Thoughts on (Amazonian) Leadership
9 days ago
- #Customer Obsession
- #Amazon Leadership
- #Bias for Action
- Amazon's Leadership Principles are widely recognized in the tech industry, though often mocked, they provide sensible guidelines for running a company.
- Customer Obsession is a key principle, but Amazonians sometimes misinterpret it by focusing too narrowly on what customers ask for rather than what they truly need.
- AWS initially focused on 'cool engineering driven' products like EC2, but later shifted to building what customers explicitly asked for, which the author views as a misstep.
- Ownership is another principle, but the author argues it's too narrow—Amazon should act on behalf of the entire technological ecosystem, not just the company.
- Amazon's internal secrecy and silos prevent leaders from truly acting on behalf of the entire company, leading to duplicated efforts like similar services being launched by different teams.
- Bias for Action emphasizes speed, but the author highlights the tension between this and maintaining high standards and customer trust.
- The author suggests Amazon needs 'service bar raisers' to veto launches of half-baked services, similar to how 'bar raisers' can veto hiring decisions.