The Netflix Culture Memo and Diversity in the Digital Age
Praised at the time for focusing on “values and performance over rules and controls,” Netflix’s initial 2009 Culture Memo had a sizeable impact on the streaming behemoth’s internal culture and across the industry as well, but it had some significant blind spots, virtually ignoring diversity and inclusion through multiple iterations over its first decade, as former Netflix Global Education Manager Lori Greene recounts in this clip from Streaming Media NYC. Weber Shandwick Chief DEI Officer Judith Harrison affirms that the Netflix Culture Memo’s glaring omissions reflect a broader myopia across the media and entertainment industry, where notions of “cultural fit” that drive employment decisions rarely account for what a candidate might add to the culture of an organization. Greene, Harrison, and McCann DEI Chief Singleton Beato discuss these and other issues surrounding what the FCC defined in 2004 as “Diversity and Communications in the Digital Age” and our progress toward equity or lack thereof.
What Does 'Cultural Fit' Really Mean?
"At Netflix, they were very famous for their Culture Memo," says Greene. "There are 12 culture personalities or traits that, when you get hired at Netflix, whoever's recruiting you will say, 'You need to make sure you understand every one of those traits.' I had eight people interviewing me. They'll always ask you about it and you need to be a cultural fit or you will not get hired. Two or three years ago, they finally put inclusion in there. And I don't know if it did anything to move the needle at all, but I thought that that was an important first step, talking about culture, to actually put it down on paper [that said] 'When you're being interviewed, you're going to be asked about this and this is who you need to be if you want a job at Netflix.' So I thought that that was at least a step in the right direction."
"It's a step in the right direction, but it's also minefield," says Harrison. "When you mention that people might not be a 'cultural fit,' that makes me crazy. For so many years, I used to do recruiting, so I spoke with a lot of people and tried to get a lot of people jobs. And I would hear sometimes, 'Well, I liked her, but she just wasn't a fit.' What does that mean?"
Just including "inclusion" in a list of culture-defining traits isn't enough, Harrison insists. "Even though they've defined it at Netflix, it doesn't take into account the cultural nuances that people bring to the table. They may communicate differently, they may think differently. It doesn't mean that they wouldn't do a phenomenal job, it's just that they don't fit the mold, however well defined that mold could be. I do think that inclusion--or having that inclusive behavior--is a huge part of what people should be doing. But you'd have to ask people for examples. Show me, dazzle me with your intuition. That would be interesting."
Why Hasn't the Equity Needle Moved?
20 years ago, Greene recalls, the FCC established the Advisory Committee on Diversity for Communications in the Digital Age, which had the stated purpose of making “recommendations to the FCC regarding policies and practices that will further enhance the ability of minorities and women to participate in telecommunications and related industries.” The committee held its last meeting in 2013.
"While it does seem like we've made some progress in the right direction towards equity," in the intervening two decades, she asks, "why haven't we moved the needle as we should, as much as we should?"
McCann's Beato argues that an inconsistent, piecemeal approach has generally hamstrung efforts to translate diversity initiatives into real progress toward equity.
"The approach to the work has not been as comprehensive or holistic as it needed to be," Beato says. "The leadership and the C-suite have not been as connected to the promise of the business case. It requires deliberate and consistent pushing and continuing to hold yourself and others accountable. People like to do some programs or they like to go to the HBCUs and say some things on a stage about how great their industry is and how great the people are and all those things. It makes them feel good. But that's the end of it. And there is nothing that enables a culture where people feel that they are more than welcome, but quite frankly, needed. [Where their peers are saying], 'We need that thing about you that's different than me. And I'm showing you, I'm saying it, and I'm demonstrating behaviors that will let you know that I absolutely want you to bring everything to the table that will make us both great.' That's why we're still here, because the critical elements of moving this work forward, we are just not on the whole consistent and deliberate about it over a prolonged period of time."
In a previous role where she was "pushing for diversity," Greene says, "I had a boss who said to me, 'Diversity is not your job.' And I said, 'You are wrong.'"
"Good for you! interjects Beato.
"I said, 'Diversity is everyone's job, and I'm going to continue doing it my way," Greene says. "And I think there are a lot of people out there like that, when they have a boss like that that says, 'It's not your problem. It's not your job,' they'll go, 'Oh, okay.' But it's not okay. It's all our jobs."
Equity Is Not Just About Numbers
From 2019-2023, Greene says, "I ran global education for Netflix all over the world, and I had just come into the company in August [2019], and in October we were doing a training in Colombia. And I looked at the trainers and I said, 'You have all male trainers, you need to find a female trainer.' And they looked at me like, 'Really?' And I said, 'Yeah, I don't care what you do. I don't care how you do it. Find a female trainer.' And I actually ended up going down to Colombia and the women in the audience came to me and said, 'I can't begin to tell you how much it meant to us, having somebody that looks like us training us.'
"So it's really not only about the numbers. It's about the perception and it's about the reality, and it's about, 'Do I see somebody that looks like me in a leadership position or a more senior position?' And it's all of our responsibility to make that happen."
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