that language.
Lenny: I’m just puttering and puttering. Elizabeth, is there anything else you wanted to touch on or leave listeners with before we get to our very exciting lightning round?
Elizabeth Stone: No, I’m ready for the exciting lightning round.
Lenny: Well, with that, we’ve reached our very exciting lightning round. First question, what are two or three books that you’ve recommended most to other people?
Elizabeth Stone: It’s probably a little recency bias, but I’ve been recommending What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Murakami, which talks about introspection about the similarities between running and writing as sort of flow states and very meditative things. So I had read some of his fiction books and the autobiographical reflection on these types of either professions or hobbies I think is very insightful. So that’s one. And then one of my longtime favorite books is A Fine Balance by Mistry. And that is just a great story of human complexity and challenge and relationships. So I’m drawn to both books and TV and film that are about humans.
Lenny: Speaking of TV and film, this is maybe a high stakes question for someone that works in Netflix, do you have a favorite recent movie or TV show?
Elizabeth Stone: I’m not going to name all Netflix. That feels too much like an advertisement. Film, Triangle of Sadness is phenomenal if you haven’t seen it. And then I’ll go Netflix for TV, Beef was I thought hysterical. I’m an Ali Wong fan, but also just a pretty unique storyline.
Lenny: And I think they just won a bunch of Emmys.
Elizabeth Stone: They did.
Lenny: Amazing. Good picks. Next question. Do you have a favorite interview question that you like to ask candidates that you are interviewing?
Elizabeth Stone: High talent density. I’m usually looking for the person who would be better in my role than I am in my role. So I often ask people what would their priorities be, what would they do differently if they had my job.
Lenny: Next question, do you have a favorite product that you recently discovered that you really like?
Elizabeth Stone: So while I carry the CTO title, I live a pretty analog life. So my most recent product is a Fellow pour-over coffee maker, which is actually part of my morning ritual, which I’ll now call puttering around, where I take great lengths in my coffee-making process because I find it calming. And then it’s not a recent find, but I have to shout out that my Peloton is probably the favorite product I own.
Lenny: The bike or the treadmill?
Elizabeth Stone: Bike. I’m a recovering outdoor cyclist, so it’s also kind of questionable if I can even admit to this, but that’s why I would admit to I love the Peloton despite being ideally an outdoor cyclist.
Lenny: I have questions about your cycling, but before that question, do you have a favorite life motto that you often come back to or share with friends or family that you find useful either in work or in life?
Elizabeth Stone: My mom said something to me that has stuck with me. I don’t know if I live it very well, but the phrase was, “Something good happens every day.” And the reason she said it was because she was encouraging me to be more mindful about enjoying the small things in the day-to-day rather than letting myself get caught up in the busyness.
Lenny: Beautiful. Final question. You’re a big biker and triathlete. I am curious what that sport and time has given you in your career or in life. What benefits have you found from spending so much time and energy, running, biking, being an athlete?
Elizabeth Stone: Certainly by mental resilience. So while those sound like physical strength, I’ve found especially endurance sports are much more mental and how you go through the highs and lows and sustain and then coming back from challenge. So those sports have had their highs and lows and from the lows I’ve really learned how to recover and bounce back. So those feel like universally applicable skills.
Lenny: You have such an interesting mix of athleticism and then Netflix, what a good balance for life. This is going to give me permission to go watch Netflix recording this on Friday afternoon. Elizabeth, you’re awesome. Thank you so much for being here. Two final questions. Where can folks find you online if they want to reach out and maybe follow up on things? And how can listeners be useful to you?
Elizabeth Stone: You can always find me on LinkedIn, so definitely reach out or ping me if you have questions or comments. I think the way the listeners can be useful to me is being maybe curious about how they can show up even better in their lives now that we’ve done this reflection on Netflix culture and how we show up for other people. I would like to ask listeners to pay that forward to people that they’re working with and how they show up for them.
Lenny: Amazing. I love that. If you end up doing this and you’re listening, maybe leave a comment on YouTube or in Substack with something that you haven’t covered about yourself. Elizabeth, thank you so much for being here.
Elizabeth Stone: Thank you, Lenny. I hope you have a great weekend.
Lenny: Same. Bye everyone.
Thank you so much for listening. If you found this valuable, you can subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. Also, please consider giving us a rating or leaving a review as that really helps other listeners find the podcast. You can find all past episodes or learn more about the show at lennyspodcast.com. See you in the next episode.
Glossary
| English | 中文 |
|---|---|
| 360 feedback | 360 度反馈 |
| additive skills | 增量技能(additive skills) |
| Ali Rao | Ali Rao(人名,保留原名) |
| Analysis Group | Analysis Group(经济咨询公司,保留原名) |
| Ann Miura-Ko | Ann Miura-Ko(投资人名,保留原名) |
| Ask Me Anything | 问我任何问题(Ask Me Anything) |
| associate | associate(初级职位头衔,保留原名) |
| Chaos Monkey | Chaos Monkey(Netflix 混沌工程工具,保留原名) |
| Consumer Insights | 消费者洞察(Consumer Insights) |
| context, not control | 情境而非控制(context, not control) |
| COO | 首席运营官(COO) |
| CTO | 首席技术官(CTO) |
| data science | 数据科学(data science) |
| Floodgate | Floodgate(风险投资机构,保留原名) |
| Fortune 500 | 财富500强 |
| freedom and responsibility | 自由与责任(freedom and responsibility) |
| golden handcuffs | 金手铐(golden handcuffs) |
| IC levels | IC 职级(individual contributor 职级体系) |
| individual contributor | individual contributor(个人贡献者,保留原名) |
| keeper test | 留任测试(keeper test) |
| Lenny | Lenny(播客主持人 Lenny Rachitsky,保留原名) |
| Linear | Linear(项目管理工具公司,保留原名) |
| Love is Blind | Love is Blind(Netflix 真人秀节目,保留原名) |
| Merrill Lynch | 美林证券 |
| Nan Yu | Nan Yu(Linear 产品负责人,保留原名) |
| Netflix Cup | Netflix Cup(Netflix 高尔夫赛事,保留原名) |
| Nuna | Nuna(科技公司名,保留原名) |
| office hours | 办公时间(office hours) |
| personal top of market | 个人市场最高价(personal top of market) |
| Reed Hastings | 里德·哈斯廷斯(Netflix 创始人) |
| retro | 回顾会议(retro) |
| talent density | 人才密度(talent density) |
| Tim Ferriss | Tim Ferriss(播客主持人名,保留原名) |
| WWE | WWE(世界摔角娱乐,保留原名) |
Reformatted by reformat_english.py
Netflix 如何打造卓越文化 | Elizabeth Stone(CTO)
文字记录
高人才密度:Netflix 文化的基石
Elizabeth Stone:
如果不从高人才密度出发,文化中其他方面的东西都无法真正建立,包括坦诚、学习、追求卓越与持续改进、自由与责任。在某种程度上,这深刻地反映了 Netflix 创始人 Reed Hastings 的理念。他在创立 Netflix 并逐步发展公司的过程中,始终抱有一种信念:可以采用一种不同的方式来打造公司,使其成为一个让人才蓬勃发展、乐于效力的地方,并让人感到与其他公司截然不同——不仅在人才密度的质量上,更重要的是在卓越程度和成果产出上。而正是这些,让人们从中获得大量的成就感。所以这在 Netflix 从创始之初便根深蒂固。而要实现这一点,你必须对自己坚持很多并不符合人类自然天性的东西。
经济学家出身的首席技术官
Lenny:
今天的嘉宾是 Elizabeth Stone。Elizabeth 是 Netflix 的首席技术官(CTO),据我所知,她也是第一位被任命为财富500强公司 CTO 的经济学家。在此之前,Elizabeth 担任数据与洞察副总裁。加入 Netflix 之前,她曾任 Lyft 的科学副总裁、Nuna 的首席运营官(COO)、美林证券(Merrill Lynch)的交易员,以及 Analyst Group 的经济学家。在这次对话中,我们涵盖了很多话题。我们谈到经济学背景如何在 Elizabeth 的职业生涯中帮助了她,以及为什么她预计会看到更多经济学家在科技公司中晋升。她分享了自己在多家公司中持续快速晋升的秘诀。我们深入探讨了 Netflix 非常独特的文化——高人才密度、坦诚反馈以及自由与责任。我们还谈到 Netflix 数据和用户研究团队的组织架构,她认为这是 Netflix 成功秘诀的一部分。此外我们还聊到骑行和铁人三项给 Elizabeth 带来的人生感悟,以及她如何将这些融入工作等等,内容非常丰富。
非常感谢 Ali Rao 介绍我认识 Elizabeth。如果你喜欢这档播客,别忘了在你常用的播客应用或 YouTube 上订阅关注。这对我们帮助极大,非常感谢。接下来,稍后带来 Elizabeth Stone。
Lenny:
Elizabeth,非常感谢你来到这里,欢迎收听本期播客。
Elizabeth Stone:
谢谢,谢谢你邀请我。
从数据副总裁到首席技术官
Lenny:
当我们预约这次对话时,你还是 Netflix 的数据副总裁。从那以后你获得了一次晋升,现在成了 Netflix 的 CTO,这个头衔听起来要气派得多。我想问你,成为 CTO 之后的生活和之前做数据副总裁有什么不同?最大的区别是什么?我猜是会议更多了。
Elizabeth Stone:
我觉得最大的变化可能是上下文切换的频率,以及我感到自己落后、有太多东西需要学习的程度。在我之前担任数据与洞察副总裁时,我就觉得自己有很多需要学习的地方,部分原因是我们覆盖了业务中很多不同的领域,总有可以从他人身上学习的东西,而工程组织则把这一点放大到了极致。所以有更多的人需要认识,更多的问题空间需要了解,还有一些技术专业领域我并不那么熟悉。当然,确实也是会议更多了。
Lenny:
我猜很多会议的利害关系也更大了。
Elizabeth Stone:
是的。好在 Netflix 的很多会议并不会让人感觉身处一间令人畏惧的房间,但我确实感到这个角色的分量更重了,而这其实也是一件令人兴奋的事。
经济学背景的价值
Lenny:
沿着你刚才谈到担任 CTO 的话题继续说——你的背景其实很不寻常。你是训练有素的经济学家,拥有经济学博士学位。据我所知,你是第一位拥有经济学背景的财富500强公司 CTO。首先,这是真的吗?我不确定自己的判断是否正确,你来告诉我。
Elizabeth Stone:
我没有去查过那个名单。这是我获得这个头衔之后没有做的事情之一。可能确实不太寻常,我听到了很多类似的反馈,所以我不知道自己是不是唯一的一个,但我可以肯定地说,这确实不太常见。
Lenny:
那么问题就是:你认为这是一种反常现象、会继续非常罕见吗?还是说你会认为未来科技公司会出现更多这样的情况?更广泛地说,你认为科技公司应该多雇经济学家吗?
Elizabeth Stone:
最后一个问题的答案是肯定的,这是最容易回答的一个。但即使在我更深入参与的数据科学(data science)领域,我观察到的一点是,经济学其实是数据科学的一个分支。它确实是一套技术技能,也是一种框架化特定问题或解决挑战的方式。
当我最初从经济学转向科技行业时,那时还没有出现后来我们看到的数据科学热潮,要论证经济学是数据科学的一个分支、且可能与其他类型的数据科学互为补充,还是比较困难的。而在亲眼见证之后,我对此更加确信了。所以由此推演,就像我认为数据科学可以帮助解决很多你可能不会立刻想到”这个问题应该引入数据”的问题一样,我认为经济学对于很多不同的挑战都具有普遍价值,它是一个有用的视角,特别是在商业环境中,尤其是当我们希望以让问题变得可处理的方式去简化它们时。
所以我感觉,接受过那种正规训练,然后将这种视角或思维方式带到不同的角色中,对我来说是一种优势。我不确定 Netflix 有多少人会把我当作一个经济学家来看待,但我发现这种思维确实会在我思考问题的方式中流露出来。如果这一点普遍成立的话,我认为它在很多公司都是有用的。而且我感觉,甚至在我转向科技行业之后,我就看到人们越来越普遍地认识到在团队中引入经济学家的价值。
Lenny: 顺着这条线索再展开一点,你能不能分享一些非常具体、可操作的东西——你的经济学背景中有哪些在职业生涯中对你特别有帮助的?
Elizabeth Stone: 除了那门令人昏昏欲睡的沉闷科学之外?一个例子可能是理解激励机制以及思考意外后果。我认为这既适用于内部领导力——作为管理团队的一员,思考如何明确优先级、激励整个公司、定义我们想要解决的问题——也适用于更外向的方面:我们如何思考 Netflix 在消费者心目中的定位,如何看待竞争?
存在一种理性思维方式,即经济学中的一个版本——理性的聪明人难道不应该按照某种方式行事吗。然后还有另一种思路:如果在特定激励下,会出现哪些我们本认为不是最优的、或者我们没有预料到、但可能成为后果或连锁反应的情况?我认为这种框架化的思维方式——我不确定它是否是经济学独有的,因为它也包含心理学的元素,再加上前瞻性的规划——在梳理因果关系时变得非常有用。在 Netflix 和我经历过的其他角色中,这种情况在很多不同场景下都出现过。
职业快速晋升的秘诀
Lenny: 我看了你的 LinkedIn,回顾了你这些年的职业经历。你在四家不同公司都有着飞速晋升。我简单列举一下:第一份工作,你从 associate 到副总裁用了三年;在下一家公司 Nuna,你从数据科学(data science)经理到首席运营官(COO)用了两年;在 Netflix,你从副总裁到首席技术官(CTO)用了三年。我认为这非常罕见。我很好奇,你在这么多地方都如此成功的秘诀是什么?特别是对于那些处于职业生涯早期的人,你有什么建议?
Elizabeth Stone: 这类问题会引发我不常做的自我反思,挺好的。我真的不认为这是什么秘诀,不过也许我可以梳理一下我觉得起了关键作用的一些东西。听你列举出来,两到三年似乎是个真正的黄金节点,也许这个时间周期本身有某种意义。但有些东西说出来甚至感觉有些老套——我对工作和所在的团队非常投入。一直以来,我对手头的工作全力以赴,这已经成为我的一部分。我认为这种投入,以及我从中获得的快乐,是重要的。它重要是因为我享受我所做的事情,我尽自己所能做到最好——与其说是为了我自己和个人的野心,不如说是因为我认为自己是团队的一部分,所以我需要为这个团队交付成果。
我认为我心中的这种框架和动机在几个方面帮助了我:一是我在与同事建立合作关系的方式上——我真心在意帮助他人成功,成为别人愿意共事的人,这样我向他们学习,他们向我学习,我们一起为业务创造更好的成果。我发现,其中一部分是成为一个能够充当桥梁的人——在技术和非技术之间进行翻译转换。我认为这在一定程度上是我在角色中的相对优势。虽然我经常坐在偏技术导向的团队中,但我职业生涯中的很多晋升,都走到了需要这种沟通流畅性的岗位。这源于我能够与业务各部门的人合作,他们不一定有相同的背景,但我们需要真正连接不同领域,以便更有效地协作。
我觉得这种能力的训练其实来自 Analysis Group——那是一份非常定量化的工作,我们需要找到一种方式,把内容传达给经济案件中的法官和陪审团。这是在其他角色中培养出来的能力,我认为自己一直在加以利用。我是一个相对内向的独生子女,所以我观察很多,这意味着我从他人身上学习。在每个角色中,我都非常努力地观察别人在做什么,思考能从他们那里学到什么——不管是我希望自己也能掌握的东西,还是我觉得”嗯,这种方式不太适合我的风格”的东西。我会做大量的内省。在所有这些角色中,我的周围都有出色的人,我感觉自己通过潜移默化和观察学到了很多,然后能够将这些转化为我在所处角色中的更强表现。
Lenny: 我记了几点笔记。你提到的几件事包括:投入——本质上就是非常努力地工作、认真对待自己的工作;作为团队的一部分、帮助他人成功;将复杂的技术语言和问题翻译给非技术人员;以及非常善于观察、向周围的人学习。你能不能分享一两个例子,让这些更加具体化?比如投入,是指工作很长时间吗?作为团队的一部分具体是怎样的?能不能分享一些故事,帮助人们把这些落到实处。
“投入”的具体含义
Elizabeth Stone: 不,这是一个很好的澄清,因为投入这部分真的不是指工作时长。它更多是关于我对卓越的在乎程度,可以这么说——在那些情境下尽我所能。这不一定意味着我工作到很晚的疯狂时段,或者周末加班,或者我是那个愿意牺牲假期的人。实际上,我一直努力避免将此设为一种期望,而是更多地要求自己达到一个非常高的标准。
举个例子,尤其是随着我在角色中变得更为资深,会存在一种期待——别人等我一下是可以的。不管是会议的时间、对某件事提供意见、审阅一份文档,还是兑现我说过要做的事情,我真的尽量避免这种情况。这意味着如果有人给我发了东西,我会尽量及时回复;如果我知道自己说了要做某件事,我会在承诺的时间线内完成;如果有会议,我会尽量准时到场。
这些都是对工作投入的不同表现形式,在别人看来可能就是”Elizabeth 工作真的很努力”,但驱动我的因素是其他人在依赖我,而我希望为他们到位。所以当我说投入——以及它和第二点关于为团队好好出场是相关联的——这些都是例子:我感到回应他人的紧迫感,并做高质量的工作。
直播内容的挑战
Elizabeth Stone: 关于从技术到非技术沟通的其他方面,我觉得一个很好的例子实际上是 Netflix 目前非常应景的一件事——我们正在大力推进直播内容类型。比如直播赛事、直播电视节目。我们这周刚宣布,将从今年晚些时候和 2025 年初开始承办 WWE。这件事说起来容易做起来难。我知道有很多娱乐公司已经在做直播内容了,但 Netflix 一直以来确实是在流媒体点播内容领域,所以直播内容对我们来说是新事物,而且这将需要我们的内容团队和产品技术团队之间建立非常紧密的合作关系,因为它涉及内容策略,涉及商业策略,也涉及技术策略。我角色中很大一部分是:我能不能解释清楚我们将如何应对那些技术问题,从而让内容团队建立信心?我能不能努力理解他们的内容策略,从而让技术团队做好成功的准备,让我们明白在需求层面需要交付什么。
我认为,如果我不能为那些对业务来说是重大押注、需要我们共同投入的事情做这种”翻译”工作,我就无法很好地胜任目前的角色。而且还要让我的合作伙伴为此做好成功的准备。所以我会尽我所能确保为我的内容合作伙伴交付出色的成果,因为我觉得这才是对 Netflix 和业务最有利的事情。
Lenny: 精彩的例子。说到直播内容,我想到的是《Love is Blind》。好像是首播还是什么 reunion 特别集,我们全家都看得停不下来。做得真棒。不过那次好像出了一些问题,对吧?那个 reunion 直播出了一些状况。
Elizabeth Stone: 嗯,是的,那大概是不到一年前的事了。失败最了不起的地方在于你能学到很多东西。我们学到了很多,做了总结笔记,之后也成功举办了几个活动,包括去年十月的 Netflix Cup。我们还有一些令人期待的活动即将推出。所以我认为那次经历让我们变得更强了,但也确实揭示了我们在攻克一个难题。
Lenny: 对,当时《Love is Blind》首播期间 Twitter 上的吐槽简直太搞笑了,大家都很愤怒。
“世界级”的标准
关于你说的为自己设定高标准,我非常喜欢这一点。我想到一句话……有一位叫 Ann Miura-Ko 的投资人,她在 Floodgate 工作,她接受过 Tim Ferriss 的采访。她分享说她爸爸总是问她:“你这件事做得达到世界级水平了吗?你的作业做得达到世界级水平了吗?你的钢琴演奏会表现得达到世界级水平了吗?“这就是他一直对她设定的标准。我觉得如果你能做到的话,这是一个看待工作和生活非常好的方式。
Elizabeth Stone: 是的,我母亲过去常跟我讲——现在大概也还这么说,不过小时候她需要更频繁地重复——最后 5% 的努力才是真正重要的那 5%。所以正是这种为某件事额外付出的努力,让它达到世界级水平或卓越水准。我确实喜欢那样推动自己,也希望这能为其他人树立一个好榜样。这与我所擅长适应的公司文化非常一致,在这种文化中,卓越是普遍的期望。所以你不会觉得自己在独自高标准要求自己,因为如果那样的话,我觉得你可能会开始感到沮丧。
如何帮助团队提升标准
Lenny: 我知道这是 Netflix 文化中很重要的一部分,我后面想深入聊聊。但在那之前,我很好奇这在向你汇报的人身上是什么样的。你怎么帮助他们在这项”保持极高标准”的技能上提升?我给一个例子供你思考——我曾经这样跟我的产品经理们描述:你希望营造这样一种气场,让人觉得”交给 Lenny 的事,他搞得定。他会跟进,会闭环,会把事情做成。如果他做不了,他会告诉我。我觉得这件事不会被遗忘,他不会丢球。“你有没有学到什么好方法,能帮助某人学会这种技能,理解为什么它如此重要?
Elizabeth Stone: 对于向我汇报的人来说,这体现在三个方面。第一是树立榜样。如果我自己都做不到,凭什么要求他们做到?我非常认真地对待这一点——我们都应该被 hold 到同样的标准。
第二,当没有达到标准时,我会给出反馈。我观察到,尤其是在我的团队中,期望并不总是清晰的,如果你不去沟通,就不能假设大家都清楚。当某件事没有达到期望或没有展现出卓越水准时,我认为需要既给出反馈、直接指出问题,又具体说明需要怎样做才能达到我期望的标准或我期望的表现方式。
第三,也是可能最重要的一点,是帮助他们弥补差距。举个例子,这种情况在很多工作中都经常发生。一份文档还行,但不够好,别人读起来不容易跟上思路,不够精炼,还有可以加强的地方。我既可以给出反馈——让团队知道确实还需要再迭代一轮,我们确实还需要再花一周时间在这上面而不是现在就结束——同时也推动大家去达到那个标准,然后我自己也跳进文档里一起帮忙修改。
所以我非常相信这一点,这也正是我所说的”树立榜样”的含义——“让我们一起做这件事”,然后通过这个过程帮助人们自我提升,这样下一次他们就知道期望是什么了,而且之前得到过帮助去达到那个水平。在我职业生涯中,这种事大概发生过上千次了——我全身心地投入进去,因为某件事需要做得更好,而我认为团队在此之后会变得更好,至少我希望如此。
Lenny: 我觉得这是一个非常好的框架。让我复述一下你说的:“设定明确的期望,让大家知道标准会非常高,以及我对你的期望是什么。“给他们非常具体的反馈,告诉他们差距在哪里,然后帮助他们弥补那个差距。我猜很多人听到这些可能会想,“天哪,我不想有一个期望这么高的管理者,感觉压力太大了。“但我曾经有过这样的管理者,我觉得那恰恰是我学得最多、提升最大的时期——有一个人对你有极高的期望,然后帮你认识到”你在这方面的表现还没有达到你的能力水平,我知道你能做得更好,回去继续改吧。“我知道这听起来很烦人,但在实践中,这最终对你的职业发展帮助最大。我想你应该也见过类似的效果。
Elizabeth Stone: 我觉得是的。不过这个问题你可能得问我团队里的人。也许他们看我、和我看自己的角度不太一样。
Lenny: (听不清)差异。
反馈是一门难掌握的技能
Elizabeth Stone: 这是一门很难掌握的技能,因为给出反馈并不总是容易的,尤其是当你觉得对方在一件事情上已经投入了很多努力的时候。所以我会在如何传递反馈上花很多心思,让他们感觉到我们在同一阵线上,我是在努力帮助他们成功,而不是在助长失败。这也是为什么我觉得框架中第三步——主动介入帮助——能让人们感到,“我处在一个安全的空间里。我的管理者希望我成功。我的管理者在这里帮助我。“我确实经常在幕后做这件事。所以也许这是框架的另一种变体——我不会在所有人面前的大会议上、在汇报表现得不太好的时候当场指出,而是在事后进行,在一种更安全的空间里说,“这个地方本可以做得更好。我们下次换个角度来思考。“这样给了人们一些缓冲和余地,让他们能够吸收这些反馈,而不会觉得像是被放在聚光灯下。
高标准不等于更多时间
Lenny: 听到这些,有些人可能还会觉得,“天哪,要把东西做到让 Elizabeth 满意的程度,得花我好多好多小时。“我知道你说过这并不一定意味着需要很多时间。关于如何在保持这么高的标准和期望的同时,避免倦怠和过度工作,你有什么建议或想法吗?
Elizabeth Stone: 这真的不是关于时间。我甚至发现自己在今天早些时候的一个会议上说,“如果我们对某个目标已经很清楚了,那么在文档上做最后 20% 的润色可能非常浪费时间。所以如果我们要聚在一起讨论——“比如季度业务回顾就是一个例子,亮点是什么?不足之处是什么?这个季度有哪些经验教训?哪些地方存在不一致?我们做季度业务回顾的目的,是就我们对事情进展的判断进行一次非常坦诚的对话,就那些我们可能陷入僵局的地方进行辩论。不是为了准备一份完美无瑕的文档来支撑那场对话。
所以在这种情况下,我的反馈会是,我更希望有人把时间花在思考我们真正想要进行什么样的对话上——“我该怎么铺垫这个话题?“而不是”我是不是该再多花 20 个小时让这份文档看起来完美无缺?“所以我认为在这个意义上,不仅仅是追求卓越——比如你写出了一份完美的文档——我大概应该小心,不要只拿这个做例子,而是我们真正达成了我们想要达成的成果,因为我们在其中倾注了深思熟虑,投入了大量的精力、时间和迭代,确保我们走到了那个成果。
Lenny: 这是一个你曾经给过别人反馈、说他们在润色上花了太多时间的例子吗,还是更早以前的事?结合你分享的这个框架的层次——设定期望、给出具体反馈、帮助弥补差距,然后私下进行——在这个例子中,这是属于设定期望的部分,还是属于反馈”你在这上面花了太多时间”?
Elizabeth Stone: 这是设定期望。在我新的角色中,有一件事是团队之前有一些已经形成的惯例,他们在试图了解——“这些惯例还会继续保留吗?和之前相比,哪些东西会保持不变,哪些会不同?“——并且想了解我的期望。所以大家提出这个问题非常好,这样我就可以明确地说,“等一下,如果你已经到了文档润色最后 20% 的阶段,我宁愿你把时间花在别的地方。以下是我希望这场对话如何进行,这样我们都能从中有所收获,而不是让它感觉只是在替我做领导层面的审阅。“所以在这个具体的情境下,这是提前设定期望,以便让每个人都能成功。
Netflix 文化的核心支柱
Lenny: 太好了。好,我们之前一直在围绕这个话题聊,但这是 Netflix 文化中非常重要的一部分。总的来说,Netflix 拥有一种非常独特而特别的文化。虽然它已经存在了——我想已经超过 25 年了——但感觉这个文化被反复提起。最初有一份企业文化文档流传出来,震撼了所有人。最近又有一本书,好像叫《No Rules Rules》。感觉 Netflix 在维护自身文化方面做得非常出色。
在我看来,有三个关键要素,也许还有更多。一是非常高的人才密度和对高绩效者的关注。二是坦诚和非常直接的沟通。三是给予人们自由与责任,去掉那些没用的流程,比如假期审批之类的。那我们就先深入聊聊第一点——高人才密度和对高绩效的关注。我想问的问题就是,这在 Netflix 具体是什么样的?我猜其中一部分涉及招聘,一部分涉及绩效评估。还有就是,为什么这如此重要?为什么 Netflix 如此强调这一点?当你拥有这么高的人才密度时,会发生什么?
Elizabeth Stone: 这已经深深融入了 Netflix 作为一家公司的本质。在某种程度上,它也非常反映了里德·哈斯廷斯(Netflix 创始人)作为 Netflix 创始人的理念。当他创立 Netflix 并随着时间推移不断壮大公司时,他抱有一种信念:可以有一种不同的方式来建设一家公司,让它成为一个让人们茁壮成长、热爱待在其中的地方,并且与其他地方感觉不同——不仅体现在人才密度的质量上,更重要的是体现在卓越和成果上,而正是这些让人们获得大量的成就感。所以这从 Netflix 的早期就根深蒂固了。
人才密度的一个重要组成部分当然是招聘——加入团队的都是些什么人?但更重要的是,如果我们没有高人才密度作为基础,就无法真正拥有文化的其他方面,包括坦诚、学习、追求卓越和持续改进、自由与责任。
所以在某种意义上,它不是目的本身,而是手段——是 Reed 和其他领导团队一直试图构建的东西的手段。为了做到这一点,你必须对自己严格要求去做很多不符合人类本能的事情。我的意思是,给出反馈——这就涉及到第二个方面了——给出反馈,在期望没有得到满足时坦诚地表达,指出哪些地方可以做得更好,帮助人们改进,同时你自己也要能够接受这种反馈,以保持人才密度。因为没有人来到 Netflix 时是一个完美的人,然后一直保持完美。我们每个人都有可以成长和改进的空间。所以为了保持那个高标准,你必须愿意进行那种非常不舒服的对话。那是一种令人不适程度的坦诚和反馈,目的就是为了保持那个高标准。
留任测试与坦诚沟通
Elizabeth Stone: 另一个方面则涉及另一件不符合人类本能的事情——当有人达不到标准时,要及时做出判断,然后说:“我觉得你现在坐的这个岗位不太适合你”,或者”我觉得 Netflix 不太适合你”。并且要把做到这一点——达到能够做出这个决定的状态——变成一种最佳实践。这就是我们所说的”留任测试”(keeper test),它其实只是一种思维框架,确保我们对自己保持问责。它的核心是问自己一个问题:如果我团队里的这个人来跟我说”我今天就走,我有另一个机会想接受”,我会竭尽全力把他留在 Netflix 吗?如果不会,那我就应该进行那次艰难的对话——“你真的应该留在这里吗?你的角色对吗?“——尤其是当我可能会因为你说要离开而暗自松一口气的时候。
Elizabeth Stone: 留任测试和那个问题之所以有用,是因为没有人愿意那样去思考。要对一个人说”我觉得这里不太适合你,我觉得你应该离开公司”,这非常困难。所以我们必须引入一些这样的反思,来鼓励这种行为。同时我们也希望达到一种状态:当你在进行那次艰难的对话时,对方不会感到意外。这说起来容易做起来难。但只有当你一路走来一直在给予反馈,你才能走到那场”我觉得 Netflix 和你不是彼此最合适的匹配”的对话。所以在最理想的状态下,这应该是一种双方的共同观察。当然实践中并不总是那么顺畅。毕竟我们是人。但这一切相互促进,确保我们真正践行我们所宣称的作为文化一部分的行为准则。
Lenny: 这个具体是怎么落地的?它只是一个你在脑海中应该持有的思维模型吗?还是说每个季度都要做一次这个练习?它是绩效评估流程的一部分吗?在 Netflix 这到底是怎么操作的?
Elizabeth Stone: 它确实是一个思维模型。所以当我们和管理者讨论在 Netflix 当管理者意味着什么的时候,其中一个含义就是你应该以一定的频率去问自己这个问题——关于你团队里的人。大家经常问我,“我通过你的留任测试了吗?“所以它变成了管理者与直属下属之间一对一沟通的常规内容。它其实就是另一种说法——“我达到你的期望了吗?哪些地方做得好?哪些做得不好?你是怎么想的?“这种对话有时会非常尴尬。所以在”我们要讨论这个项目、那个交付物、正在发生的这件事”的大量事务中间,要抽时间退后一步问一句”我做得怎么样”,有时候会让人觉得很沉重。而留任测试虽然听起来是一个很重的概念,但它反而让这种对话变得轻松,可以定期进行。所以我们会把它落地到日常中。你刚才提到一点,我来澄清一下——我们没有绩效评估。
Lenny: 哦,哇。
反馈文化的日常化
Elizabeth Stone: 所以我们没有很多其他公司都有的那种做法——通过打分来反思工作表现。我们确实有一个年度的 360 度反馈周期,你会向很多人征集并收到反馈,但它不是某个流程的输入,它只是为了反馈本身的价值,确保我们保持那块”肌肉”。我们还有一个年度薪酬周期,会反思每个人做得怎么样。所以你会把绩效作为晋升和薪酬的一部分来考虑,但正因为如此,绩效必须是日常的一部分、是运营节奏的一部分,因为我们没有设立一个让这些问题浮出水面的专门流程。
Lenny: 有意思。我不知道这一点。所以背后的理念就是持续进行,就是整个……很多人梦寐以求的——没有绩效评估,我们给你持续的实时反馈,不用等半年。我觉得大家都在谈论这件事,但很少有人真正这么做,而你们就是这么运作的。
Elizabeth Stone: 在理想状态下是的。
Lenny: 在理想状态下,对。
Elizabeth Stone: 在实践中也是如此。只不过你必须不断提醒自己”这是我们的理想状态”,因为很容易依赖年度的 360 度周期。结果突然间我会收到大约 300 条反馈,其中有些是关于六个月前发生的事情,我就会想,“哎,你要是当时告诉我就好了,那样才更符合 Netflix 文化的精神。“所以我们必须推动自己以那种方式去做。但没错,如果运转良好,它就是非常及时的直接反馈。360 度反馈的目的更像是年度的检查——“让我获取完整的画面,提炼出一些主题,准备好跟我的管理者谈一谈。“这样它确实消除了每半年一次绩效评估之类的东西作为一种拐杖。
高标准是否意味着持续焦虑
Lenny: 你谈到有人经常问你”我通过你的留任测试了吗”这个例子,让我觉得这个人应该是特别紧张,就像在说”我通过你的测试了吗?“这让我觉得它可能会制造一种充满压力和焦虑的文化,一种”饥饿游戏”式的心态——“我必须竞争、担忧,我可能随时会死或者被解雇。“我猜解决办法有一部分是文化层面的——这就是我们的工作方式,你不需要一直紧张,但如果你达不到留任测试的标准,你确实可能被请走。你们如何避免那种随时可能被解雇、随时可能达不到标准的持续担忧?
Elizabeth Stone: 根据我个人的经验,有这些对话反而让我比没有这些对话时安心得多。在我之前的很多职位中,我不确定自己做得怎么样,或者有哪些可以做得更好的地方,我也不知道怎么获取这些信息。那种状态让我感到更加紧张、更加不安、更有风险感,而把这些对话作为文化的一部分,反而好得多。
所以我觉得真正让人紧张的——我自己也能感受到——是 Netflix 对卓越的高标准,以及你身边都是一群非常出色的人。这会催生一种感觉——“和别人相比我做得够好吗?我知道标准很高。“大多数情况下,这能驱动人们,而且是好的方式;但在某些方面,它也会让人紧张。而我觉得有帮助的是,我们知道这些对话是预期之中的,所以你可以稍微放松一下肩膀——“是的,期望很高,但我的管理者说我做得很好,或者我的管理者说我做得不够好,但他们给了我具体的、可以改进的方向。“所以我认为知道比不知道好。从这个意义上说,我希望是文化加上围绕绩效的对话能稍微减轻一些压力。但我确实经常听到,如果没有那样的对话,人们会很紧张。
保持高人才标准
Lenny: 这个观点太好了,这个例子也很好。我觉得每家公司都想保持高门槛,只招高绩效者,对每一个招聘的人都维持很高的标准。我很好奇——我知道这个话题可以单独做一期播客、写一本书——但就招聘优秀人才和保持卓越标准而言,你有没有什么建议可以帮助其他公司在招聘中识别真正优秀的人、确保标准始终不降?我知道的一件事是你们在薪酬方面是市场顶级的。我觉得这是 Netflix 的一个独特之处——我们就是直接给钱。所以这可能是答案的一部分,但你对其他公司保持人才高标准有什么建议?
Elizabeth Stone: 是的,关于薪酬这点,我们支付的是所谓的”个人市场最高价”(personal top of market),意思是我们的薪酬要非常有竞争力,但我们不希望薪酬变成”金手铐”——Netflix 是定市场价,而不是用过度捆绑的薪酬来留住人。所以我认为这对于吸引和留住人才非常重要,也是文化的重要组成部分。但更重要的,我们希望不需要仅仅依赖薪酬来让人们想留在 Netflix,也不希望靠薪酬来判断一个人是否能在 Netflix 蓬勃发展。
在这样的背景下,我对招聘的理解是:我们知道会给你非常有竞争力的薪酬,但你来到 Netflix 后,能帮助我们识别应该解决的正确问题,或者找到解决现有问题的新方法吗?这种招聘思路可能和很多人的想法不同,尤其是在大规模招聘时,人们通常会想”这个人有没有这个技能、那个技能?打勾,他能放进这个岗位,能交付我需要他做的工作。“我这是故意简化了,我知道很多人实际上并不完全这样招聘。但在 Netflix,我们非常强调的是我们在寻找新的视角,或者那个真正能让团队变得更强的人。所以我们会思考”增量技能”(additive skills)、增量视角,思考那些能在某些方面推动我们思维的人。这种方式有助于我们思考人才密度,因为你不断在团队中引入能够提升整体水平的人。
所以你在面试中需要问的问题可能也会不同,因为是的,我们在评估你是否有基本的成功所需技能,但同时我们也在寻找那些让人觉得卓越的特质,甚至比我们现有团队更出色的地方。然后你去想象把那些最聪明的大脑组成一个神奇的团队,看看能产生什么样的成果。这就是人才密度在实践中的样子。
Lenny: 明白了。所以核心建议就是,不要只找一个”优秀”的人,要找一个能提升整个团队标准、带来全新视角的人。
Elizabeth Stone: 没错,这个总结非常好。
Lenny: 我觉得这种持续追求卓越的理念最棒的一点在于,最优秀的人想和最优秀的人一起工作。一旦团队里有一个人表现很差、而公司又容忍这种情况,就会把所有人都拉低,因为大家会觉得”嘿,差不多就行了,没人会管的。“而当你明确表示我们只要最优秀的、只招最优秀的、只留最优秀的,就能把最优秀的人留住,对吧?我想这也是策略的一部分。
Elizabeth Stone: 是的,这确实是我们的目标。而且我认为要理解,团队中存在的技能缺口或行为问题对团队其他成员来说可能是非常有害的,所以这是一种代价。
自由与责任
Lenny: 我在 Twitter 上征集了大家想问你的问题,其中 Nan Yu 提了一个很好的问题。他是 Linear 的产品负责人,他问:“Netflix 有哪些做法是其他公司不应该尝试模仿的,因为 Netflix 的人才水平远高于其他公司?”
Elizabeth Stone: 这个问题其实就是”自由与责任”(freedom and responsibility)的精髓。让我展开说一下。这个问题问得很好,也跟我之前说的相关——人才密度是我们很多其他运营方式的前提条件。如果我们想创造一个工作环境,不对人们如何解决问题或者他们可以 tackle 多大范围的问题做具体规定——只要这些问题对业务有高影响力——而且我们在这类工作周围不设太多流程,比如说能够对我们的工程系统进行重大创新,或者引入关于指标和实验的新思路——我们能获得这些东西,是因为我们给了人们自由和空间去探索、质疑和试验各种解决方案。我认为如果我们没有高人才密度,这种方式会非常困难,甚至可能带来危险。
它真的不是一种自上而下的”先做 A,再做 B,再做 C”的模式。即使在我们的一些规划流程中,或者在思考优先级的时候,团队各个层级都有很大的贡献空间,而这就需要人才密度。还有一点,如果你不给消费端体验或业务相关方体验设置非常严格的护栏,你就必须有非常优秀的人。我们在这些方面确实给了人们很大的自主权。所以我觉得,缺少流程和具体规定的背后,全部依赖于我们有一群不仅聪明、而且判断力极强的人。
Lenny: 这其实也是人们给创始人建议时经常听到的那句话——“招到优秀的人,然后放手让他们做事。“但这种做法往往并不成功。有没有什么例子,能说明这种自由带来了什么成果?比如从中产生了什么产品、功能或想法?或者你们没有的那些流程——其他公司都有但你们没有的?我知道你们没有固定的假期天数,是无限制休假,对吧?这现在还是这样吗?无限制休假?
Elizabeth Stone: 是的。
Lenny: 好,酷。我知道关于绩效评估你前面已经谈过了。所以不管是哪个方向,有没有一个例子能说明这种自由带来了什么成果,或者某个你们没有的流程让人们感到意外,又或者某种框架或体系?
坦诚文化的实践
Elizabeth Stone: 我们在内容分发网络的创新方面取得了成果……我就举自己团队的例子,编码技术的创新、发现与个性化推荐方面的创新。这些成果不是由某位领导者说”我认为这是优先事项”来推动的。在很多情况下,它们是由那些有出色创新想法的 individual contributor 推动的。Netflix 很多成功的成果,正是来自于为团队成员创造这样的空间。因此,可能有成千上万的产品功能之类的成果,都是从这种空间中诞生的。而现在的挑战在于找到最佳平衡点,使我们能够在这样的规模下高效运作,同时又不扼杀掉那种文化中核心的美妙之处。
Lenny: 关于文化,也许最后一个问题。我们之前谈了一些坦诚。我很好奇,你脑海中是否有一个最近的坦诚的例子——不管是你看到的,还是你自己不得不做那个坦诚的人——也许值得分享,让人觉得”哦,原来这就是你说的坦诚文化的意思”。
Elizabeth Stone: 脑海中浮现几件事。我通常是一位透明的领导者,也就是说我会自由而公开地分享信息。这也是”情境而非控制(context, not control)“文化的一部分,这意味着我的职责之一就是确保人们拥有做好工作所需的情境信息。在实际操作中,这意味着我会在领导层会议上做笔记,然后把那些笔记分享给整个组织。有时候这包含了对进展不顺的事情或我们需要解决的问题的坦诚反思。有时候只是让人们知道”这是领导层正在讨论的内容”,这样他们对什么是最重要的事心里有数。这是一种我非常看重的透明度,在很多其他地方并不常见。我认为这也是坦诚的一种形式——能够分享……我不能总是分享我们讨论的每一个细节,但我确实会试着分享一些可能在团队看来有些推进边界的东西,让他们觉得自己理解了公司正在发生什么、我在思考什么。
脑海中还有第二个例子。直到两年前,Netflix 的 individual contributor 是没有职级划分的。所有工程师都只是高级工程师,所有数据科学家都只是高级数据科学家,我们没有职级体系。差不多正好两年前,我们引入了 IC 职级。这是一个非常、非常、非常大的变化,因为它被视为某种神圣的东西。很多人来 Netflix 就是因为我们没有这个。我们没有晋升流程。这可能也是我们从未做过绩效评估的原因之一,因为晋升确实不在考虑范围内。这给了人们一种自由感,不必担心那种结构性的事务。但是当组织达到一定规模时,我们需要某种框架来说:“我们想讨论如何组建团队。什么时候需要拥有 30 年经验的人?什么时候想要一个应届毕业生?“因为这是工作所需要的。而我们之前没有这样的语言来描述它。
所以几年前我引入了职级体系,那段经历只能用变化中的过山车来形容。
Lenny: 这说法很贴切。
Elizabeth Stone: 对,那几个月就像是滚筒烘干机一样,所以一直在和团队反复讨论。这就是背景和铺垫。关于最近坦诚的一个例子是,我们做了一个类似复盘或回顾的会议,讨论 IC 职级推行得怎么样——哪些好,哪些不好。在许多文化中,通常的做法可能是:“好吧,我们挺过了那个变化,我们已经在适应那个变化了。“不再回顾。因为那确实重新引发了一些早期的争论。而我的看法不同。我认为这是一个很好的坦诚的例子——这对我们来说是一个巨大的变化,并非一切都很顺利。我们在 Netflix 如何实施职级方面还有很多可以做得更好的地方。我宁愿分享这些信息,也不愿假装一切都一帆风顺、所有目标都已达成。所以我试着创造这样的榜样,因为我确实认为那种程度的坦诚和反思有助于在团队中建立共同体意识和信任。
Chaos Monkey 的命运
Lenny: 很棒的例子。沿着这个方向,但也属于自由与责任的范畴——Netflix 很早之前创新的另一件事,我好奇这是否还在,就是 Chaos Monkey 的概念,本质上是一个运行在你们基础设施上的程序,会随机杀掉进程和各种东西,就是看看什么会出问题,确保当东西真的开始崩溃时系统是稳定的。Chaos Monkey……是叫这个名字吧?那它现在还存在吗?服务器上还有 Chaos Monkey 在跑吗?
Elizabeth Stone: 不再是无拘无束的 Chaos Monkey 了。不是了。
Lenny: 好的。算是把混乱关进了笼子。
Elizabeth Stone: 对,我们肩负着太重的责任——说到自由与责任——对会员体验的责任,不能主动注入故障。不过我们确实会做大量实验来测试韧性,那可能意味着注入一些我们不太确定 A 是否比 B 更好的因素。这种做法在工程系统中大规模进行。但这不是为了纯粹的混乱,而是为了有目的的学习,这样我们可以避免犯更大的错误。然后在我们推进新的方向时,比如云游戏——我们现在有一个 Beta 版——直播是另一个例子。我们确实会尝试设计一些影响较低的测试场景,以一种不太可能损害会员体验的方式来测试系统的边界。但这不再是随机的,更多是有意设计的。我们在几个地方这样做,感觉基本是良好的工程实践,这样我们就能了解当真正的关键时刻到来、真正考验系统的时候,它们能否按我们期望的那样运行。
Lenny: Chaos Monkey,安息吧。
Elizabeth Stone: 是的。
数据团队的组织结构
Lenny: 那么沿着数据的思路来说,数据本身一直是 Netflix 的核心。我的理解是,数据团队和洞察团队的组织方式一直是 Netflix 如此成功的原因之一。而你在转到这个新角色之前就领导着这个团队。你能不能谈谈这些团队是如何组织的,以及为什么这种结构如此有效?
Elizabeth Stone: 可以。我愿意认为它是特别的。它确实不同寻常。我可以解释为什么。以 Netflix 现在的规模,在很多类似规模的公司中,数据导向的团队通常是嵌入到其他业务部门中的。可能是嵌入到某个业务线,比如广告或游戏,或者是按职能分开组织,把数据工程师、数据科学家、分析工程师、消费者研究员各自分开。我们一直抵制这种做法,保持了一个集中化的团队,同时在职能上是多元的——涵盖了我刚才提到的所有那些职能类型——并在团队内部为几乎每一个业务领域工作。我大致理解为什么很多公司会放弃这种模式,因为它确实需要非同寻常的协作——让人们在不向依赖他们的团队汇报的情况下,去解决数据问题。
但我们获得的收益是能够专注于自身的专业能力建设。我们是否真正做到了世界上最优秀的数据工程师、最优秀的数据科学家?如何从专业和技术角度持续精进?这也为人们提供了更好的职业发展路径,因为可以在不同团队之间更灵活地流动。这感觉像是一个拥有专业能力、同时面对各种不同问题需要解决的团队。因此我认为它在某种程度上促进了想法的交叉碰撞。
同时,这使我们能够保持真正的客观。这可能是最重要的一点——我们的工作不是用数据去讲别人想听的故事,也不是去解决别人认为最重要的问题,而是要有自己独立的视角。我认为这提升了整个组织的水准,因为它意味着我们能够成为说出真相的人,能够以一种可能在其他组织架构下无法实现的方式去好奇、去追问。当然我们需要平衡——做一个好的合作伙伴,交付我们共同确定的优先事项,在时间分配上保持灵活——但与此同时,它赋予了我们超越这些的主动性和责任感。我觉得整个团队对此非常认真。我见过很多这方面的实例,比如我们如何将数据引入许多领域,包括我们如何与工程团队在数据相关议题上合作,如何与内容团队协作——如果没有这样一个作为卓越中心的内核,我不确定我们能否做到这些。
Lenny: 叫”数据与洞察”(Data and Insights),这就是你之前带领的团队。洞察(Insights),是指用户研究吗,还是说这个职能具体包括什么?
Elizabeth Stone: 数据与洞察团队中有一个消费者洞察(Consumer Insights)团队,实际上包含了很多不同类型的研究。在某些方面,“消费者”这个词甚至不太准确,因为团队中有一部分做的是内部研究——比如为我们影视制作工作室的工具和产品做研究。这更偏向用户研究,而非消费者研究。而团队中面向消费者的部分,工作范围从内容试映开始,让节目在上线之前成为最好的版本,到更传统的用户体验(UX)研究——思考如何提供最佳的内容发现体验,如何改进无障碍功能。同时这个团队有全球范围的职责,所以还有一些团队专门具备地方性或区域性的专业能力,负责理解各地消费者对娱乐内容的需求。
所以消费者洞察团队,以及一个以前叫、现在有时也作为简称仍在使用的”数据科学与工程”(data science and engineering)团队,大约在两年前合并,组成了数据与洞察团队。这也是另一个不同寻常的地方。它真正成为了一个全栈的数据与研究能力体系。这样我们就可以 tackling 一个问题——比如推荐系统的正确思路是什么,如何最好地呈现推荐内容——把态度研究(定性和定量)与行为研究(更多在数据科学、数据工程和分析的范畴内)结合起来解决。
Lenny: 这非常酷,因为我觉得用户研究归属数据组织之下的情况确实很罕见。我认为这可能也是解决很多用户研究团队所遭遇质疑的一种方案——那些质疑会说,你们整天搞的都是些轶事性证据。如果它们在同一个组织下面,我觉得会带来更高的可信度,避免出现那种”数据告诉我一件事,用户研究团队又告诉我另一件事,我们该怎么办”的困境。
Elizabeth Stone: 是的,消费者洞察团队对我来说是比较新的团队——我之前的背景并不是领导这样的团队,个人的专业训练也不在这一块,但他们在确保我们始终保持以消费者为导向、以会员为中心方面至关重要。我非常喜欢看这些团队在解决问题时的协作方式,我们在内部把这称为一种”超能力”——将这些技能组合在一起。所以我认为 Netflix 的消费者洞察团队在某个专业领域已经具有很高的可信度,而通过与其他专业能力相结合,我们把它提升到了一个新的层次。当然,并不是每个问题领域都需要这样,所以我们也会注意不过度使用——不会说每个地方都要协作,因为那会形成错误的预期——但我们会真正受益的领域充分发挥它的价值。所以,效果非常好。
保持与一线团队的连接
Lenny: 太好了。好的,在我们进入非常令人期待的快问快答环节之前,我还想问最后两个问题。这两个问题都是有人告诉我你非常擅长的技能。第一个是,你在组织中职位越来越高的情况下,依然非常有意识、非常用心地保持与一线团队和个人的紧密联系。我很好奇你是怎么做到的——你实际上是如何践行这项技能,保持与最底层团队和一线工作人员的紧密联系的?
Elizabeth Stone: 很大程度上在于我如何分配自己的时间,以及努力保住与人们建立联系的机会。比如,我现在仍然保留着双周一次的办公时间(office hours),大家可以预约时段。20 分钟一个时段,感觉有点像速配约会,但我能认识很多人,了解他们的工作,听听大家最近在想什么。有些人会提前好几个月就约满,这只是一个保持联系的机会。然后我还会做”问我任何问题”(Ask Me Anything)的场次,与不同规模的团队进行,取决于我们想要多亲密的氛围,但真的什么问题都可以问。这也是让大家了解我这个人的方式,让我听到各种问题,尽量坦诚地回答能答的和不能答的。这些方式帮助我维持了与团队的联系,但这两个例子本质上都是关于——为这件事腾出时间。
随着我角色的变化,我发现如果不把它当作优先事项,这些联系就不会发生。通过这些活动,我希望自己变得更平易近人,让人们知道:“你可以给我发 Slack 消息,可以给我发邮件。就像我之前提到的,我会尽可能快地回复你,因为我希望对自己保持这个标准。“这样就建立起我和团队之间的信息流通,我非常珍视这一点……如果没有这些连接点,我不觉得我愿意做这份工作,所以这也算是一种动力吧。
Lenny: 而且你每次领导层会议之后都会给所有人发一封邮件,所以他们就会想,“哦对,Elizabeth。”
Elizabeth Stone: 对,他们会收到我的消息。是的。
Lenny: 和这个有点相关的,我们有一个共同的朋友,这也是我们建立联系的方式。Ali Rao,她之前是 Airbnb 的数据科学家,现在在 Uber。她有一个问题想让我问你,关于你多么善于保持专注当下。她的问题大意是:“我注意到她的一点是,无论和谁交谈,她都是百分之百地在场。你对想要在这方面提升的人有什么建议吗?因为在充满邮件、iPhone 和 Slack 的时代,这真的太难了。“她还问,“那她什么时候回消息呢,总不能不在会议里回吧?”
Elizabeth Stone: 其实我觉得自己在进行像这样的对话时是最在场的。我会保留大量时间来进行一对一的对话,在这些对话中我真心好奇对方过得怎么样、我能怎么帮到他们、他们对什么感到兴奋——这些都是真诚的交流。所以虽然我的行政助理听到我说喜欢花时间做很多一对一会议可能会崩溃,但对我来说,人际连接确实是我享受这份工作的原因之一,这让我更容易做到。我认为这对很多人来说都是如此——我们从工作和生活中获得的,很大一部分就是人际连接——但我努力在这些会议中真正践行这一点。当我们在三十人的会议中时,我可能就没那么专注了,我会同时处理别的事情,这一点我承认。但我觉得一对一的对话,我把它当作非常神圣的事情来对待。
我注意到一点帮助我持续投入其中的,也许对其他人也有帮助:我最亲密的朋友和人脉关系,包括像 Ali 这样的人,很多都是我在职业道路上结识的。比如我和 Ali 的丈夫 Keith Henwood 在多个地方密切合作过,包括 Analysis Group 和 Lyft。这些合作创造了机会,也成为了连接的纽带。基本上就是一分耕耘一分收获。
我生活中有些人之所以成为我生活的一部分,是因为我和他们一起工作过,或者有过交集。我希望如果我能给他们留下正面的印象,这份善意终有一天也会回报到我身上。所以总结来说,我是真心享受这种连接,这也是我从工作中获得的最重要的东西。而且这就是我的社群。这一直以来对我帮助很大。所以我曾经给别人建议:“这个圈子很小,想想你在他人身上投入了什么,因为这在未来对你自己也很重要。“我也努力自己践行这一点。
Lenny: 这个建议真的很好。这让我想到两件事。一是待人如己——有人好像曾经这么说过。二是你几次回到的一个主题:关注什么给你带来能量、你在哪些方面擅长,然后几乎就是加倍投入,让它越来越成为你的超能力。
Elizabeth Stone: 后面那点让我很有共鸣。反思自己的感受、对什么感到兴奋、在享受什么——这一直是我个人和职业实践中很重要的一部分。我觉得这帮助我更加踏实,也许也因此帮助我更加专注当下,或者成为更好的管理者或领导者。这可能也是秘诀的一部分,但这确实是我的日常实践。
日常反思的习惯
Lenny: 我忍不住想问,这是一个真正的实践吗?你是定期这样做,还是只是偶尔想想,“我应该反思一下”?
Elizabeth Stone: 我要是有那么高级、能说我冥想并且建立了一套完整的结构就好了。其实更多的是——我想我可能提过我是个内向的人,所以我确实会花一些时间独处,这是我充电的方式。尤其是清晨,认识我的人有时会被我发邮件的时间点吓到。但清晨对我来说是一段安静的时光,我会试着做一个每日自检:最近怎么样,为什么感到焦虑,为什么感到兴奋。这是一种可以锻炼的能力。虽然我没有写日记的习惯,也没有冥想的实践,但我确实有一段固定的时间,尽量不让其他事情侵占,让自己能安静地想一想。
Lenny: 这让我想到 Jeff Bezos 的早晨习惯。他就是闲晃。他好像到十点十左右都没有会议,就是想闲晃一下,读读报纸,看看邮件里有什么。我现在也在尝试这样做。我真的很喜欢那种感觉——就是闲晃,早上没有任何责任。
Elizabeth Stone: 我从没听过这个说法,我要借用这个表达。
Lenny: 我就是闲晃闲晃的。Elizabeth,在我们进入非常令人兴奋的快问快答环节之前,还有什么想聊的或者想对听众说的吗?
Elizabeth Stone: 没有了,我准备好迎接令人兴奋的快问快答了。
快问快答
Lenny: 好的,我们到了非常令人兴奋的快问快答环节。第一个问题:你有哪两三本最常推荐给别人的书?
Elizabeth Stone: 可能有近因效应的影响,但我最近一直在推荐村上春树的《关于跑步,我说的其实是……》,这本书讲述了跑步和写作之间的相似之处,都是一种心流状态和非常冥想式的事情。我之前读过他的一些小说作品,而这种对某种职业或爱好的自传式反思我觉得非常有洞见。这是第一本。然后我一直很喜欢的一本书是 Mistry 的《A Fine Balance》,这是一个关于人性的复杂性、挑战和关系的精彩故事。所以我无论看书还是电视电影,都倾向于关于人的故事。
Lenny: 说到电视电影,对于一个在 Netflix 工作的人来说这可能是高风险的问题——你有最喜欢的近期的电影或电视剧吗?
Elizabeth Stone: 我不会全部都点名 Netflix 的,那样感觉太像广告了。电影方面,《Triangle of Sadness》非常精彩,如果你还没看的话一定要看。电视剧方面我就点名 Netflix 了,《Beef》我觉得太搞笑了。我是 Ali Wong 的粉丝,但这部剧的 storyline 也确实非常独特。
Lenny: 而且他们好像刚拿了一堆艾美奖。
Elizabeth Stone: 是的。
Lenny: 太棒了,选得好。下一个问题:你有没有一个最喜欢的面试问题,喜欢问候选人的?
Elizabeth Stone: 高人才密度(talent density)。我通常在寻找那个在我的职位上会比我做得更好的人。所以我经常问候选人,如果他们有我的职位,他们的优先事项会是什么,他们会做什么不同的事情。
Lenny: 下一个问题:你最近有没有发现一个特别喜欢的产品?
Elizabeth Stone: 虽然我顶着首席技术官(CTO)的头衔,但我过着相当 analog 的生活。所以我最近的新产品是一款 Fellow 手冲咖啡壶,这其实是我早晨仪式的一部分——现在我把它叫做”闲晃”——我在制作咖啡的过程中非常讲究,因为我觉得这个过程让人平静。然后虽然不是最近的发现,但我必须提一下我的 Peloton 可能是我拥有的最喜欢的产品。
Lenny: 自行车还是跑步机?
Elizabeth Stone: 自行车。我是一个正在戒掉户外骑行的人,所以甚至能不能承认这一点都有点可疑,但正因如此我才要说——尽管我理想中是个户外骑行者,我还是很爱 Peloton。
Lenny: 关于你的骑行我有很多问题想问,但在那之前——你有没有一个最喜欢的人生格言,经常回到的、或者分享给朋友家人的,在工作或生活中觉得有用的?
Elizabeth Stone: 我妈妈跟我说过一句话,一直留在我心里。我不知道自己做得好不好,但那句话是:“每天都会发生一件好事。“她说这话的原因是鼓励我更加留心享受日常生活中那些小事,而不是让自己被忙碌裹挟。
Lenny: 真美好。最后一个问题。你是个骑行和铁人三项爱好者,我很好奇这项运动和投入的时间给你的职业或生活带来了什么。你在跑步、骑行、做运动员上花了这么多时间和精力,从中获得了哪些好处?
Elizabeth Stone: 首先是心理韧性。虽然这些听起来像是体能方面的事,但我发现耐力运动尤其考验的是心理素质——如何度过高峰和低谷,如何坚持,如何从挑战中恢复过来。这些运动本身也有高低起伏,从低谷中我真正学会了如何恢复和触底反弹。这些感觉都是放之四海而皆适用的技能。
Lenny: 你身上有着如此有趣的运动天赋与 Netflix 的结合,真是生活中极好的平衡。这让我有理由在周五下午录制完节目后去看看 Netflix 了。Elizabeth,你太棒了,非常感谢你能来。最后两个问题:大家如果想要联系你或者就今天的 topics 进一步交流,在网上哪里可以找到你?听众怎样才能帮到你?
Elizabeth Stone: 随时可以在 LinkedIn 上找到我,有任何问题或想法欢迎联系或私信。我觉得听众能帮到我的方式,也许是带着好奇心思考如何在生活中做得更好——既然我们刚刚一起回顾了 Netflix 的文化和我们如何对待他人,我希望听众能把这份思考传递下去,用更好的方式去对待身边共事的人。
Lenny: 太棒了,我很喜欢这个。如果你在听这期节目并且照做了,也许可以在 YouTube 或 Substack 上留个评论,分享一些你自己还没有发掘的方面。Elizabeth,再次感谢你来做客。
Elizabeth Stone: 谢谢你,Lenny。祝你周末愉快。
Lenny: 你也一样。大家再见。
感谢收听。如果你觉得这期节目有价值,可以在 Apple Podcasts、Spotify 或你喜欢的播客应用上订阅。也请考虑给我们评分或留下评论,这真的能帮助更多听众找到这个播客。你可以在 lennyspodcast.com 找到所有往期节目或了解更多关于这个节目的信息。下期再见。
术语表
| 原文 | 中文 |
|---|---|
| 360 feedback | 360 度反馈 |
| additive skills | 增量技能(additive skills) |
| Ali Rao | Ali Rao(人名,保留原名) |
| Analysis Group | Analysis Group(经济咨询公司,保留原名) |
| Ann Miura-Ko | Ann Miura-Ko(投资人名,保留原名) |
| Ask Me Anything | 问我任何问题(Ask Me Anything) |
| associate | associate(初级职位头衔,保留原名) |
| Chaos Monkey | Chaos Monkey(Netflix 混沌工程工具,保留原名) |
| Consumer Insights | 消费者洞察(Consumer Insights) |
| context, not control | 情境而非控制(context, not control) |
| COO | 首席运营官(COO) |
| CTO | 首席技术官(CTO) |
| data science | 数据科学(data science) |
| Floodgate | Floodgate(风险投资机构,保留原名) |
| Fortune 500 | 财富500强 |
| freedom and responsibility | 自由与责任(freedom and responsibility) |
| golden handcuffs | 金手铐(golden handcuffs) |
| IC levels | IC 职级(individual contributor 职级体系) |
| individual contributor | individual contributor(个人贡献者,保留原名) |
| keeper test | 留任测试(keeper test) |
| Lenny | Lenny(播客主持人 Lenny Rachitsky,保留原名) |
| Linear | Linear(项目管理工具公司,保留原名) |
| Love is Blind | Love is Blind(Netflix 真人秀节目,保留原名) |
| Merrill Lynch | 美林证券 |
| Nan Yu | Nan Yu(Linear 产品负责人,保留原名) |
| Netflix Cup | Netflix Cup(Netflix 高尔夫赛事,保留原名) |
| Nuna | Nuna(科技公司名,保留原名) |
| office hours | 办公时间(office hours) |
| personal top of market | 个人市场最高价(personal top of market) |
| Reed Hastings | 里德·哈斯廷斯(Netflix 创始人) |
| retro | 回顾会议(retro) |
| talent density | 人才密度(talent density) |
| Tim Ferriss | Tim Ferriss(播客主持人名,保留原名) |
| WWE | WWE(世界摔角娱乐,保留原名) |
此文档由 AI 分片翻译(translate_long_document)