Reed Hastings was born in Boston, Massachusetts.

His father Wilmot Reed Hastings Sr was

an attorney for the Department of Health Education and Welfare in the Nixon administration,
and his mother Joan Amory Loomis was a Boston debutante from a Social Register family.
He grew up in a wealthy family. He graduated in 1983 from Bowdoin College with a
Bachelor of Arts Degree in Mathematics. After college, Hastings enlisted in the Peace Corps,
he also taught high school math in Swaziland for two years. He then returned to the United
States and enrolled at Stanford University where he graduated with a master’s degree in
computer science. The Henry Crown Leadership Award was presented to Reed Hastings in
2014. Each year the award is given to an outstanding leader whose achievements reflect the
high standards of honour, integrity, industry, and philanthropy that characterized the life and
career of industrialist and philanthropist Henry Crown. Hastings joined a distinguished list of
Silicon Valley as a Joint Venture’s highest honour for the spirit of man and for improving
society’s needs.
Reed Hastings has his own specific way of leading the subordinates. He acts as a
transformational leader. In this way, Hastings creates opportunities for transformation. The
team behind House of Cards had time to develop the show for an American audience because
Netflix gives them significant control over what projects they commit to. In this way,
Hastings creates opportunities for transformation. Creating an open corporate culture where
employees are free to work independently on meaningful projects and question decisions
from leadership. Letting employees choose how they will get compensated for their work
(they can choose lower salaries with more stock options or higher salaries with fewer shares).