Amazon Leadership Principles

#interview #behavioral

Customer Obsession

  1. Make decisions backwards from the customer
    1. What customer need to make it smoother
    2. What is the benefit of customer
    3. Develop those
  2. Gain customer trust
  3. Don't do careless mistakes
  4. Don't compete with companies for features
    1. Compete with companies for better customer experience

Ownership

  1. Take ownership of a project
    1. Even if you are not the manager or team lead
    2. The project can be as mini as the feature / bug
  2. Go beyond your job
  3. Prioritize company before the team
  4. Long-term prioritization than short time gains

Invent & Simplify

  1. Go beyond
  2. Find a simple way to solve a complex problem
    1. Like getting alexa data
      1. Put alexa device on different positions of the house
      2. It will gather a lot of data together of same sound from different distance
  3. An idea can be misunderstood for a long time by others
    1. But its okay as long as it is helpful in long term

Are Right, A Lot

  1. Find what is right, even no one has done it ever
  2. Good judgement
  3. Collaborate together as a team and find an Right answer together
  4. This principle doesn't tell that you can't be wrong
    1. You can be
    2. And it's okay, as long as you are learning something from it

Learn & Be Curious

  1. Always learn
    1. Papers, blogs, literature review, Youtube
  2. Explore a lot
    1. Explore outside you word domain
      1. Like Productivity, good negotiation
  3. Learn from failures

Hire & Develop the Best

  1. Recognize talent
  2. Develop skills of,
    1. Your subordinates
    2. Your team
    3. Your colleagues
  3. Recognize long term hire
    1. Who will be there for a long time
    2. And profitable for company

Insist on the Highest Standards

  1. Don't stop for sub-optimal
  2. Insist on Best or Perfect
  3. Try to fix the problem at the core of the problem
    1. Fix the problem at start
    2. Don't keep working on the problem
  4. Fix even if its not your responsibility
    1. Don't keep it for others
    2. Inform the concerned person
    3. If he can't manage time, dive deeper

Think Big

  1. Be ambitious
  2. Don't Think Small
  3. There is no limitations on what you want
  4. Look at future rather than past or present
    1. Make futuristic decision
    2. What will be important in future
  5. Decide on future
    1. But decide using anecdotal information from past

Bias for Action

  1. Move fast, Break Things
    1. Start up culture on each team
    2. Think each team as a small start up
  2. Take calculated risk
    1. Take risks if they are easily reversible

Frugality

  1. Accomplish more with less
    1. That doesn't mean always less money
    2. Constraint can be Time, Money or Compute
  2. Constraint will be help you invent
    1. Make possible what seems impossible at first

Earn Trust

  1. Listen carefully
    1. Team, Collaborators, Labmates, Customers
  2. Show empathy
  3. Speak honestly
  4. Judge each other but respectfully
    1. Call a spade ♠️ a spade ♠️

Dive Deep

  1. Work on all levels
  2. Know when to dive deep
    1. Don't dive deep with rhythm
      1. Like always dive deep at the end of month or week or quarter
  3. Look at metrics to know when to dive deep
    1. Compare with anecdotal data
    2. Find root cause why it's different from the anecdotal data

Have Backbone; Disagree & Commit

  1. Insist on disagreement
    1. If you don't agree with something, then say it
    2. Insist on it
    3. Show reasons behind your point
    4. Do that even if its your senior or in leadership position
  2. But when a decision is made
    1. Commit to it fully
    2. If possible, have a plan on your path if something changes in future

Deliver Results

  1. Deliver timely
  2. Focus on whats in my hand
    1. Don't overthink about stuffs that you have no control over

Strive to be Earth's Best Employer

  1. Always improving
    1. Improve to be perfect
  2. Amazon wants to,
    1. Have Fit employees
    2. Show empathy to employees
    3. Have fun
    4. be diverse

Success and Scale Bring Broad Responsibility

  1. Be humble
  2. Be thoughtful
  3. Make better world
  4. Do better
  5. Be better
  6. Leave things better than found

References

  1. https://amazon.jobs/content/en/our-workplace/leadership-principles
  2. https://d2tw286t6volch.cloudfront.net/index.html#/lessons/QgCe8ajO88wvV5OkCBM4Slzlfa-fFRHB
  3. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9JNmYfQa0bgT_eJKk2uflwtiBIpbImdB ⭐️
  4. [Template](file:///Users/dipta007/Downloads/STAR%20Template%20for%20Leadership%20Principles.pdf)

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