Elizabeth Stone
Chief Technology Officer at Netflix
CTO of Netflix and likely the first economist to hold that role at a Fortune 500 company, previously VP of Data and Insights at Netflix, VP of Science at Lyft, and COO at Nuna.
Dimension Profile
Key Themes
Episode Summary
Elizabeth Stone, Netflix's CTO and a trained economist, shares the inner workings of Netflix's culture of high talent density, radical candor, and the keeper test. She reveals how her economics background provides unique advantages in understanding incentives and unintended consequences, and shares her framework for developing excellence in teams: set clear expectations, give specific feedback, and help fill the gap. The conversation covers Netflix's approach to hiring, their lack of traditional performance reviews in favor of continuous feedback, and how they maintain a culture of excellence at scale.
Leadership Principles
- → The last 5% is the 5% that really matters — hold yourself and your team to a world-class standard
- → High talent density is the prerequisite for all other cultural values including candor, freedom, and responsibility
- → Dedication isn't about working long hours — it's about holding yourself to a high standard and never making people wait on you
Notable Quotes
"We can't really have any of the other aspects of the culture, including candor, learning, seeking excellence, freedom and responsibility if you don't start with high talent density."
— On why talent density is the foundation of Netflix's entire culture
"My mother used to describe that the last 5% is the 5% that really mattered."
— On her personal standard for excellence that she brings to her leadership
"If this person came to me and said, 'I'm leaving today,' would I do everything I could to keep them? If not, then I should be having that tough conversation."
— Explaining the Netflix keeper test for maintaining high performance
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