4 ms·

Amazon uses leadership principles extensively internally when doing performance evaluations and promotions, and they are baked into nearly every decision, both

by cle 5y ago

Amazon uses leadership principles extensively internally when doing performance evaluations and promotions, and they are baked into nearly every decision, both product and technical. Of course much of this depends on one's interpretation of the principles, but they are definitely not "just nice PR".

stonogo 5y ago
Which leadership principle leads to inventory comingling and listing hijacks? Actually typing that makes it sound snarky, but it's a real question. These are real problems and I'm interested in the reason they aren't top priorities to end, despite all the trouble they've caused. I assume there's some value behind the decisions that are made, and I'm curious to know what that is.
- lolpython 5y ago
  If there's a flaw in the façade of a house, don't blame the foundation.
kesselvon 5y ago
Which leadership principles are about having their warehouse employees urinate in bottles?
- cle 5y ago
  I'd speculate that "customer obsession" and "insist on the highest standards" are used to justify many decisions that are hard on employees. Now there is a counterbalance to those.
  - northern-lights 5y ago
    It's always Deliver Results.
- pyuser583 5y ago
  Frugality.
quanticle 5y ago
The problem is that the leadership principles are sufficiently vague and contradictory, so like any good religious text, they can be used to justify anything by picking and choosing something that supports whatever it is you were going to do anyway. Want to take action? "Bias for action". Want to sit on a decision? "Dive deep". Want to cut costs? "Frugality". Want to invest more? "Think big". I agree, from my own time at Amazon, that leadership principles are baked into performance evaluations and promotion. The problem is that, rather than looking at the leadership principles to guide future actions, people take whatever it is they did over the past six months and stick leadership principle labels on those.

by cle 5y ago

stonogo 5y ago

Which leadership principle leads to inventory comingling and listing hijacks? Actually typing that makes it sound snarky, but it's a real question. These are real problems and I'm interested in the reason they aren't top priorities to end, despite all the trouble they've caused. I assume there's some value behind the decisions that are made, and I'm curious to know what that is.

lolpython 5y ago
If there's a flaw in the façade of a house, don't blame the foundation.

kesselvon 5y ago

Which leadership principles are about having their warehouse employees urinate in bottles?

cle 5y ago
I'd speculate that "customer obsession" and "insist on the highest standards" are used to justify many decisions that are hard on employees. Now there is a counterbalance to those.
- northern-lights 5y ago
  It's always Deliver Results.
pyuser583 5y ago
Frugality.

quanticle 5y ago

The problem is that the leadership principles are sufficiently vague and contradictory, so like any good religious text, they can be used to justify anything by picking and choosing something that supports whatever it is you were going to do anyway. Want to take action? "Bias for action". Want to sit on a decision? "Dive deep". Want to cut costs? "Frugality". Want to invest more? "Think big". I agree, from my own time at Amazon, that leadership principles are baked into performance evaluations and promotion. The problem is that, rather than looking at the leadership principles to guide future actions, people take whatever it is they did over the past six months and stick leadership principle labels on those.