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Amazon's Leadership Principles

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Re: Amazon's Leadership Principles

#191
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 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…

I believe you can manage upwards and downwards. You don't and shouldn't have to shit on your team to make your superior look good, but if you can in a way that benefits the team, then do it!

Re: Amazon's Leadership Principles

#192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

> There shouldn't be a 100x difference in income between People. That's a political argument, not a valid business argument.

Yes, of course it's political... What isn't ? A business argument is a political statement. The opposite isn't true though of course.

Re: Amazon's Leadership Principles

#193
post #98
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

This, in general, is important to remember - especially if you're planning on being employed by Amazon, or doing business by them. Amazon will do anything* to make the customer experience better - and that means getting maximum efficiency out of every link in the supply chain by pushing vendors, publishers and employees to their limits. Life can be quite nice as a developer, if you've got a manager who understands th…

I think you mean; They will do anything to make money.

Selling assorted junk from China and some books with a minimum of friction for the customer is just aligned with that goal.

Re: Amazon's Leadership Principles

#194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you think those articles about conditions in the warehouses are lying ? If so, why ? What I mean to say is, the odds of those conditions being either unintentional or just local aberrations seems rather small given the widespread articles about it from around the world. Germany, UK, US, ... everywhere workers are complaining about things like sick people getting fired, mandatory unpaid overtime, constant tracking…

I can't speak for any other experience than my own. I suspect some or most of the stories have truth to them; one day I hope to work a shift and find out for myself.

In your own words, you are a manager at Amazon. I understand it's your job to defend your employer, and that's fine.

Just putting in this message to make sure others understand that you're paid by the organisation being criticized here.

Re: Amazon's Leadership Principles

#195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you think Amazon's not working hard on this problem, you haven't been paying attention for the last 20 years.

Care to elaborate? I've only been using their service for 18 years, so it's possible I missed something during 1997 or 1998 that would change my perception of the counterfeiting issue. But from where I sit it appears to have grown much worse over that time. Do you mean that Amazon has always had a terrible counterfeiting problem and we're only just noticing?

I mean it's a hard problem to solve but from what I know about Amazon, people are working on it

Re: Amazon's Leadership Principles

#196

I take Reed Hasting and Netflix a lot more seriously and their principles. They pay for performance. Amazon just grinds through as many people with low self esteem as possible and pays a poor salary.

Sorry, but this is bullshit, the pay is great (and based on performance) and self esteem isn't a problem.

Not from my experience and not from what I've seen on glassdoor. Can you cite? I found amazon engineers universally having low self esteem. Which makes sense, why w ould you want to work for a company that treats you so poorly?
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