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When I think of culture-shifting moments in tech over the last fifteen years, it’s hard to understate the impact that Netflix’s infamous 2009 culture deck had on the way we hire, fire, lead, and motivate teams. The deck captured a “work benefit” that showed up on every job post in short order: working with smart colleagues.

I’ve spent time on large teams filled with whip-smart folks, working on smaller startup teams, and as an entrepreneur often working alone, and I can attest to this. The opportunity to absorb some of my colleagues’ brilliance makes a huge difference in my performance.

Sharing knowledge with each other at work is a gift to both the learner and the teacher. Naturally, the learner earns a new skill or depth of understanding. The teacher, though, also wins: putting yourself in a beginner’s shoes and distilling your knowledge into easy-to-understand insights is the best way to become an expert yourself.

The biggest winner of a really well-organized internal learning system, of course, is the organization itself. Interestingly, I haven’t seen many companies leaning into employee-led learning beyond for onboarding and training purposes. Outside of an occasional offsite presentation or an ad hoc 1-1 session on a topic, how do you learn from your colleagues?

Happy weekend,

Raman at Rhetoric

📚 What’s made me a better storyteller this week