The Amazon Way: 14 Leadership Principles Behind the World's Most Disruptive Company

Reviewing an audio book by John Rossman - Part III (Principles 10 through 14; Audio 3)

This is the final post in the series.
Here is Part I, which covered principles 1 through 3 (Audio 1).
Here is Part II, which covered principles 4 through 9 (Audio 2).

Overview

The Audio Book is divided into four audio files. The first three audios discuss the principles that Rossman learned while working at Amazon. The fourth is a series of appendices. This series of blog posts has discussed contents from the first three audio files. The fourteen principles are enumerated in the Table of Contents. The book's chapters describe the principles in more detail. The principles are:

Principle 1: Obsess Over the Customer
Principle 2: Take Ownership of Results
Principle 3: Invent and Simplify
Principle 4: Leaders Are Right – A Lot
Principle 5: Hire and Develop the Best
Principle 6: Insist on the Highest Standards
Principle 7: Think Big
Principle 8: Have a Bias for Action
Principle 9: Practice Frugality
Principle 10: Be Vocally Self-Critical
Principle 11: Earn the Trust of Others
Principle 12: Dive Deep
Principle 13: Have Backbone – Disagree and Commit
Principle 14: Deliver Results

These principles, according to the audio book, permeate Amazon's corporate culture. They are not just slogans. Rossman asserts that he has continued to use these principles in his career, even after he left Amazon. These principles provide a consistent philosophy for Amazon's employees and have helped the corporation to achieve its massive scale successfully. Along with an introduction and conclusion, the book's chapters coincide with the fourteen named principles. Part I covered principles 1 through 3 (Audio 1). Part II discussed principles 4 through 9 (Audio 2), and principles 10 through 14 (Audio 3) are discussed in this post.

Summaries

Principle 10: Be Vocally Self-Critical

As discussed in yesterday's post, Amazon has an "Open Kimono" policy, where leaders are expected to find the balance between achievement and honest recognition of flaws and weaknesses. Rossman revisits this policy and asserts that it leads to a culture where "Yes men" do not succeed. Leaders are expected to seek improvement and honestly report the risks and problems that they face. Leaders who hide a problem may be terminated when the problem is inevitably revealed. As an Amazon director put it, "We cannot survive the journey without a large dose of humility."

Rossman emphasizes this point with a discussion of Hubris and "Level 5 leadership" from Jim Collins, quoting Collins as writing, "Like inquisitive scientists, the best corporate leaders we've researched remain students of their work, relentlessly asking questions, 'why why why' and have an incurable compulsion to vacuum the brains of people they meet." Corollary to this requirement for humility and self-criticism is the ability to recognize all potential threats.

Principle 11: Earn the Trust of Others

Amazon's culture of high performance leads to an environment where it is impossible for leaders to avoid trusting others. There is simply too much to be done without delegation. Rossman praises the ability to work collaboratively at Amazon, "without worrying about titles, organization charts, and official roles," notes that a lack of trust perpetuates fear - which can cripple an organization, and lists six keys to establishing trust (adapted from the blog of Michael Hyatt):

1. Open your kimono - Learn to take accountability in a way that seeks improvement
2. Take the hit - take responsibility for the good and the bad from within the team.
3. Build up your team-members. Praise team members, don't take sole credit for accomplishments.
4. Ditch the leash. Establish freedom for team members.
5. Accept confrontation. Promote open discussion, explore solutions with intent to solve problems. An absence of disagreement is a warning flag that fear is taking hold.
6. Find the value in each person. Find individual's unique strengths and bring it to the forefront for the good of the team.

Rossman refers back to "The Power of Invention," which was discussed yesterday under "Invent and Simplify," but says that the concept applies here, too. Trust, like innovation, acts as an enabler. An Amazon tool to establish trust is the, "two pizza teams," which are autonomous teams staffed by the number of people who can eat two pizzas.

Principle 12: Dive Deep

Ownership means accountability

Leaders at Amazon understand metrics, details, and dependencies that are two or three levels deeper than at most other companies. They are required to spend time training in call centers, and even Bezos spends time working in the fulfillment center. Experiments are encouraged, but results must be carefully and correctly analyzed. This combination of freedom and rigor are expected at all levels in the company. Quantitative decisions trump judgement and opinion.

Rossman goes back to the previously discussed PowerPoint ban, here. You really have to know your stuff at a deeper level than bullets, in order to present to others.

A tool that Amazon uses to "dive deep" in a disciplined way is known as "the Five 'Why's." When a problem happens, ask "why?" Chances are, your answer won't be the true root cause at the deepest level, so ask "why?" again. Continue to ask "why?" until the team agrees that an actual root cause has been identified. There can be any number of iterations, but experience suggests that five levels is typical. It is important to note, that the Five Whys is not a blame-shifting exercise. Teams are honestly searching for their own areas of accountability.

Another tool that amazon uses is an annual "deep dive" that is pursued by the entire company. Teams dive deep into their upcoming plans and discuss them with each other using long-form essays to describe their plans (2-6 pages). The preference for long essays over PowerPoint acts as yet another forcing function to enable the "Dive Deep" principle. A retired Marine officer is quoted as writing - in an essay called, Dumb Dumb Bullets, "PowerPoint is not a neutral tool. It is actively hostile to thoughtful decision making. It has fundamentally changed our culture by altering the expectations of who makes decisions, what decisions they make, and how they make them."

Principle 13: Have Backbone – Disagree and Commit

As noted under principle 10, "yes men" do not survive at Amazon. Rossman says that Amazon is a "gladiator culture," where disagreement is cultivated. Bezos would say, "If I drive us over a cliff, you're as much at fault as I am." As Rossman says, disagreeing with other strong-willed leaders and pursuing your own vision requires "mental toughness," or "grit."

He cites characteristics of mental toughness from psychotherapist, Amy Morin. People who are mentally tough do not:

• Feel sorry for yourself
• Give away your power
• Shy away from change
• Waste energy on things you cannot control
• Worry about pleasing others
• Fear taking calculated risks
• Dwell on the past
• Make the same mistakes over and over
• Resent other's success
• Give up after failure
• Feel the world owes you anything
• Expect immediate results

Principle 14: Deliver Results

At the end of the day, it's all about outcomes. If you violate all of the other principles... but consistently deliver outstanding business results, then all will be forgiven.

Conclusion

In my opinion, the principles are great, but not tremendously insightful. Business literature is filled with articles suggesting principles like these. The unusual thing about Amazon's principles seems to be that they are tactical. They are not just a sign on the cube wall, but are actively used for decision-making throughout the business. I think the key to this accomplishment the true Amazon insight, probably lies in the tools that Rossman discussed throughout the book, some of which I discussed in this book review series: The open kimono, forcing functions, the fly wheel effect, SLAs, the PowerPoint ban, two pizza teams, the five "why"s and others. The tools seem to support the principles in a practical way, that is not often found.

Obviously, since all workers are not A+ workers, these principles do not apply to all companies, but whatever your own leadership principles are, you may benefit from implementing tools to encourage their utilization. Last year, I read The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, and many of the tools described here remind me of the same concepts, applied at the organizational level instead of the individual level.

A final point that Rossman raises is that many of these principles can conflict with each other, so in addition to knowing the principles, the Amazon employee is expected to balance them and to determine which principle applies when.

I hope you have benefitted from this series of posts. I certainly learned and benefitted from listening to the audio again, but with enough attention to write it up this time. If you are interested in business, disruption, or leadership, this book may be worth your time.

Previous posts
Part I
Part II

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@remlaps is an Information Technology professional with three decades of business experience working with telecommunications and computing technologies. He has a bachelor's degree in mathematics, a master's degree in computer science, and is currently completing a doctoral degree in information technology.