Netflix Cofounder Reed Hastings Learned An Unconventional Leadership Lesson From His First Boss, Who Washed Office Coffee Cups At 4:30 A.M.

Billionaire Netflix cofounder Reed Hastings learned an important leadership lesson in his first job out of graduate school. He was working as a programmer in a 30-person startup called Coherent Thought. At the time, Hastings was 28 years old, writing code every day and drinking lots of coffee to work through the night as he completed assignments. 

“My coffee cups would pile up,” he recently explained on an episode of the show In Depth With Graham Bensinger. “And every week or so the janitor would clean them all, and I’d have 20 new cups, and the cycle would go on.”

However, about a year into this cycle, he discovered that the janitor wasn’t cleaning his mountain of coffee cups — it was actually the company’s CEO, Barry Plotkin. 

“One morning I came in very early to the office [at] like 4:30 [a.m.], and I went into the bathroom, and there was my CEO — and he’s washing coffee cups,” Hastings said. “And I was like, ‘Barry, are you washing my coffee cups?’ And he said, ‘Yes.’ I said, ‘Have you been doing that all year?’ “He said ‘Yes.’ And I’m like, ‘Why?’ And he said, ‘Well, you do so much for us, and this is the one thing I can do for you.’”

Hastings said the interaction made such an impression on him that later on in his career, he himself tried to “connect with people through humility” by making cups of coffee for visitors to the Netflix office. Plotkin’s leadership style meant that his staff would “follow him anywhere,” Hastings said, even though the company eventually went bankrupt because no one was willing to buy its product. 

“I realized, wow, you not only have to be like this servant leader, you also have to be this strategy person,” Hastings said. 

Hastings cofounded Netflix with Marc Randolph in 1997 after being charged a late fee for a movie rental. Originally a DVD-by-mail rental service, Netflix launched its website in 1998 and transitioned to a subscription model in 1999 and to streaming in 2007. 

Hastings stepped down as Netflix co-CEO in 2023, moving to the role of executive chairman after 25 years at the helm. As of January, Netflix had 325 million subscribers. 

Coffee cup test in interviews

While Hastings may not have had to wash his own coffee mugs, another startup CEO evaluates job candidates based on whether they bring their cups back to the kitchen to wash them. 

Trent Innes, chief growth officer at hotel commerce platform SiteMinder, told The Ventures podcast last year that he makes it a habit to bring job seekers to the office kitchen for a beverage when they first arrive at the office. The candidate then brings the drink into the interview. 

When the interview ends, the real test begins. Innes looks to see if the candidate wants to bring their empty cup back to the kitchen. If they leave their cup behind and don’t offer to take it back or wash it, they have failed the test — Innes does not hire them, no matter how well they did in the interview. He says the attitude he wants from new hires is “wash your own coffee cup.”