Lessons from Netflix’s culture crisis, the secret to saucy headlines, and more

Warm greetings and salutations, communication pros.

Let’s explore some notable stories from Oct. 18-22, 2021—and extract a few useful comms nuggets along the way.

Onward!

1. Lessons from Netflix’s Dave Chappelle fallout.

What can be learned from the uproar that continues to roil the streaming giant, which led to an employee walkout this week? According to CNN, this is a crisis of the company’s own making.

As CBS News reports, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos admitted as much, conveying that he bungled the controversy “by not communicating better with his employees and detractors.” He went further, saying:

“Obviously, I screwed up that internal communication. I did that, and I screwed it up in two ways. First and foremost, I should have led with a lot more humanity. Meaning, I had a group of employees who were definitely feeling pain and hurt from a decision we made. And I think that needs to be acknowledged up front before you get into the nuts and bolts of anything. I didn’t do that.”