Our favourite quotes from “No Rules Rules” by Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer 

Tim Ryan teaches the Radical Candor feedback framework

NAIDOC Week 2025: A Leadership Opportunity for Australian Businesses

These quotes from _“No Rules Rules”_ are from co-authors Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and INSEAD professor Erin Meyer.

Ahead of Growth Faculty’s live virtual masterclass [Erin Meyer: Reinvent Your Organisational Culture](https://preprod.thegrowthfaculty.com/events/ReinventYourOrganisationalCulture/overview) on 6th August 2025, here is a taster of some of the best quotes from _“No Rules Rules.”_  Included are some great quotes on leadership, inspiring quotes on culture, and top quotes on innovation. We hope you enjoy these 71 quotes from _“No Rules Rules.”_

#### **The Netflix story**

_“Little by little, the world changed and our business stayed on its feet and grew and grew”_ – Reed Hastings

_“We had the one thing that Blockbuster did not: a culture that valued people over processs, emphasised innovation over efficiency, and had very few controls.”_ – Reed Hastings

> _“Netflix is different. We have a culture where No Rules Rules.”_ – Reed Hastings

_“One day someone comes along and connects the dots in a different way, which leads to an entirely different understanding of the world. That’s what happened at Netflix.”_ – Erin Meyer

Co-authors Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer

_“I’d wake up in the morning and couldn’t wait to get to the office.”_ – Reed Hastings (early 2000s)

_“Patty had put her finger on it. The entire office felt like it was filled with people who were madly in love with their work.”_ – Reed Hastings

> _“We learned that a company with really dense talent is a company everyone wants to work for.”_ – Reed Hastings

_“…a team with one or two merely adequate performers brings down the performance of everyone on the team.”_ – Reed Hastings

_**“When every member is excellent, performance spirals upward as employees learn from and motivate one another.”**_ – Reed Hastings

_“If you have adequate performers, it leads many who could be excellent to also perform adequately.”_ – Erin Meyer

_“A fast and innovative workplace is made up of what we call ‘stunning employees’ – highly talented people, of diverse backgrounds and perspective, who are exceptionally creative, accomplish significant amounts of important work, and collaborate effectively.”_ – Reed Hastings

Talent density

_“I saw that openly voicing opinions and feedback, instead of whispering behind one another’s backs, reduced the backstabbing and politics and allowed us to be faster”_ – Reed Hastings

> _“When giving and receiving feedback is common, people learn faster and are more effective at work.”_ – Reed Hastings

_“At Netflix, it’s tantamount to being disloyal to the company if you fail to speak up when you disagree with a colleague or have feedback that could be helpful.”_ – Erin Meyer

_“It’s stressful and unpleasant to hear what we are doing poorly, but after the initial stress, that feedback really helps.”_ – Erin Meyer

_**“The goal at Netflix is to help each other succeed, even it that means feelings occasionally get hurt.”**_ – Reed Hastings

_“You must show the employee that it’s safe to give feedback by responding to all criticism with gratitude and, above all, by providing ‘belonging cues’.”_ – Reed Hastings

> “If you are promoting a culture of candor on your team, you have to get rid of the jerks.” – Reed Hastings

Feedback and candour

_“Time off provides mental bandwidth that allows you to think creatively and see your work in a different light.”_ – Reed Hastings

_**“The behaviour of the boss is so influential that it can even wipe out national cultural norms.”**_ – Erin Meyer

> “If you want to remove the vacation policy in your organisation, lead by example.” – Reed Hastings

_“Giving employees more freedom led them to take more ownership and behave more responsibly.”_ – Reed Hastings

Removing controls - holidays

_“Today the entirety of the spending and travel guideline still consists of these five simple words: ‘Act in Netflix’s best interest.’”_ – Reed Hastings

_“The organisation with the policy is not necessarily the one saving money.”_ – Erin Meyer

Removing controls – travel and expense approvals

_“The high talent density at Netflix is the engine that drives Netflix success.”_ – Erin Meyer

> _“We’d be relying on one tremendous person to do the work of many. But we’d pay tremendously.”_ – Reed Hastings

_**“Big salaries, not merit bonuses, are good for innovation.”**_ – Reed Hastings 

_“People are most creative when they have a big enough salary to remove some of the stress from home.”_ – Reed Hastings

_“To retain your top employees, it’s always better to give them a raise before they get the offers \[from other firms\].”_ – Erin Meyer

Pay top of personal market

_“There is no better way to build trust quickly that to shine a light directly on a would-be secret.”_ – Erin Meyer

_“…I don’t have my own office or even a cubicle with drawers that close.”_ – Reed Hastings

_“Any locked area is symbolic of hidden things and signifies we don’t trust one another.” –_ Reed Hastings

_“When you give low-level employees access to information that is generally reserved for high-level executives, they get more done on their own.”_ – Reed Hastings

> **“For our employees, transparency has become the biggest symbol of how much we trust them to act responsibly.”**\- Reed Hastings

> _“Almost daily a new employee expresses to me how astounded he is by the transparency at Netflix. This gives me great joy.”_ – Reed Hastings

_“When one employee abuses your trust, deal with the individual case and double your commitment to continue transparency with the others.”_ – Reed Hastings

_“Spinning the truth is one of the common ways leaders erode trust.”_ – Reed Hastings

_**“Every time I feel I’ve made a mistake, I talk about it fully, publicly, and frequently.”**_ – Reed Hastings

Open the books

_“At Netflix, we emphasise that it’s fine to disagree with your manager and to implement an idea she dislikes.” – Reed Hastings_

> _“At Netflix, we strive to develop good decision-making muscles everywhere in our company.”_ – Reed Hastings

_“Reed believes so deeply in dispersed decision-making that, by his model, only a CEO who is not busy is really doing his job.”_ – Erin Meyer

_**“People desire and thrive on jobs that give them control over their own decisions.”**_ – Erin Meyer

_“When the boss steps out of the role of ‘decision approver,’ the entire business speeds up an innovation increases.”_ – Reed Hastings

_“Our big threat in the long run is not making a mistake, its lack of innovation.”_ – Reed Hastings

_“If you hope for more innovation on your team, teach employees to seek ways to move the business forward, not ways to please their bosses.”_ – Reed Hastings

_“The more you actively farm for dissent, and the more you encourage a culture of expressing disagreement openly, the better the decisions that will be made in your company.”_ – Reed Hastings

> "Farm for dissent. Socialise the idea. Test it out.” – Reed Hastings

**“When you read about Freedom and Responsibility at Netflix it’s easy to get lost in the lovely idea of Freedom without properly considering the accompanying weight of Responsibility.”** – Erin Meyer

_“Often a failed project is a critical step in getting to success.”_ – Reed Hastings

_“When a bet fails, the manager must be careful to express interest in the takeaways but no condemnation.”_ – Erin Meyer

No decision-making approvals needed

**The Netflix Keeper Test:** _If a person on your team were to quit tomorrow, would you try to change their mind? Or would you accept their resignation, perhaps with a little relief? If the latter you should give them a severance package now, and look for a start, someone you would fight to keep._

**“If you’re serious about talent density, you have to get in the habit of doing something a lot harder: firing a good employee when you think you can get a great one.”** – Reed Hastings

_“The Keeper Test has helped to elevate the talent density at Netflix to a level rarely seen in other organisations.”_ – Reed Hastings

_“..a high-talent-density work environment is not a family.”_ – Reed Hastings

_“A job should be something you do for that magical period of time when you are the best person for that job and that job is the best position for you.”_ – Reed Hastings

> “A professional sports team is a good metaphor for high talent density.” – Reed Hastings

_“I find it motivating that I have to play for my position every quarter, and I try to keep improving myself to stay ahead.”_ – Reed Hastings

_“We give everyone we dismiss a big severance…. That’s why we say ‘Adequate performance gets a generous severance.’”_ – Reed Hastings

_“Reed doesn’t pay much attention to turnover rate, believing that replacement costs are not as important as ensuring the right person is in every position.”_ – Erin Meyer (She notes that annual turnover at Netflix is about average for the sector)

The Keeper Test 

_“Candor is like going to the dentist. Even if you encourage everyone to brush daily, some won’t do it.”_ – Reed Hastings

“_..you as a leader need to share your 360 evaluations with your teams, especially the really candid stuff about all the things you do poorly.”_ – Reed Hastings

_“Live 360s work because of our high talent density and ‘no brilliant jerks’ policy.”_ – Reed Hastings

_**“If you’re serious about candor at some point, you do need to implement mechanisms to assure candor happens.”**_ – Erin Meyer

A circle of feedback

_“The first question you need to answer when choosing whether to lead with context or control is, ‘What is the level of talent density of my staff?’”_ – Erin Meyer

_“Control mechanisms are a necessity when you’re trying to run a dangerous operation profitably with as few accidents as possible.”_ – Erin Meyer

> _“At Netflix just about every manager, at every level, has to learn how to lead with context on entering the company.”_ – Reed Hastings

_“Instead of seeking to minimize error through oversight or process, focus on setting clear context, building alignment of the North Star between boss and team, and giving the informed captain the freedom to decide.”_ – Reed Hastings

Lead with context not control

_“Using Erin’s Country Mapping tool we compared our Netfix culture map to that of each of the countries where our regional hubs were located.”_ – Reed Hastings

_“Employees in different parts of the world are conditioned to give feedback in dramatically different ways.”_ – Erin Meyer

_**“The overarching lesson we’ve learned is that – no matter where you come from – when it comes to working across cultural differences, talk, talk, talk.”**_ – Reed Hastings

**Final words**

_“Culture isn’t something you can build up and then ignore. At Netflix we are constantly debating our culture and expecting it will continually evolve. To build a team that is innovative, fast, and flexible, keep things a little bit loose.” –_ Reed Hastings

Taking the Netflix culture global 

Want to keep up with the latest ideas and thinking from the brightest minds in the world?

Download our [2025 Program.](https://ideas.growthfaculty.com/l/1071223/2024-06-12/5q9w34) Growth Faculty’s live virtual learning sessions feature some of the world's most influential thought leaders in business and leadership, many of them focusing on AI, change leadership, and adaptable leadership.

Events are added regularly, so keep up to date by signing up for [our newsletter](https://ideas.growthfaculty.com/l/1071223/2024-07-24/5qfgl1) and see the benefits of [Growth Faculty membership](https://join.thegrowthfaculty.com/#plans). For company packages, speak to us about [Growth Faculty's Business Solutions](https://thegrowthfaculty.com/#plans).

Our favourite quotes from “No Rules Rules” by Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer

Inspiring quotes from the book that goes inside Netflix’s unique culture

Keep informed
Stay Inspired

Our favourite quotes from “No Rules Rules” by Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer

Inspiring quotes from the book that goes inside Netflix’s unique culture

Keep informedStay Inspired

Keep informed
Stay Inspired