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Powerful: Building a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility
- Narrated by: Patty McCord, Alex Hyde White
- Length: 4 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Business & Careers, Management & Leadership
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Summary
When it comes to recruiting, motivating, and creating great teams, Patty McCord says most companies have it all wrong. McCord helped create the unique and high-performing culture at Netflix, where she was chief talent officer. In her new book, Powerful: Building a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility, she shares what she learned there and elsewhere in Silicon Valley.
McCord advocates practicing radical honesty in the workplace, saying good-bye to employees who don’t fit the company’s emerging needs, and motivating with challenging work, not promises, perks, and bonus plans. McCord argues that the old standbys of corporate HR—annual performance reviews, retention plans, employee empowerment and engagement programs—often end up being a colossal waste of time and resources. Her road-tested advice, offered with humor and irreverence, provides readers a different path for creating a culture of high performance and profitability.
Powerful will change how you think about work and the way a business should be run.
What listeners say about Powerful: Building a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Seb
- 13-03-19
Short. Packed with thought provoking goodness
Patty has done. If culture is the strategy of the way we work, Patty is Silicon Valley's Sun Tzu.
1 person found this helpful
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- Manelle M
- 18-02-18
Loved it!
Loved this book! Eye opening and many Agh-Huh moments. The examples are very relatable. HR advice for fast moving, competitive businesses of today. Mother-Hen HR is no more!
1 person found this helpful
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- Razvan Suta
- 01-02-22
sublime
i recall listening 2 years ago, was quite revealing.
now I am actually in a company that puts lots of emphasis on culture.
will re listen to it for sure
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- Anonymous User
- 28-07-21
VERY INSIGHTFUL
A fantatic book that gives readers an insight into how a successful business is built. Freedom and responsibility is definitely culture I plan on implementing immediately into my business.
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- Karl
- 28-08-20
Wonderful insights
Into what powers Netflix, its people.
At just under 5 hours packed with guidance on motivating a startup crew through IPO and beyond. I plan re-listen in case I missed anything, Patty’s delivery adds an extra dimension.
Recommended for people managers aspiring to lead, not manage. Thanks Patty !!
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- msdmcdonald
- 07-06-20
Calling all HR Professionals!
Patty McCord is a true breath of fresh air! The CO-CEO at the company I would for recommended this book and I’m so glad he did. Patty brings a unique perspective and take on culture. An excellent book that should be listened to or read, by all HR professionals.
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- Weronika Opalka
- 04-05-20
read it if you like people management and agility
I really enjoyed going through this book as my business professor recommended it to me a while ago. It gave a really interesting insight on Netflix's organisation and what made it so successful in recent years! Patty did an amazing job in telling the stories from her experience in Netflix. Now I realise how challenging strategy change for business growth is. Patty gives lots of useful tips for managing HR with honesty!
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- varun
- 08-04-19
easy read and insightful
it's a good read. writer's approach is different from other traditional thinkers and yet effective.. enjoyed it and learnt new lessons...
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- Ben
- 20-08-18
Great read
Really enjoyed this book. One that gets you thinking and motivated to do something about it!
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- Mr David Igoe
- 10-08-18
Different perspective
I'm familiar with the Netflix culture so this was a bit of a slow burner (first 3 chapters.) However, the HR angle on hiring and building a great sports teams was really insightful and made me question numerous assumptions.
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- Jessica Lea Nolette
- 26-02-18
Brilliant & Insightful
I was first “introduced” to Patty listening to ‘This Week In Startups,’ a Podcast w/ Jason Calacanis. After listening to her episode I immediately downloaded the book and loved it. Great insights you can immediately incorporate into your current company culture. Very well written and very well read.👌🏼
7 people found this helpful
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- Mauro Locarnini
- 08-02-19
Good HR criticism - wrong alternative solutions
I think the author makes a really good point in regards to old HR practices that have no link to the business and are not even good for people. However looking one to one the alternatives suggested... well you’re only left with anew problem. Saying that one example of friend shows that engagement has no link to company success clearly shows how ill informed the book is. Yes obsession with any metric or practice is never good but doing away with all practices without clearly suggesting what works is dangerous advise.
She does make a good point explaining the benefits of candid feedback, proactively letting go of people and excellent hiring. The overall message let’s me with a taste of taking people as commodities, yes you will treat them with respect but you dispose with them as soon as something better comes across.
Yes employees should be the drivers of their own careers, but companies benefit hugely helping them build up their competencies for a future we don’t yet know. How can you find outside the skills needed for something you as a company are creating...
A pity that such good criticism of HR turns out so flawed
7 people found this helpful
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- jose antonio rossi
- 11-08-19
Glad I have never worked there
Book about extreme competitiveness, rudeness disguised as “truth”, silver coating treating badly employees as focus on customers. I have bad feelings when I watch anything from Netflix nowadays.
2 people found this helpful
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- Joe Gonsalves
- 03-07-19
Quick Read, Great Read
Insightful, interesting and easy to comprehend. A great read for those who plan to build or manage a team. It's not a family, it's a team.
2 people found this helpful
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- Kitty
- 20-05-19
Challenged My View of HR Role
This was an interesting story that challenged my view of HR’s role for the business and employees. I highly recommend it to anyone, even experienced HR partners!
1 person found this helpful
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- Jose
- 02-02-18
Great insight and ideas.
This was a great narration which shared some d
great insights and examples.
I really enjoyed it.
1 person found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 29-08-18
Inspiring but not very insightful on practices
The book is very inspiring and also suiting as you understand that building a high productive culture is a process with lots of mistakes. Still, she does not give much of concrete advice on how to build your own culture but more guidelines. Still, I find it though provoking and useful.
2 people found this helpful
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- Blake
- 03-03-22
Awesome Story and Takeaways for Immediate Company Improvement
The story of culture building through the lens of one of the recent major market disruptions was very eye opening and telling of what it takes to build a great company. This is a book every business owner and HR professional should read.
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- Brian E. Robinson
- 21-01-22
Excellent book, loved it!
So many great ideas that I want to put in to practice. I’m an engineer, but Patty’s book inspires me to go in to talent acquisition and development!
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- Marcela a.
- 13-01-22
Amazing
A must for innovative, forward thinking and curious for knowledge HR Professionals.I have read this multiple times and will use it as a reference and to engage in intellectually stimulating conversation with the team and colleagues.