Amazon’s Leadership Principles

Leadership Principles Explanation Example

Customer Obsession Leaders start with the customer and work • A time you used customer
backwards. They work vigorously to earn feedback to drive improvement
and keep customer trust. Although leaders • Most difficult customer
pay attention to competitors, they obsess interaction
over customers. • A time where you had to
balance the needs of the
customer vs. the business

Ownership Leaders are owners. They think long term • A time you took on something
and don’t sacrifice long-term value for significant outside your
short-term results. They act on behalf of the responsibility
entire company, beyond just their own • A time you made a decision to
team. They never say “that’s not my job”. sacrifice short term gain for a
longer-term goal
• A time you saw a peer
struggling and decided to step
in and help

Invent and Simplify Expect and require innovation from yourself • The most innovative thing
and those around you—always find ways to you’ve done and why you think
simplify. Leaders are externally aware, look it’s innovative
for new ideas from everywhere, and are not • A time where you solved a
limited by “not invented here”. As we do complex problem with a simple
new things, we accept that we may be solution
misunderstood for long periods of time. • A creative idea you had that
ended up being difficult to
implement
Are Right A Lot Strong judgment and good instincts. We • A time you made a difficult
believe we can operate most efficiently decision and how you knew it
when the right decisions are being made at was the right decision.
the lowest level possible. As such, all • A time you made a decision
Amazonians are expected to exercise good without data
judgment and make sound decisions. While • A time you made a bad decision
we expect our leaders to provide vision and and how you learned from it
direction, our culture of innovation and bias
for action will come to a standstill if every
individual decision has to be made by upper
levels of management
 Amazon’s Leadership Principles
Leadership Principles Explanation Example
Learn and Be Curious Leaders are always seeking improvement— • A time you realized you needed
curious about new possibilities and love to to have a deeper level of subject
explore them. Leaders are never done matter expertise to do your job
learning, Amazon exists in an ever-changing well
environment. We have to be ready for • A time you took on work outside
tomorrow’s challenges, not just really good of your comfort area and found
at what we do today. And to do that, we it rewarding
must continually push ourselves to learn. • A time you didn’t know what to
do next or how to solve a
challenging problem
• The coolest thing you have
learned on your own that has
helped you better perform your
job

Hire & Develop the Raise the performance bar with every hire & • How you help your team
Best promotion. Recognize talent, and members develop their careers
willingness to move them throughout the • A time when you provided
organization. Amazon has a high hiring bar. feedback to develop & leverage
We have the courage to hire people who the strengths of someone on
may be smarter than we are. We don’t look your team.
for a body to fill an open position – we look
for people who won’t be satisfied to do the
same job day after day – ones that will
challenge the status quo and make us better

Insists on Highest Have relentlessly high standards and • A time you were unsatisfied with
Standards continuously raise the bar/drive others to do the status quo. How would you
the same. Amazon is known for maintaining change it?
a high hiring bar. But, that is only the • Describe the most significant
starting place for Amazon employees. We improvement project you’ve led
understand that today’s standards will not • How do you seek out feedback
be sufficient for the future. Everyone is on performance?
expected to raise their own bar to meet the
continuing demands of the company and
our customers
Think Big Thinking small is a self-fulfilling prophecy. • A time of a radical approach you
Leaders create and communicate a bold proposed to solve a big problem
direction that inspires results. Thinking big is • A time when you took a big risk
a great way to challenge our assumptions and it failed
about what’s possible. It shocks us out of
looking for problems that have simple
solutions, and is a critical ingredient in
inventing our way out of dead ends
 Amazon’s Leadership Principles
Leadership Principles Explanation Example
Bias for Action Speed is crucial at Amazon—value • A time where you’ve taken a
calculated risk taking. We're called to calculated risk where speed was
balance Dive Deep with Bias for Action. That crucial
means we'll move ahead, even when we • A time you made an important
don't have perfect information. Sometimes decision without consulting your
it pays off well, and sometimes it doesn't. manager
But every time it doesn't, we often learn • A time where you were able to
more than we would have if we succeeded. remove serious roadblocks
preventing progress

Frugality We try not to spend money on things that • A time you helped save costs or
don’t matter to customers. Frugality breeds eliminate waste within your role
resourcefulness, self-sufficiency and or organization
invention. Frugality isn’t about being cheap. • A time when you had to get a
It’s about spending money on the things project or initiative completed
that are important to our customers and to with limited resources
the long-term success of our company. As in • A time when you had to make
many other things, we always keep the long tradeoffs between quality and
view in mind when we make decisions about cost.
spending. We don’t skimp on things that will
improve our productivity or efficiency in the
name of Frugality
Earn Trust Listen attentively, speak candidly, and treat • A time you significantly
others respectfully. We must actively listen contributed to improving
to and engage our most ardent critics, morale and productivity on your
recognizing that we’re on the same team, team
and passionately argue on behalf of our • Three things you’re working on
customers. We also earn trust by being to improve overall effectiveness
really good at what we do. We earn trust • A time you received tough or
with our team mates by working critical feedback
collaboratively, focusing on the customer.

Dive Deep Stay connected to details, audit frequently, • A time you were trying to
and question when metrics differ. Leaders understand a problem on your
understand the inner workings of the things team and had to go down
they own. They’re willing to get their hands several layers to figure it out
dirty. Dive deep is getting to the root cause. • A time you linked two or more
problems together an identified
an underlying issue
• A specific metric you have used
to identify a need for a change
in your department
 Amazon’s Leadership Principles
Leadership Principles Explanation Example
Have Backbone; Leaders are obligated to respectfully • A time when you strongly
Disagree & Commit challenge decisions when they disagree, disagreed with your manager on
even when doing so is uncomfortable or something you deemed very
exhausting. Leaders have conviction and are important the business
tenacious. They do not compromise for the • A time when you submitted a
sake of social cohesion good idea to your manager and
he/she did not act
• A time you took an unpopular
stance in a meeting with
peers/leaders
• A time you decided to go along
with the group decision even if
you disagreed
Delivers Results Focus on key inputs and deliver with high • A time you were driving toward
quality in a timely fashion. Deliver Results is a goal and realized more than
the practical application of the rest of the half way in that it may not be
leadership principles. Deliver Results is the best goal
about honoring our commitments – to our • A goal you set that took a long
customers and to each other. It’s about time to achieve/are still working
finding a way around the inevitable towards
obstacles that would block us. It’s about • A time you delivered a project
inventing our way out of a bind and getting under a tight deadline
the job done. Ultimately it is the way we
validate the trust others put in us.
Strive to be Earth’s Leaders work every day to create a safer, • A time when you helped build a
Best Employer more productive, higher performing, more more inclusive working
diverse, and more just work environment. environment
They lead with empathy, have fun at work, • A time when you advocated for
and make it easy for others to have fun. someone who had less influence
Leaders have a vision for and commitment or seniority than you
to their employees' personal success, • A time when you supported or
whether that be at Amazon or elsewhere empowered someone else on
your team to achieve a
professional or personal goal.
Success and Scale We must begin each day with a • A time you worked on a project
Bring Broad determination to make better, do better, that had impact beyond your
Responsibility and be better for our customers, our immediate
employees, our partners, and the world at client/customer/organization.
large. And we must end every day knowing • A time when you decided to
we can do even more tomorrow. Leaders change a decision because of
create more than they consume and always unintended consequences for
leave things better than how they found your customers.
them