Forget radical honesty — Big Tech revisits its corporate culture

Tech bosses love to talk about the philosophies that underpin their companies. In place of stodgy HR rules, Silicon Valley has championed radical candour, bringing your whole self to work and leaning in. But not any more. As the sector ages, markers of traditional hierarchy are creeping in. Netflix’s latest culture memo has an eye-catching line that notes “not all opinions are equal”. It has already told employees that Netflix may not be the place for them if they disagree with content. Three years ago, some staged a walkout in protest at a comedy special by Dave Chappelle that included jokes made at the expense of transgender women. You can see why employees might have felt comfortable expressing their opinions. In 2009, founder and then chief executive Reed Hastings produced the company’s first culture memo, a 125 page PowerPoint presentation now famous in tech circles, that explained the qualities he wanted to see in the workforce. On page 15, he described courage as the ability to

Tech bosses love to talk about the philosophies that underpin their companies. In place of stodgy HR rules, Silicon Valley has championed radical candour, bringing your whole self to work and leaning in. But not any more. As the sector ages, markers of traditional hierarchy are creeping in. Netflix’s latest culture memo has an eye-catching line that notes “not all opinions are equal”. It has already told employees that Netflix may not be the place for them if they disagree with content. Three years ago, some staged a walkout in protest at a comedy special by Dave Chappelle that included jokes