By Jon Hicks, Senior Counsel, Employment Law at Netflix, ALF Senior Fellow, Class XXXI––
Last week, Netflix announced its big idea to attack systemic wealth inequality by moving 2% of its cash holdings — $100 million — to financial institutions that directly invest in Black communities. Aaron Mitchell (Netflix’s Director of Recruiting) discovered this idea while hosting a diversity recruitment dinner for Black executives. Robert F. Smith (the richest Black person in America) recently spoke about a similar idea, a charity-focused 2% Solution for banks, at the Forbes 400 Summit on Philanthropy. Regardless of where the conversation started, Netflix seems to be the first company to put this idea into action. And, candidly, I am not surprised.
Netflix is a unique and endearing place, in part, because of its culture of listening and empowering. Our Culture Memo is pretty clear about it. It reads: “We believe that people thrive on being trusted, on freedom, and on being able to make a difference. So we foster freedom and empowerment wherever we can.”
Aaron’s journey to implement this big idea is Netflix Culture in practice. I’ll explain. After discovering the idea at the roundtable, Aaron emailed our Chief Financial Officer, Spencer Newman, and Spence listened. Spence liked Aaron’s proposal, so Spence then empowered Aaron to look deeper into this idea. From there, Aaron, partnered with our Finance & Tax teams, did tons of research (including reading the Color of Money) and championed the idea until it was a reality.
Along the way, folks were skeptical but not resistant to this idea. Aaron needed to prove that his idea is right for Netflix, but his colleagues didn’t ask questions to stymie his efforts. Folks asked questions seeking to understand how Aaron’s idea might work. Their questions made his idea better, more effective, and aligned with Netfilix’s goals. Said differently, they genuinely and actively listened. All told, this journey took a little over 2 months. 10 weeks!!
Now, as amazing as Aaron’s journey is, at Netflix, it’s not unique. So many of my stunning colleagues have done amazing things that illustrate the beauty and value of listening to the often unheard voice. For example, look at our “Strong Black Leads” campaign; our cease and desist letter to an anti-LGBTQ non-profit that read “our legal department is here, it’s queer, and we are telling you to steer clear!”; our Legal Lab intended to diversify the pool of production lawyers in Hollywood; our social media post that announced “to be silent is to be complicit. Black Lives Matter.”; our powerful team of female leaders finding and empowering women in Hollywood; and our campaign supporting African filmmakers telling African stories to the World. I could go on and on.
This is a historic moment for our Nation, and I am optimistic about Netflix’s influence on the Moral Arc. Our CEO personally gave $120 million to two historically black colleges and the UNCF. We invested $100 million into black-owned banks. And we hired a Black woman and self-proclaimed “badass” (Bozoma St. John) to be our Chief Marketing Officer. Like many companies, we have plenty of room for improvement when it comes to diversity and inclusion.
But, from what I’ve seen, Netflix is going in the right direction. We tend to put money and effort where our heart is and, instead of focusing on programs and initiatives as the remedy for inclusion, we listen to our employees and then give them the power and freedom to pursue their good — and sometimes big — ideas.
Jon Hicks is employment law counsel for Netflix primarily focused on domestic advice and counsel and litigation. Jon graduated with honors from University of California, Berkeley with a B.A. in political science; and the University of Southern California, Gould School of Law.
