1. On internal sexual harassment and subsequent firings, see O. Solon, “Uber Fires More Than 20 Employees After Sexual Harassment Investigation,” The Guardian, June 6, 2017, www.theguardian.com. On CEO Travis Kalanick’s resignation, see M. Balachandran, “A Timeline of Events That Led to the Downfall of Travis Kalanick at Uber,” Quartz India, June 21, 2017, qz.com; on Uber’s policies, see S.A. O’Brien, N. Black, C. Devine, et al., “103 Uber Drivers Accused of Sexual Assault or Abuse,” CNN Business, April 30, 2018, http://money.cnn.com; and S.A. O’Brien, “Uber Will No Longer Force Victims of Sexual Assault Into Arbitration,” CNN Business, May 15, 2018, http://money.cnn.com.
2. Source: author interviews with Electrolux executives. Vignette approved by company.
3. Netflix has adjusted this over the years. For the original deck, see “Freedom & Responsibility Culture (Version 1),” Netflix, 2009, www.slideshare.net; for an updated version of the company’s culture code, see “Netflix Culture,” accessed March 29, 2019, http://jobs.netflix.com.
4. D. Shah, “The HubSpot Culture Code: Creating a Company We Love,” July 15, 2018, http://blog.hubspot.com.
5. In 2015, a New York Times profile of Amazon’s high-pressure work culture drew wide attention as well as pushback from CEO Jeff Bezos and some employees. Since then, the company has explored alternatives to its traditional full-time work schedule, such as shorter workweeks and flextime, and expanded its parental leave options. See, for instance, A. Bhattacharya, “Amazon, Known for Its Soul-Crushing Work Culture, Is Testing a 30-Hour Workweek,” Quartz, Aug. 29, 2016, http://qz.com; and S. Winter, “Two Years In, Our Parental Leave Policy Is Working for Parents,” Aug. 21, 2017, http://blog.aboutamazon.com.
6. S. Wojcicki, “Paid Maternity Leave Is Good for Business,” The Wall Street Journal, Dec. 16, 2014.
7. D. Lyons, “Congratulations! You’ve Been Fired,” The New York Times, April 9, 2016.
8. D. Shah, “How We Fixed a Critical Bug in HubSpot’s Culture Code,” Feb. 15, 2018, www.hubspot.com.
9. Balachandran, “A Timeline of Events.”
10. Laszlo Bock, then Google’s senior vice president of people operations, discussed the company’s approach to performance tracking in L. Bock, Work Rules!: Insights From Inside Google That Will Transform How You Live and Lead (New York: Twelve, 2015).
11. D. Gledhill, “Executing the Digital Strategy” (presentation at the DBS Digital Transformation Investor Day, Singapore, Nov. 17, 2017).
12. Vignette developed from author interviews and external sources and approved by DBS executives.
13. Gledhill, “Executing the Digital Strategy.”
14. Source: author interviews with executives at each company.
15. Since becoming CEO, Satya Nadella has spoken extensively about these two types in discussions of the kind of culture he’s trying to build at Microsoft. He credits Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck for identifying them and for the insight that the “learn-it-all” will do better even if the know-it-all starts with more capability; see C.S. Dweck, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, updated ed. (New York: Ballantine, 2007).
16. G. Westerman, D. Bonnet, and A. McAfee, Leading Digital: Turning Technology Into Digital Transformation (Boston: Harvard Business Review Press, 2014); and C. Stanway-Williams, “How Lloyds Are Embracing the Digital Age,” April 9, 2018, http://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com.
17. Source: author visit to Luculent headquarters, 2018.
