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Amazon's Leadership Principles

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Re: Amazon's Leadership Principles

#151

Post by thesmallestcat »

mabbo wrote: post #89
kpil wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How could that be? I stopped buying from Amazon after reading about how they treat their warehouse employees. To me, Amazon just represents monopolistic corporate greed, with no aspiration of caring even just a little bit about anything else.

I spent four years writing software for those warehouse associates. Spent a lot of time inside those behemoth buildings, met a lot of good people and worked pretty much every job for at least a few hours. The thing to remember is that warehouse jobs suck everywhere. Amazon just happens to be a large employer. And overall, if I had to work in a warehouse I'd prefer to work in an Amazon one. Now, if you want to hate on…

> The thing to remember is that warehouse jobs suck everywhere.

Keep telling yourself that if it helps you sleep. I mean, sure, they're not the most glamorous. But what sets Amazon apart is how, as with their other operations, they've "streamlined" things, being "data-driven." By all accounts I've read, in an Amazon warehouse you're truly a number, with metrics gathered and ruthlessly analyzed. They've streamlined the recruiting/hiring process too, so there's a line of people around the block waiting to take your job the moment you slip up.

Re: Amazon's Leadership Principles

#152

Post by GCA10 »

thesmallestcat wrote: post #151
mabbo wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I spent four years writing software for those warehouse associates. Spent a lot of time inside those behemoth buildings, met a lot of good people and worked pretty much every job for at least a few hours. The thing to remember is that warehouse jobs suck everywhere. Amazon just happens to be a large employer. And overall, if I had to work in a warehouse I'd prefer to work in an Amazon one. Now, if you want to hate on…

> The thing to remember is that warehouse jobs suck everywhere. Keep telling yourself that if it helps you sleep. I mean, sure, they're not the most glamorous. But what sets Amazon apart is how, as with their other operations, they've "streamlined" things, being "data-driven." By all accounts I've read, in an Amazon warehouse you're truly a number, with metrics gathered and ruthlessly analyzed. They've streamlined th…

I did some warehouse work as a teenager. I wasn't a number. I was fresh meat in a violent, snide culture where there weren't any coherent processes or data. I'm a tough bloke, so one-armed Wally and angry Floyd did not ruin my summer. But if I were to go back into a warehouse again, I'd much rather have metrics and a data-driven system of accountability that applies to everyone. It beats an unstructured tyranny where overhead lighting is deliberately broken so cruel stuff can happen in dark corners.

Re: Amazon's Leadership Principles

#153

Post by nojvek »

krapp wrote: post #90
kpil wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How could that be? I stopped buying from Amazon after reading about how they treat their warehouse employees. To me, Amazon just represents monopolistic corporate greed, with no aspiration of caring even just a little bit about anything else.

Part of the reason Amazon is so successful and highly regarded is the degree to which they exploit their warehouse employees. This exploitation results in customer orders being stocked and shipped quickly and in costs being reduced. Amazon is obsessed with the customer , remember, not the employee.

I see Amazon as a company that wants to give a great service to humans but their humans in Warehouses aren't up to the task. I predict in a decade a large part of their warehouse will be automated for the labor heavy skills.

There is an inherent desire to enslave to leverage work off automation. Robots would be perfect slaves for corporations.

Whoever makes electric muscles and sells it at scale is going to be the next billionaire.

Re: Amazon's Leadership Principles

#154

Post by stumblers »

osullivj wrote: post #137
stumblers wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was introduced to these at USMC Officer Candidate School and agree wholeheartedly; these principles are effective and I have tried to live into them (as appropriate) as I've taken on manager/director roles in my career. Amazon recently reached out to me to attend a giant recruiting event and included a link to these principles, and the "Are Right, A Lot" line item turned me off completely. There's something about s…

Those USMC principles are fine principles; they exhort leaders to care for and develop the juniors under them. In my experience, in a political corporate environment, behaving that way will hold you back. Instead of "know your marines and look out for their welfare" you should "know your manager and look out for his/her welfare" ie "manage upwards". Instead of "keep your marines informed" you should "keep your manage…

Bummer, thankfully I don't work in a place like that...luck of the draw.

Re: Amazon's Leadership Principles

#155

Post by thesmallestcat »

GCA10 wrote: post #152
thesmallestcat wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The thing to remember is that warehouse jobs suck everywhere. Keep telling yourself that if it helps you sleep. I mean, sure, they're not the most glamorous. But what sets Amazon apart is how, as with their other operations, they've "streamlined" things, being "data-driven." By all accounts I've read, in an Amazon warehouse you're truly a number, with metrics gathered and ruthlessly analyzed. They've streamlined th…

I did some warehouse work as a teenager. I wasn't a number. I was fresh meat in a violent, snide culture where there weren't any coherent processes or data. I'm a tough bloke, so one-armed Wally and angry Floyd did not ruin my summer. But if I were to go back into a warehouse again, I'd much rather have metrics and a data-driven system of accountability that applies to everyone. It beats an unstructured tyranny where…

So you're saying the choices are postmodern dystopia, or being beaten by your coworkers. Methinks there's some ground between.

Re: Amazon's Leadership Principles

#156

Post by stumblers »

AdamN wrote: post #120
stumblers wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was introduced to these at USMC Officer Candidate School and agree wholeheartedly; these principles are effective and I have tried to live into them (as appropriate) as I've taken on manager/director roles in my career. Amazon recently reached out to me to attend a giant recruiting event and included a link to these principles, and the "Are Right, A Lot" line item turned me off completely. There's something about s…

You should check it out and see. The implicit precursor to "right, alot" is that you're trying things that might be wrong. Don't just try things for kicks, have some intention that they'll most likely turn out right (presuming there's a cost). This doesn't apply to an AB test where you don't care what's right, you're just putting it out there and letting the users decide. What's 'right' there is the AB test itself an…

That sounds better for sure, but not the way it came across. I put the emphasis "Right" not "A Lot"...maybe next time.

Re: Amazon's Leadership Principles

#157

Post by GCA10 »

thesmallestcat wrote: post #155
GCA10 wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did some warehouse work as a teenager. I wasn't a number. I was fresh meat in a violent, snide culture where there weren't any coherent processes or data. I'm a tough bloke, so one-armed Wally and angry Floyd did not ruin my summer. But if I were to go back into a warehouse again, I'd much rather have metrics and a data-driven system of accountability that applies to everyone. It beats an unstructured tyranny where…

So you're saying the choices are postmodern dystopia, or being beaten by your coworkers. Methinks there's some ground between.

Agreed! It's why immigrants in low-paying, low-skill jobs press so hard for their children to get as much formal education as possible. Even two years of community college is enough to gain more control (and income!)

Re: Amazon's Leadership Principles

#158

Post by jrimbault »

jhall1468 wrote: post #139
jrimbault wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When it comes time to divvy up the revenue, how do you reflect the fact that companies don't necessarily scale linearly based on the effort and contributions of their founders and executives? Do I even have to spell it out? There shouldn't be a 100x factor between the lowest and highest salary. There's no degree of merit that should guarantee that privilege. Merit doesn't scale linearly, if I wanted to use your lan…

There isn't a 100x difference in salary. Bezos salary is something like 80k. His income is derived almost entirely by stock grants, which are awarded based on company performance. The fact that he's a billionaire is because he founded the company.

That's still income. If you want I can rephrase more generally.

There shouldn't be a 100x difference in income between People.

Re: Amazon's Leadership Principles

#159

Post by maxlybbert »

jrimbault wrote: post #158
jhall1468 wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There isn't a 100x difference in salary. Bezos salary is something like 80k. His income is derived almost entirely by stock grants, which are awarded based on company performance. The fact that he's a billionaire is because he founded the company.

That's still income. If you want I can rephrase more generally. There shouldn't be a 100x difference in income between People.

Do you have any reason beyond "inequality!"? ( https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-04-20/-fight-in... ).

----

I found it from one of your previous replies:

> There shouldn't be a 100x factor between the lowest and highest salary. There's no degree of merit that should guarantee that privilege.

> Merit doesn't scale linearly, if I wanted to use your language, but there's no reason income should follow the same model.

Which is interesting, because it assumes pay is based on merit, but that it shouldn't necessarily mirror merit. I believe that's a consistent world view; but, to me at least, it's not obviously The One Correct View.

Re: Amazon's Leadership Principles

#160

Post by [deleted] »

eel wrote: post #55
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…

Amazon is the first place I've seen where the core values are useful, clear, and integrated into the culture. For the values to be effective, everyone up to the top has to follow them, and you can see that at Amazon in the annual shareholder letters. Other companies I've seen ask their HR staff to put some words (e.g., "Entrepreneurship" or "Be bold") on some posters and call it done.

[deleted]
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