On her fast career progression

I'm very dedicated to the work and to the teams I'm part of. It's been part of who I am for a long time that I give everything I've got to the job that I'm in and I think that dedication and the joy out of that has mattered.

Elizabeth Stone

Observe and learn from others

In each of my roles I have tried really hard to watch what other people are doing and think about how I could learn something from them.

Elizabeth Stone

Illustrating dedication

Could you give a couple of examples that illustrate your dedication, is it working long hours?

Lenny

The dedication piece really isn't about long working hours it's more about how much I care about excellence

Elizabeth Stone

High standards

I hold myself to a very high standard. As I've gotten more senior in roles there can be an expectation that it's okay for other people to wait on me. I really try to avoid that which means that if someone sends me something I try to be very responsive about it, if I know that I said I'm going to do something I follow through on it.

Elizabeth Stone

The last 5%

My mother used to describe to me when I was younger that the last 5% is the 5% that really mattered and so it it is that framing of the thing the extra effort you put into something to make it world class or to make it excellent and so I do like to push myself that way.

Elizabeth Stone

Getting in the trenches

Elizabeth also shares a story about how if a document isn't that great, that she like's going in to the document with her team members and help making it better, essentially it's about leading by example.

Excellence is pragmatic

Also keeping this really high bar and high expectations it truly is not about time, I even found myself in a meeting earlier today saying if we're clear on the objectives of something it might be that the last 20% of polish on the document is a really bad use of time.

Elizabeth Stone

Talent Density

From the outset, Netflix was founded on the belief that a different approach to building a company could create a place where people thrived and loved being. The focus was on quality, talent density, and most importantly, excellence and outcomes. This approach has provided a sense of fulfillment and has been deeply rooted at Netflix since its early days.

Elizabeth Stone

On High Standards

At Netflix, no one arrives as a perfect human being or remains perfect throughout their time with the company. We all have areas where we can grow and improve. To maintain high standards, we must be willing to have uncomfortable conversations, exhibiting an uncomfortable level of candor and feedback to keep that bar high.

Elizabeth Stone

The Keeper Test

Part of best practice is to get to a point where you could make that decision, and that's where we refer to the keeper test, which is really just a mental framing to make sure we hold ourselves accountable. If this person on my team came to me and said, 'I'm leaving today; I have a different opportunity, and I would like to take it,' would I do everything I could to keep them at Netflix? If not, then I should be having that tough conversation about whether you should really be here, or if you're in the right role. If I might be a little relieved if you said you were leaving, then it's a useful test. No one wants to think that way; it's very hard to say to someone, 'I think this isn't the right fit.'

Elizabeth Stone

On Hiring Exceptional Talent

So the advice there essentially is, don't look for someone who's just simply great. Look for someone that raises the bar for the whole team and brings in a whole new perspective.

Elizabeth Stone

The best like working with the best

The best people want to work with the best people. As soon as there's one person who isn't a good fit and the company allows it, it brings everyone down, because they think, 'Hey, we can coast, and no one is going to do anything about it.' When you make it clear that you only want the best, only hire the best, and only keep the best, it keeps the best people around.

Elizabeth Stone

Bottom up ideas and innovation

I'll speak to my own team. Innovations in our content delivery network, innovations in encoding, or innovations in discovery and personalization were not driven by some leader saying, 'I think this is a priority.' They were driven in many cases by individual contributors who had great ideas for innovation. A lot of the things that Netflix has succeeded in came from creating space for people on the team.

Elizabeth Stone

What stood out to me

• The methodical way she spoke was interesting. She is the first female CTO with a PHD in economics of a fortune 500 company.
• The call to excellence was interesting and the discussions around what having a high talent density pool means.
• I did like the personal call to excellence and also just being thorough, following through and getting down into the trenches to help people.