My review of the book “Amazon Way” by John Rossman:

What’s the simplest yet hardest reason behind Amazon’s success? I would answer it as defining straightforward principles and uncompromisingly executing them.

As I grow in my own career; every day, I am reminded of one of the most critical drivers of successful leadership, and that is the consistent expectation and execution of higher standards for your teams. Every small exception results in more exceptions. So, these exceptions should not be taken lightly.

As a leader, you should not shy away from pointing out the mistakes and reminding the high standards even after it becomes a team culture. Of course, this must be done in a constructive way that avoids blaming people but guiding them, and the most effective way of guiding people is to discuss the actions, not the individuals.

Unfortunately, it is hard to review this book succinctly because every principle has many important lessons to teach.

However, a couple of notes would be:

  1. Show bias for action for reversible decisions. Not all decision requires same amount of planning.
  2. Failure is okay during innovation. But failing for the wrong reasons and over and over are NOT okay.
  3. If the processes become complicated that people cannot understand why they exist and how they work, then it means they have become bureaucracy and it is what kills innovation and agility of the teams.

One thing I don’t agree with book is the extent of the ownership it describes which is to the point where you might be expected to work exhausting amount of hours. This kills creativity and you can own your work, your team, but acting like you own the company is an unrealistic expectation; because, clearly you don’t.

There are 14 leadership principles Amazon practices. They are:

  1. Customer obsession
  2. Ownership
  3. Invent and Simplify
  4. Are Right, A Lot
  5. Learn and Be Curious
  6. Hire and Develop The Best
  7. Insist on Highest Standards
  8. Think Big
  9. Bias for Action
  10. Frugality
  11. Earn Trust
  12. Dive Deep
  13. Have backbone; Disagree and Commit
  14. Deliver Results

And it looks like Amazon recently added two more principles, which I liked quite a bit:

  1. Strive to be Earth’s Best Employer
  2. Success and Scale Bring Broad Responsibility