**Special Entry**

In 2009, the Netflix Culture Deck went viral, with millions, and millions, and MILLIONS of views, yet I missed it.  Perhaps you saw it, but for those who didn’t let me elaborate…

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg referred to the Netflix Culture Deck as, “one of the most important documents to come out of Silicon Valley”.  The 126 slide powerpoint presentation outlined the culture of hiring, firing and rewarding employees.  It is these specified strategies which shape the culture of Netflix.

Culture is a funny thing.  Culture is the characteristics, knowledge, beliefs, values, attitudes, etc. of a group of people.  Sometimes culture is difficult to pinpoint, but its always there.  If you’ve ever felt the “something is different” vibe, when you are with another organization it’s likely the culture is to credit or blame.  A quick look around Extension and we have lots of cultures-  a programmatic (4-H) culture, individual county office culture, an extension district culture (#forthegorillagood), etc.  My questions to you are:

*   To what sort of culture do you want to contribute?
*   How do you shape the surrounding culture?

While I don’t agree with everything shared in the Netflix Culture Deck.  some points that caught my interest were:

* As we grow, minimize rules.
* Hire, reward, and tolerate only fully formed adults.
* Responsible people thrive on freedom and are worthy of freedom.
* What about brilliant jerks?
* We’re a team, not a family.  We hire, develop, and cut smartly so we have stars in every position.

Check out the full document and make your own judgements.  🙂