As former vice president of corporate communications for Netflix, our guest Steve Swasey had a front-row seat to Netflix’s near-disastrous decision in 2011 to split its video streaming and DVD services. The backlash was swift and threatened to sink what, to that point, had been a highly successful company. In this episode, we talk about the missteps and miscalculations that led to that decision, the subsequent reversal of that decision, and, ultimately, the measures Netflix took to get back on track. Those measures largely reflect a set of principles Steve believes help businesses succeed over time. He calls it HIT (Humility, Integrity, and Trust) and has seen it work across multiple companies and industries. We also talk about the decades he’s spent counseling senior executives on ways to better connect with their employees, customers, investors, and the marketplace, as well as how to weather professional crises. Does he believe there are CEOs willing to follow the three principles he espouses in his HIT approach? The simple answer is yes. For the longer answer, we delve into what happens when they commit to that course of action and what happens when they don’t.

GUEST: Steve Swasey, career communicator (Netflix, Kabam, Oracle), writer, and video producer

GUEST BIO:
Steve Swasey is a longtime communications specialist who has helped companies large and small shape and share their corporate narrative. He is a senior communications adviser with the media company Red Ventures and is a mentor for Road to Hire, a program that connects underrepresented youths to high-earning careers through paid technical training and college access. From 2005 to 2012, he helmed corporate communications at Netflix, and provided guidance and communications expertise during the company's challenging transition to streaming services. He has worked with the mobile game developer Kabam, and earlier in his career held roles at Oracle’s PeopleSoft, Tri-Valley Growers, E&J Gallo Winery, and PR agency Ketchum.

LINKS:
No Rules Rules, by Netflix Chairman/CEO Reed Hastings and co-author Erin Meyer
Silicon Valley's Culture Clash, by Jonathan Knee, The New York Times

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Former Netflix Exec on Managing a Crisis ('HIT’ Can Help)