Amazon Leadership Principles And Questions For Interview

Amazon Leadership Principles: What about the companies you are a part of? Do these businesses or organizations stick to a particular set of values and principles? Have these values been communicated, if established at all?

Having a strong set of values can pave the way to success. Super successful Amazon has and operates by its own set of leadership principles–a set of principles referred to during company decision-making, problem-solving, simple brainstorming, and even hiring.

Customer Obsession

Leaders start with the customer and work backwards. They work vigorously to earn and keep customer trust. Although leaders pay attention to competitors, they obsess over customers.

Ownership

Leaders are owners. They think long term and don’t sacrifice long-term value for short-term results. They act on behalf of the entire company, beyond just their own team. They never say “that’s not my job.”

Invent and Simplify

Leaders expect and require innovation and invention from their teams and always find ways to simplify. They are externally aware, look for new ideas from everywhere, and are not limited by “not invented here.” As we do new things, we accept that we may be misunderstood for long periods of time.

Are Right, A Lot

Leaders are right a lot. They have strong judgment and good instincts. They seek diverse perspectives and work to disconfirm their beliefs.

Learn and Be Curious

Leaders are never done learning and always seek to improve themselves. They are curious about new possibilities and act to explore them.

Amazon 14 Leadership Principles

Started in 1993, Amazon surpassed Walmart with the highest market value of any retailer in the U.S. Walmart took 53 years to reach that point – Amazon 23 years. Leadership.

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Amazon is the third most valuable company in the world. And, after Walmart, the second largest employer in the U.S. Leadership.

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 The Highest Standards
8. Think Big
9. Bias For Action
10. Frugality
11. Earn Trust
12. Dive Deep
13. Have Backbone
14. Deliver Results

Amazon Leadership Principles Interview

• CUSTOMER OBSESSION: Walk us through a time when you helped a customer through a difficult process and what that looked like.
• OWNERSHIP: Give me an example of when you took a risk and it failed.
• INVENT AND SIMPLIFY: Tell me a time when you created an innovative product.
• ARE RIGHT, A LOT: Tell me about a time when you observed two business opportunities to improve ROI, and how did you determine that they were connected.
• LEARN AND BE CURIOUS: How do you find the time to stay inspired, acquire new knowledge, innovate in your work?

  

Amazon Leadership Principles Interview Questions

The fourth Amazon leadership principle is “Are Right, A Lot.” If you’re preparing for an interview there, you should practice answering questions based on this principle. If you don’t know about the Amazon leadership principles, you should read this article about interviewing at Amazon first.

How Amazon describes the “Are Right, A Lot” principle

Leaders are right a lot. They have strong judgment and good instincts. They seek diverse perspectives and work to disconfirm their beliefs.

What does “Are Right, A Lot” mean exactly?

I usually get questions from my clients about what this principle means because it’s a hard one to understand. Here’s an excerpt of The Amazon Way by John Rossman, a book you should read if you want to know more about Amazon. He can explain the thinking behind this principle better than I can.

Behavioral questions aren’t yes or no questions, so you need to spin a story around them – a story about something that happened at work and shows the skills you’re being asked about. Michael Higgins, career coach at This is My Path and author of Pit Stop: A Career Workbook for Busy People, advocates using the STAR technique to “structure your stories”.

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He suggests how to structure your response to a “Tell me a time…” question: Speak about the “Situation (set the context for your story), Task (what was required of you), Activity (what you actually did) and Result (how well the situation played out).” It’s important to speak in specific rather than general terms and quantify your success – so bring in numbers, names, client conversions and other things that matter.

Amazon Leadership Principles Examples

• Leaders start with the customer and work backward. They work vigorously to earn and keep customer trust. Although leaders pay attention to competitors, they obsess over customers.
• Leaders are owners. They think long term and don’t sacrifice long-term value for short-term results. They act on behalf of the entire company, beyond just their own team. They never say “that’s not my job”.
• Leaders are right a lot. They have strong judgment and good instincts. They seek diverse perspectives and work to disconfirm their beliefs.
• Thinking small is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Leaders create and communicate a bold direction that inspires results. They think differently and look around corners for ways to serve customers.

What Are The 7 Principles Of Leadership?

1. Know yourself and seek self-improvement.
2. Be technically and tactically proficient.
3. Develop a sense of responsibility among your subordinates.
4. Make sound and timely decisions.
5. Set an example.
6. Know your people and look out for their welfare.
7. Keep your people informed.

How Do I Remember Amazon Leadership Principles?

• Take them seriously.
• Read them carefully.
• Memorize them.
• Understand how interviews are evaluated.
• Plan your answers using STAR.
• Should you use their words in the answers?
• Keep your answers short and clear.
• Prepare two stories for each principle.

What Are The Leadership Principles?

1. Leadership Is Behavior, Not Position.
2. The Best Way of Influence Is Setting an Example.
3. Leading Means Making an Impact.
4. Leadership is Chasing Vision, Not Money.
5. Actions Speak Louder Than Words.
6. Flexibility May Refer to Behavior, Not Values.

What Are The Core Values Of Amazon?

Shaw transplant who worked in human resources, pondered Amazon’s values with the Telebuch founders. They agreed on five core values and wrote them down on a whiteboard in a conference room: customer obsession, frugality, bias for action, ownership, and high bar for talent.