I’m sitting in Dallas, TX, preparing to attend a few days of the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting. On the flight from Springfield (MO) to here, I finished Powerful: Building a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility by Patty McCord, who served for fourteen years as the Chief Talent Officer at Netflix. She is also the co-creator of Netflix Culture Deck.

The book is relatively short (about 150 pages) and includes summaries after each chapter and questions to consider based on that chapter’s content. It is filled with real-life stories and practical examples of the points being made throughout.

The book is divided into eight chapters (plus an Introduction and Conclusion). The eight chapters unpack the behaviors that mark the working culture at Netflix and, according to McCord, are worth implementing into your business practices.

1. The Greatest Motivation is Contributing to Success: Treat People like Adults
2. Every Single Employee Should Understand the Business: Communicate Constantly About the Challenge
3. Humans Hate Being Lied To and Being Spun: Practice Radical Honesty
4. Debate Vigorously: Cultivate Strong Opinions and Argue About Them
5. Build the Company Now That You Want to Be Then: Relentlessly Focus on the Future
6. Someone Really Smart in Every Job: Have the Right Person in Every Single Position
7. Pay People What They’re Worth to You: Compensation is a Judgment Call
8. The Art of Good-byes: Make Needed Changes Fast, and Be a Great Place to Be From

The book was an enjoyable read, and there were several takeaways for leaders that are exciting to think about implementing. Yet, McCord is clear that if you adopt any of these, you should make sure to pursue implementation wisely and incrementally.

I wrote down short statements to capture what I thought was the thrust of each chapter. I’ll leave you with them here:

1. Hire great people and let them do their work.
2. Does everyone know what we are doing and why?
3. Tell each other the truth.
4. Show genuine interest, ask hard questions, and dig into each other’s business (ask the “why”?)
5. Where are we going as an institution?
6. Top talent!
7. Fewer people, better pay, perhaps.
8. Move people along with kindness.

The book is highly recommended.