“Powerful” by Patty McCord, is unlike any of the vanilla-flavored business books that I have recently read. Every chapter contains counter-intuitive and unorthodox advice on how to build successful teams, based on the author’s experience at Netflix. While not a comprehensive summary or book review, here are some lessons that I got from it and some of the memorable quotes that stuck to my mind:

• People don’t want to be entertained at work, they want to learn
• Practice radical honesty: honesty is much more efficient than politics or backstabbing
• Start having sessions between executives called “Start, Stop, Continue.” Each member of the executive team tells another member what he/she should start doing, stop doing, and continue doing, on a regular basis.
• Always share bad news and challenges with all employees because half-truths lead to cynicism.
• Instead of anonymous employee surveys, go talk to employees face-to-face and ask them what they think
• Encourage vigorous debates based on facts and teach people to ask each other when debating: “Can you help me understand what leads you to believe that this is true/false?”
• Stage periodic debates between executives on stage in front of employees- this is much more effective than sending them to conflict resolution seminars.
• Business teams are not like families- they are like sports teams: you need to constantly scout new players and get rid of under-performing ones. (For all those people who pretend that businesses are like families, ask them ‘when was the last time you laid off a family member?’)
• You don’t owe your employees any career promotion or development. They should do that on their own.
• Retention is not necessarily a good metric by which to judge team building success. Instead you should measure how many great people you have with the right skills and experience you need.
• Pay people according to how valuable they are for you, not according to their market value. If you can’t hire star players for all positions, at least hire them for business-critical positions and pay them top dollars.
• Instead of annual performance reviews, do reviews frequently and informally (like in hockey where the coach does them every ten games).

Some memorable quotes:

“A company’s job isn’t to empower people; it’s to remind people that they walk in the door with power and to create the conditions for them to exercise it. Do that and you will be astonished by the great work they will do for you.” p. xvii

“Great teams are not created with incentives, procedures and perks. They are created by hiring talented people who are adults and want nothing more than to tackle a challenge, and then communicating to them, clearly and continuously, about what the challenge is.”

“One of the great dangers in business is people who are great at winning an argument due to the powers of persuasion rather than the merits of their case.”

“People’s happiness in their work is not about gourmet salads or sleeping pods or Foosball tables. True and abiding happiness in work comes from being deeply engaged in solving a problem with talented people you know are also deeply engaged in solving it, and from knowing that the customer loves the product or service you all have worked so hard to make.”

“In my experience, if you focus intently on hiring the best people you can find and pay top dollar, you will almost always find that they make up much more in business growth than the difference in compensation.”

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Dr. Amer Kaissi is a Professional Speaker, Executive Coach and an expert on Leadership, Humility & Ambition, Assuming Positive Intent, Psychological Safety & Accountability, Growth Mindsets & Resilience.