Lead By Context, Not Control
Reed Hastings of Netflix used to spend 25% of his time (!) meeting individually with about a 1.000 managers.
Why? To clarify context:
• Listen to understand where misalignment occurs
• Share strategic context (on the spot & with rest of leadership)
750 hours of one-on-ones each year.
That’s how important it is to the CEO of Netflix that managers “Lead by Context, not Control” – as they call it.
When we Lead by Context, not Control:
• We don’t push people into compliance
• We don’t rely on authority or “because I said so”
• We don’t use sophisticated incentive schemes
Instead, we create better understanding of the bigger picture, so team members:
• Are more motivated to execute
• Make fewer mistakes due to misinterpretation
• Spontaneously initiate actions that help the company
How to lead by context:
1️⃣ Why → How → What
Start with the purpose, explain sometimes how, and only rarely dictate what.
2️⃣ Clarify the Company Compass
First clarify it verbally with a few colleagues. Then codify and share it widely.
3️⃣ Context for every decision
Explain how each choice fits the bigger picture, rather than posting vision & values on walls.
4️⃣ Coach, don’t solve
When someone brings a problem, share relevant context and ask: “Given this context, what would you do?”
5️⃣ Reflect on failures
When something goes wrong, ask yourself: “Which context did I fail to set?“
6️⃣ Repeat relentlessly
The signal gets lost in all the noise. Bring context up in meetings, one-on-ones, and when discussing numbers or projects.
7️⃣ Prioritize ruthlessly
Ask: “What’s the one thing that’s most important right now?” Focus on that.
Control is good for error-prevention.
Context is required for distributed intelligence.
Control optimizes the parts.
Context optimizes the whole.
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