It’s Netflix’s fault.
You see back in 2009, they put out a deck about the Netflix culture that has since become pretty darn famous. If any PowerPoint can be considered to have gone viral, this one is probably the biggest influencer of them all.
In fact, Cheryl Sandberg once said it’s one of the most important documents to ever come out of Silicon Valley.
If you haven’t seen it, I’m going to put a link in the show notes here. That Netflix document reshaped how companies thought about culture and it led to the onslaught of company core values.
Today most companies have core values. They’re usually some beautiful words that they’ve come up with to define what they stand for. Most often it involves some form of integrity, collaboration, client focus, and probably innovation.
I’m sure you’ve seen them time again, probably on a wall in some office. Maybe on your wall.
But here’s the thing about core values: they mean nothing. I don’t say that to get your goat. I don’t even know what the phrase get your goat means.
Companies don’t call me when things are going well. They call me when they have problems. When they have complex issues that need some simple and fast solutions.
That’s when I get the call, and that’s okay because that’s what I do. And I love it.
One of the first things I’ll ask them, if I can’t find it online, is whether they have core values and what those values are. Some do, some don’t. Honestly, the ones who don’t have values are oftentimes in better shape than the ones who do.
Because for most companies, core values aren’t so much a healthy foundation of the culture, as they are a horrendous liability. And if you don’t know what I’m talking about, you’re probably part of the problem.
Let me explain.
