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Amazon's Leadership Principles

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Re: Amazon's Leadership Principles

#121

Post by AdamN »

ACow_Adonis wrote: post #80
Bahamut wrote: post #36

Some of these are contradictory - in addition, some of these aren't really even leadership principles of much merit outside the company they're created for. Here is an example of a proven set of leadership principles that is a worthwhile read: http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/usmc/leadership.htm . Someone who can embody all of these principles that the Marine Corps espouses is someone I can respect immensely regar…

I felt compelled to write a response. I didn't know what to expect seeing that it was a link to the Marine Corps... But essentially, I agree. The examples in that link are about as close as you can get to some actual generally inspiring leadership principals. The amazon leadership principals, by contrast, look and sound like empty corporate marketing fluff. By comparison, far from being something that makes them stan…

The USMC have had a few more years to work their principles out.

Re: Amazon's Leadership Principles

#122

Post by golergka »

rodionos wrote: post #82
golergka wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't quite understand - what is it about financial gain that makes it incompatible with principles?

Principles is something that you keep regardless if there is money on the table. If money plays any role in the decision process - it's called a contract.

Strange. What if the logic of the principle directly involves money?

Re: Amazon's Leadership Principles

#123

Post by ckozlowski »

rodionos wrote: post #82
golergka wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't quite understand - what is it about financial gain that makes it incompatible with principles?

Principles is something that you keep regardless if there is money on the table. If money plays any role in the decision process - it's called a contract.

I think a bit of that still holds true. Jeff has said repeatedly (most famously in the 1997 shareholder letter) that we will sacrifice short-term profits for long-term gain. And with that there's been many instance in just the time I've been here where we're practically begging the customer to do things that will save them money because it's the right thing to do. It builds trust.

Of course we think we're earn more money over the long run doing things this way. This is, after all, a business. But it's been a refreshing change of pace in that I don't hear any worry about that long term. It has always been, even in sales, "customer obsession", help them thrive. If we focus on our principles and adhere to that, then the business will grow itself.

(Disclaimer: I work for AWS.)

Re: Amazon's Leadership Principles

#124

Post by ckozlowski »

paganel wrote: post #92
Bahamut wrote: post #36

Some of these are contradictory - in addition, some of these aren't really even leadership principles of much merit outside the company they're created for. Here is an example of a proven set of leadership principles that is a worthwhile read: http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/usmc/leadership.htm . Someone who can embody all of these principles that the Marine Corps espouses is someone I can respect immensely regar…

Thanks for the link, really interesting. I'm an anti-militarist but I've recently become a little obsessed with the idea of conflict, the use of force, and how we negotiate the force-related conflicts we have with the others. For example this: > 1.Put your Marines' welfare before your own--correct grievances and remove discontent. reminded me of an essay ("The Concept of the Political") that I've read recently, writt…

There is nothing more damaging to the morale of a soldier than the idea that if he or she is hurt then they will not be cared for.

Their structure was far ahead of it's time, and indeed, laid the groundwork for today. Any staff officer today who went back in time to review a Roman unit would have no problems identifying the various components of the organization.

Re: Amazon's Leadership Principles

#125

Post by throwasehasdwi »

kkelleey wrote: post #26

The emphasis on "customer obsession" is clearly working, since it has topped the polls for best corporate reputation two years in a row. http://www.geekwire.com/2017/amazon-tops-harris-poll-corpora... I work for Amazon, and I personally am a huge fan of the "LPs" . I consistently find myself mentally consulting them when I'm not sure what to do in a particular situation. I also think it really helps to work in an env…

Is anything in this thread for real? This post talks about a bunch of stuff that sounds like gibberish to someone not working at Amazon. The hell is an LP? More importantly, how does this possibly become the top comment?

Also this user has only made 2 comments in a year? That's worse than my throwaways

Re: Amazon's Leadership Principles

#126

Post by ranman »

greyskull wrote: post #27
brut wrote: post #21

So how much do they pay for this kind of job? And how much latitude are you given as a "leader"? Is it all talk or are they serious about this? I don't really care if I can buy a private jet but I will put in a lot of hours if that means I get to live a life never caring about money (> 200k a year). I've seen this said before in other companies ("we want leaders") but when it's time to put some resources into X or Y…

Amazon tries to push Leadership Principles into every part of at least their corporate world. It's supposed to drive decision making for basically everyone, brand new engineers on up (I don't know if they push them lower down the stack). What I'm getting at is it's not solely for "leaders" as in high level folks. > live a life never caring about money (> 200k a year) I'm in my 3rd year as an engineer here (and of my…

is SDE II an L6 position?

Re: Amazon's Leadership Principles

#127

Post by pythonaut_16 »

StreamBright wrote: post #84
Bahamut wrote: post #36

Some of these are contradictory - in addition, some of these aren't really even leadership principles of much merit outside the company they're created for. Here is an example of a proven set of leadership principles that is a worthwhile read: http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/usmc/leadership.htm . Someone who can embody all of these principles that the Marine Corps espouses is someone I can respect immensely regar…

>> Ensure the task is understood, supervised, and accomplished This might be a good idea for running a military unit but fails miserably in IT. As a leader I hardly ever supervise my engineers, they have to understand the tasks and only come to me if there something that they do not understand. Giving them as much freedom as possible is one reason they like to work with us, feedback we got from 90% of them. Sometimes…

Supervision doesn't always mean micromanaging or looking over their shoulders. You have to adjust your supervision strategies to the task and environment.

>> 9. Exercise care and thought in supervision. Over supervision hurts initiative and creates resentment; under supervision will not get the job done.

You might give your engineers a lot of freedom but at the end of the day you know what they're working on and you see their outputs.

Re: Amazon's Leadership Principles

#128

Post by furyofantares »

throwasehasdwi wrote: post #125
kkelleey wrote: post #26

The emphasis on "customer obsession" is clearly working, since it has topped the polls for best corporate reputation two years in a row. http://www.geekwire.com/2017/amazon-tops-harris-poll-corpora... I work for Amazon, and I personally am a huge fan of the "LPs" . I consistently find myself mentally consulting them when I'm not sure what to do in a particular situation. I also think it really helps to work in an env…

Is anything in this thread for real? This post talks about a bunch of stuff that sounds like gibberish to someone not working at Amazon. The hell is an LP? More importantly, how does this possibly become the top comment? Also this user has only made 2 comments in a year? That's worse than my throwaways

Leadership Principles, the topic at hand. The author probably put "LPs" in quotes to indicate that us outsiders need to piece together what the acronym is using the context of the post, but that they are referenced often enough internally that the acronym is recognizable to employees on its own.

Re: Amazon's Leadership Principles

#130

Post by Nikhil_teja »

adtac wrote: post #66

I interned there last year. They really want to get this point across. Like, I had to sit through an entire day of orientation repeatedly telling me this in different ways. We even had "fun" games to re-inforce the principles lol. I was going to be there for a maximum of 2 months, but nope. But hey, the tech was really cool. My team was amazing, we went on multiple team outings during my short stay. Office hours were…

Ditto! Same experience :D Realized you used "Ownership" in that comment? ;p
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