Newly minted Amazon CEO Andy Jassy didn’t subject himself to an intensive round of press interviews upon taking over from founder Jeff Bezos earlier this month, but he did offer some insights into his approach and background in a video interview recorded internally.
It was released as an unlisted video on the company’s YouTube channel this week, as spotted by Matt Day of Bloomberg News. Jassy answered questions from Amazon executive Alicia Boler Davis, senior vice president of Global Customer Fulfillment, as well as recorded questions from Amazon employees, during the “Deep Dive” session.
Jassy’s rise to CEO comes as Amazon faces growing scrutiny from inside and outside the company, from regulators, legislators, unions and its own workers. The company employs nearly 1.3 million people, and increasingly influences areas including commerce, workplace safety, technology, the economy and public policy.
Tension in Amazon’s leadership principles: With that as backdrop, some of the most timely questions and interesting responses involved Amazon’s two new leadership principles: “Strive to be Earth’s Best Employer,” and “Success and Scale Bring Broad Responsibility.”
“Our leadership principles often have tension in them,” Jassy said. “And I think that’s actually a good thing and it makes sense.”
As an example, he cited the tension in the principle of “Strive to be Earth’s Best Employer.”
“Virtually anything that anybody can propose that we should change, if we don’t change it, somebody could say, ‘Well, if we were Earth’s best employer, we would have done this.’ And the reality is we can’t, and won’t be able to make every possible change. There will be a lot of debate about it, but we are going to try and be very thoughtful about, what are the things that we need to evolve to be the best place to build a long-term career at Amazon.” (Comments start at 17:45)
Inspiration from sports: Jassy played tennis competitively as a kid and young adult, and the experience has informed his approach to business and life.
“A lot of times in intense moments, you tend to play conservatively because you’re just trying to avoid losing, as opposed to trying to win,” he said. “And I think that it’s true in business too. It’s easy to play it safe, but the reality is that if you want to keep changing the world for customers, which we all want to do, you have to make bets and you have to be willing to fail.” (5:49)
Recent reads: Jassy cited “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents,” by Isabel Wilkerson, among the recent books he has read.
“For those who don’t know, it compares the way that we have treated Black people in our country to Nazi Germany and the caste in India,” he said. “It’s disturbing, but it’s sobering and thought-provoking, and very interesting.”
In addition, he mentioned “Three-Ring Circus: Kobe, Shaq, Phil, and the Crazy Years of the Lakers Dynasty,” by Jeff Pearlman; and “Broken Horses” by singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile, whom he has interviewed at an Amazon event.
Jassy also said he re-read “Built to Last” by Jim Collins. “Starting this new job, I thought it was an interesting book to read, which is really about how to build a lasting company,” he said. (10:06)
Morning routine: Jassy wakes up at 6 a.m. and spends an hour on the elliptical machine, with printouts of items that he wants to read. (12:55)
Community engagement: Jassy also sought to make the company’s community and philanthropic priorities clear, touching on initiatives including Amazon’s Climate Pledge environmental program, affordable housing fund, and his own work in education and racial equity. He is a longtime board member at the non-profit organization Rainier Scholars.
His inbox is open: Bezos would invite customers to email him directly, and then forward key messages to others at Amazon, often setting off a mad scramble internally. Jassy plans to carry on the tradition, at least in his own way. (41:37)
“Customers or employees are free to shoot me email. I may not respond to every single one because sometimes the numbers are voluminous, but I read them all,” he said. “I often share them with various peers and colleagues and to try and think through whether we can be doing better for customers.”
His email address is ajassy@amazon.com.
from GeekWire https://www.geekwire.com/2021/amazon-ceo-andy-jassy-natural-tension-companys-new-leadership-principles/