Policy in a Sentence: Why Complexity Is Actually Killing Your Business

Ever tried reading a standard employee handbook? It's brutal. Most corporate manifestos are buried under layers of "heretofore" and "pursuant to," making them essentially unreadable for the people they actually govern. That’s where the concept of policy in a sentence comes in. It sounds like a gimmick, right? It isn't. It’s a radical simplification of governance that high-performing organizations like Netflix and Nordstrom have used to dismantle bureaucracy.

Honestly, if you can't explain a rule in one sentence, you probably don't understand the goal of that rule. Or worse, you don't trust your team.

The Philosophy of Radical Clarity

Most companies write policies to protect themselves from the bottom 1% of workers. They create 50-page documents to prevent one person from stealing a stapler. But here’s the kicker: the person who wants to steal the stapler isn't reading the handbook anyway. You've just penalized the 99% of honest people by making their lives complicated.

Policy in a sentence shifts the burden from the rule-maker to the decision-maker. Take the famous Netflix travel policy. For years, it was famously just five words: "Act in Netflix’s best interests." That’s it.

Think about the implications of that.

It covers everything. Should you fly business class? Is it in the company's best interest? If you're flying 14 hours to a critical board meeting, maybe. If you're flying two hours for a casual coffee, probably not. It forces employees to use their brains instead of a flowchart.

📖 Related: TCPA Shadow Creek Ranch: What Homeowners and Marketers Keep Missing

Why our brains hate the "Fine Print"

Complexity creates a "check-the-box" culture. When a policy is dense, people look for loopholes. They ask, "Does the manual explicitly say I can't do this?" When you use a policy in a sentence, you remove the loopholes. You’re appealing to a person’s professional judgment.

Psychologically, we respond better to principles than to rigid constraints. This isn't just "kinda" true; it’s backed by decades of organizational behavior research. In the 1970s, researchers like Richard Hackman and Greg Oldham identified "autonomy" as a core pillar of job satisfaction. A one-sentence policy is the ultimate expression of autonomy.

Real Examples of the "One Sentence" Rule

It’s easy to talk about this in the abstract, but seeing it in the wild is different. These aren't just slogans; they are functional, legal, and operational frameworks.

• Nordstrom’s (Legendary) Employee Handbook: For decades, new hires were reportedly given a 5x8 card that said: "Use good judgment in all situations." There were no other rules. While they’ve added some legal boilerplate over the years to satisfy lawyers, that core sentence remains the heart of their culture.
• The "Front Page" Test: Many ethical policies are basically: "Don’t do anything you wouldn't want to see on the front page of the New York Times." It’s a perfect policy in a sentence because it’s an instant, intuitive filter for behavior.
• Google’s Early Motto: "Don't be evil." While it became a bit of a meme and was eventually tucked away in their code of conduct, for years it served as a high-level policy filter for product features.

The Risks Most People Get Wrong

You can’t just delete your handbook tomorrow and replace it with "Be cool." That’s a recipe for a lawsuit.

Implementing a policy in a sentence requires a massive amount of context. If you haven't defined what "best interests" means, you're setting people up to fail. This is where most managers mess up. They want the simplicity without the hard work of building a culture of high context.

👉 See also: Starting Pay for Target: What Most People Get Wrong

Context is the foundation.

If you tell an entry-level clerk to "use good judgment" but you've never shown them what good judgment looks like in your industry, you're being a bad boss. You have to spend more time talking to your team if you have fewer rules.

The Legal Elephant in the Room

Lawyers hate this. Let's be real. Their job is to mitigate every possible sliver of risk. A 30-page harassment policy is designed to win a court case, not to foster a respectful workplace.

The middle ground? Keep the legal "walls" in the background but lead with the policy in a sentence. You can have the dense legal text for the HR files, but the living policy—the one people actually talk about—should be the one-sentence version.

How to Rewrite Your Own Policies

If you're looking at a bloated document right now, don't panic. Start small. Look at your most ignored policy. Maybe it's the social media policy or the dress code.

✨ Don't miss: Why the Old Spice Deodorant Advert Still Wins Over a Decade Later

1. Identify the "Why." Why does this rule exist? Is it to save money? To protect the brand? To stay safe?
2. Strip the "How." Stop telling people exactly how to do it.
3. Write the sentence. "Dress appropriately for the clients you are meeting today." That’s a dress code.

You'll find that policy in a sentence actually makes people more accountable. When there’s a 100-page manual, an employee can say, "I didn't see that on page 84." When the policy is "Act in the company's best interest," there is nowhere to hide.

Does it work for everything?

No. Obviously.

Safety protocols in a nuclear power plant shouldn't be a one-liner. "Just don't let it melt down" is bad advice. For technical, high-stakes safety or compliance issues, you need the grit and the detail. But for 90% of business operations—culture, communication, travel, expenses, and general conduct—the one-sentence rule is king.

The Transition Phase

Moving to this model is scary. Your middle managers will freak out because they lose their "because the book says so" power. You’ll have to actually coach people.

But the payoff? Speed.

A company governed by policy in a sentence moves faster. There’s no waiting for HR approval on a $50 expense if the policy is "Spend company money as if it were your own." People just do the work. They feel trusted. And trusted people generally do better work.

Honestly, the biggest barrier isn't the law or the complexity of the business. It’s ego. Leaders feel more like "leaders" when they have a big book of rules to enforce. Letting go of that is the first step toward a more efficient organization.

Actionable Steps for Implementation

• Audit your "Why": Take your three most frequently referenced policies and write down the single goal of each. If you can't find one goal, the policy is likely redundant.
• The "Mom" Test: Explain the policy to someone outside your industry. If they roll their eyes or get confused by the jargon, the policy is failing.
• Lead with Principle: In your next team meeting, instead of citing a rule, cite the principle. Say, "We're doing this because it's the right thing for the customer," and see how the energy in the room shifts.
• Kill the "Heretofore": Use a readability tool like Hemingway or Grammarly. If your policy reads at a post-graduate level, rewrite it for a middle-schooler. Not because your employees are slow, but because they are busy.
• Iterate: You won't get the sentence right the first time. It took Netflix years to refine their culture deck. Start with a "draft" sentence and ask your team for feedback on whether it's clear enough to guide their daily choices.