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Thoughts on (Amazonian) leadership

(www.daemonology.net)
155 points stock_toaster | 3 comments | 01 Sep 25 18:56 UTC | HN request time: 0.6s | source
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pm90 ◴[01 Sep 25 20:01 UTC] No.45096104[source]▶
I have principles-fatigue after going through a number of companies that promise to abide by certain good sounding principles only to backtrack at the slightest pushback. I would actually trust a company more if it had no defined principles. Perhaps just honesty and transparency.
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cperciva ◴[01 Sep 25 20:09 UTC] No.45096189[source]▶
The Leadership Principles are less "principles" and more "operational guidelines". Aside from maybe "Strive to be Earth’s Best Employer" (which is a recent addition) they're not saying what Amazon wants to achieve; they're recommendations for effective ways to get things done.
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1. pzmarzly ◴[01 Sep 25 22:10 UTC] No.45097043[source]▶
If they are just recommendations, perhaps Amazon shouldn't require them in their recruitment and performance review processes :)
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2. monkeydreams ◴[01 Sep 25 23:28 UTC] No.45097529[source]▶
> perhaps Amazon shouldn't require them in their recruitment and performance review processes

They are selecting for people who will "play the game" or, even better, will believe proactively.

No one with a lick of sense would believe that Amazon strive to be the best employer in the world. But someone who is capable of doing, for e.g., a highly skilled coding job and who believes that Amazon actually strives to be the best employer, is a rare beast who will likely not unionize at the drop of a hat.

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3. hinkley ◴[03 Sep 25 07:30 UTC] No.45113179[source]▶
I "love" how some people think it's important to do a 7 hour interview pressure cooker with a prospective employee to see how they behave in a crisis. This is a straight up condemnation of their development culture and they are so blind they don't even see it. What they want is people who are content to live in a perpetual crisis instead of people who will put their foot down and work like hell to fix it.

The amount of blood I'll bleed for a team I've been gelling with for two years is a lot. The amount I'm going to bleed for some jackass I just met who wants me to lick his boots for a job is approximately zero.

I hated frat boys in college for the frat culture. I didn't expect to find it in dev culture as an adult. They're called Frat BOYS for a reason. Fuck hazing.