Book reviewPowerful A book by Patty McCoord
How does a startup become a corporate behemoth with layers of policies, processes, and rules? It happens one mishap at a time if that event is seen as a mistake that is never to be made again. In her book Powerful, Patty McCoord lays out her account of how Netflix almost got an expense policy – but avoided that path and instead relied on a no-rules culture.
A vital principle of the Netflix culture is to treat employees as adults. But not just any adults: powerful adults. This difference in mindset is critical to letting people achieve astonishing results.
As for empowerment, I simply hate that word... What I came to understand deeply and in a new way once I made my way into the scrappier start-up world is that people have power. A company’s job isn’t to empower people; it’s to remind people that they walk in the door with power and to create the conditions for them to exercise it. Do that, and you will be astonished by the great work they will do for you.