#730: Reed Hastings, Co-Founder of Netflix — How to Cultivate High Performance, The Art of Farming for Dissent, Favorite Failures, and More

Reed Hastings became executive chairman of Netflix in 2023, after 25 years as CEO. He co-founded Netflix in 1997. Reed is also a majority owner of Powder Mountain. He is currently on the board of several educational organizations including KIPP and Pahara. Timestamps for this episode are available below. Sponsors: AG1 all-in-one nutritional supplement: https://drinkag1.com/tim (1-year supply of Vitamin D (and 5 free AG1 travel packs) with your first subscription purchase.) Wealthfront high-yield savings account: https://wealthfront.com/tim (Start earning 5% interest on your savings. And when you open an account today, you’ll get an extra fifty-dollar bonus with a deposit of five hundred dollars or more.) Shopify global commerce platform, providing tools to start, grow, market, and manage a retail business: https://shopify.com/tim (one-dollar-per-month trial period) Timestamps: [00:00] Start [06:34] Alfred Lee Loomis and Tuxedo Park. [07:53] Risk tolerance: nature or nurture? [10:56] Cultivating culture that “eats strategy for lunch.” [15:41] The logic behind generous severance. [17:02] Adapting to Pure chaos. [18:44] Reference checking potential hires. [20:29] Context vs. control. [22:35] Radical candor. [24:15] Guardrails for maintaining work/life balance. [27:04] Farming for dissent. [28:39] Believing in the green crystals. [30:54] High-performance team, not family. [31:59] The keeper test. [32:49] Fire and replace, or replace and fire? [33:59] Beyond Entrepreneurship and other recommended reading/viewing. [37:46] A favorite failure. [40:32] Outstanding leaders. [41:10] Reed’s two “religions.” [42:19] Powder Mountain. [44:44] How Powder Mountain differs from Reed’s other projects. [46:24] Powder Mountain’s biggest challenges ahead. [47:02] Could Reed ever really retire? [47:19] Best investments of time, energy, or money. [48:49] How can we improve education in the US? [52:48] What class would Reed teach? [53:59] Juggling projects without losing focus. [55:04] Philanthropy: Why Africa? [55:32] Being “big-hearted champions who pick up the trash.” [56:28] Reed’s billboard. [58:01] Parting thoughts. * For show notes and past guests on The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast. For deals from sponsors of The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast-sponsors Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter (5-Bullet Friday) at tim.blog/friday. For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts. Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books. Follow Tim: Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss  Instagram: instagram.com/timferriss YouTube: youtube.com/timferriss Facebook: facebook.com/timferriss  LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/timferriss Past guests on The Tim Ferriss Show include Jerry Seinfeld, Hugh Jackman, Dr. Jane Goodall, LeBron James, Kevin Hart, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Jamie Foxx, Matthew McConaughey, Esther Perel, Elizabeth Gilbert, Terry Crews, Sia, Yuval Noah Harari, Malcolm Gladwell, Madeleine Albright, Cheryl Strayed, Jim Collins, Mary Karr, Maria Popova, Sam Harris, Michael Phelps, Bob Iger, Edward Norton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Neil Strauss, Ken Burns, Maria Sharapova, Marc Andreessen, Neil Gaiman, Neil de Grasse Tyson, Jocko Willink, Daniel Ek, Kelly Slater, Dr. Peter Attia, Seth Godin, Howard Marks, Dr. Brené Brown, Eric Schmidt, Michael Lewis, Joe Gebbia, Michael Pollan, Dr. Jordan Peterson, Vince Vaughn, Brian Koppelman, Ramit Sethi, Dax Shepard, Tony Robbins, Jim Dethmer, Dan Harris, Ray Dalio, Naval Ravikant, Vitalik Buterin, Elizabeth Lesser, Amanda Palmer, Katie Haun, Sir Richard Branson, Chuck Palahniuk, Arianna Huffington, Reid Hoffman, Bill Burr, Whitney Cummings, Rick Rubin, Dr. Vivek Murthy, Darren Aronofsky, Margaret Atwood, Mark Zuckerberg, Peter Thiel, Dr. Gabor Maté, Anne Lamott, Sarah Silverman, Dr. Andrew Huberman, and many more. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.