Think Like Amazon (Jorge Luis Pando)

Ronak spent over 9 years at Amazon, where he led large businesses across Fulfillment, Ultra-fast delivery, Real Estate, Process Improvement, and Last Mile Delivery. Ronak was also the youngest Regional Director in Amazon history, with placement into Amazon’s highest volume, most critical region of fulfillment. After nearly a decade with the company, Ronak left Amazon to join Odeko as Chief Supply Chain Officer. 

In this episode, Ronak shares how his career in operations leadership quickly unfolded and the leadership principles that helped him achieve success in the programs, centers, and regions he led. You’ll hear Ronak share how Deliver Results rounded out his perspective on maximizing the collective impact of Amazon’s leadership principles, how leadership transparency helped him turn around a 2,800-employee site, and how, with the right focus and motivation, leaders can help their teams operate at a high level, whether at Amazon or in any business arena. 

Ronak on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronak-patel-nashville/

Follow us on LinkedIn! https://www.linkedin.com/company/think-like-amazon-podcast/

Jorge Pando spent eight years at Amazon, holding key leadership roles across retail and advertising, most recently as Head of Product for Amazon Advertising. In addition to his corporate responsibilities, Jorge developed and scaled the "Effective at Amazon" program, which grew from a side project to an initiative impacting over 70,000 Amazonians across 60 countries. Now, Jorge provides courses and coaching to help business leaders improve their effectiveness in work and life.

In this episode, Jorge shares his unique career journey, insights into Amazon’s leadership principles, and lessons learned from scaling impactful programs. You’ll hear Jorge discuss:

• How Learn and Be Curious fueled his transitions between diverse roles at Amazon, from general management to advertising innovation.
• The process of developing and growing the "Effective at Amazon" program—and how it shaped his personal and professional growth.
• The importance of balancing curiosity and execution to deliver results while driving personal development.
• Why side projects can build your brand, expand your network, and open unexpected doors in your career.
• Practical advice for integrating continuous learning into your life and workplace.

Whether you're interested in Amazon's mechanisms, leadership development, or strategies for pursuing passion alongside a corporate career, you're sure to glean valuable insights from this conversation with Jorge.

Mentioned in the Episode:

• Jorge's Website: https://theeffective.co/
• Jorge on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jorgelpando/

Follow us on LinkedIn! https://www.linkedin.com/company/think-like-amazon-podcast/

Tyler Wallis spent seven years at Amazon, leading teams in Consumer Electronics, Home Improvement, and Marketing for Amazon Canada. In that same time, he scaled from intern to team leader. After Amazon, Tyler founded TripleLine, an agency helping “better-for-you” CPG brands scale profitably on Amazon, and launched this podcast (Think Like Amazon) to share insights on applying Amazon’s leadership principles beyond the company.

In this episode, it was now Jorge’s turn to interview Tyler, as he shares his journey from corporate leader to entrepreneur, reflecting on key lessons and practical takeaways:

• How Amazon’s Ownership principle shaped his career, including driving to Canada to gather critical data firsthand.
• The transition from corporate life to entrepreneurship and how Amazon’s principles guide his business approach.
• Why being a generalist prepared him for entrepreneurship’s diverse challenges.
• Practical advice for aspiring entrepreneurs, including building a diverse skill set within your current role.

Whether you're curious about Amazon’s culture, entrepreneurship, or scaling a business, this conversation is packed with actionable insights.

Mentioned in the episode:

Tyler’s LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/tylermwallis/

Learn more about Triple Line: https://triplelinebrands.com/

Profit and Purpose Podcast: www.profitandpurpose.show/

Follow us on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/think-like-amazon-podcast

Jorge is officially taking over as the new host of Think Like Amazon. But before diving into fresh conversations, he went back and studied the top episodes. What he found is timeless leadership lessons from insiders who built and scaled Amazon.

 In this kickoff episode, he breaks down 7 powerful insights (from earning trust to building real customer obsession) that every ambitious leader should hear.

Whether you lead a team or just want to level up your thinking, these takeaways will change how you operate.

1. (02:50) Long-Term Results Mean Bringing People with You (Ronak Patel, ex-Director of Logistics)

2. (06:26) Customer Obsession Goes Beyond Data (Jennifer Arthur, 16-year Amazon veteran)

3. (11:58) "Working Backwards" Means Embracing Hard Truths (Colin Bryar, former Technical Assistant to Jeff Bezos)

4. (14:06) Earning Trust Can Be Systematic (Justin Maner, ex-Director Amazon Devices)

5. (20:56) Simple Solutions Often Win (Dave Anderson, former GM)

6. (24:21) Ownership Has Levels (Ethan Evans, former Amazon VP)

7.  (28:21) Say YES to Get "Lucky" (Ronak Patel, most listened episode so far)

Mentioned in the episode:

·       Ronak Patel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronak-patel-nashville/

·       Jennifer Arthur: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-arthur-460768/

·       Colin Bryar: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colinbryar/

·       Justin Maner: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinmaner/

·       Dave Anderson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scarletink/

·       Ethan Evans: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethanevansvp/

·       Follow us on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/think-like-amazon-podcast

Welcome to the podcast where you'll get special access to learn from Amazon executives as they share how to apply Amazon's best principles and processes to grow your own business.

Listen as Amazon's strategies, frameworks, and mechanisms are broken down through the personal experiences of senior Amazon leaders so that they can be replicated and applied in your work as manager, leader, entrepreneur, or digital innovator. 

In this introduction, host, Tyler Wallis, a former Amazon leaders himself shares why this podcast came to be and what you can expect to learn. 

In this episode, we dig into...
- Why you should care about trying to think like Amazon?
- The host, and what makes his Amazon experience unique
- Bar Raisers at Amazon
- What YOU should get out of this show
- The 3 best sources of Amazon management knowledge
- Sneak peak into the backgrounds of our first few guests

Eugene Choi spent 7 years at Amazon as Finance Director for Retail Softlines and AWS Infrastructure prior to joining the executive teams of Oberto Snacks and Viacom CBS. In this episode, Eugene breaks down how he learned Amazon's input-focused process to uncover business opportunities and deliver results. Eugene shares how leaders can help both free up their teams and better serve customers by having the discipline to not follow competitors but instead focus on the key input drivers of a product or service. Eugene takes us through examples of how he worked backwards to identify the right inputs and later applied this same approach at Oberto Snacks and ViacomCBS and shares how others can adopt this same approach.

More from the episode:

5:45 - Deliver results by focusing on the inputs, not outputs

7:00 - How Amazon senior leaders review weekly performance

8:27 - How AWS focuses on spare-parts expenses as an input to prevent negative customer experiences

10:40 - Why an output focus inadvertently limits customer choice

16:03 - Adopting input-focused diagnosis to challenges outside Amazon

20:40 - The need for discipline and investigation to adopt an input-focused approach

24:07 - How managing by inputs fits into Amazon's "working backwards" approach

Justin Maner spent 10 years at Amazon where he was involved in quickly scaling several category teams before leading the turnaround of Amazon’s Baby Registry and managing innovation-centered teams as a director for Amazon Devices. In this interview, Justin dives into the Think Big principle and illustrates how he applied it to accelerate building for the Tools marketplace, develop a novel approach to quickly scale vendor sign-ups in the Pets category, and innovate on behalf of customers as he built up the Baby Registry program.

Over the last couple years, Justin has been applying his innovative leadership to several startups and applying many of the key questions and practices that helped him Think Big at Amazon. There is something for every business leader to take away from Justin’s various examples, resources, and applications throughout the conversation.

 Find Justin at https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinmaner/

More from the episode:

4:13 – The 3 life stages that companies and teams evolve through

5:24 – How a high-autonomy structure can fuel big thinking for the right personalities

7:30 – “Think Big” defined

7:58 – How challenging standard thinking resulted in a 5X improvement in tradeshow vendor signups

11:54 – How asking about the extremes to challenge a team to think creatively

14:47 – Two book recommendations to help anyone learn to be more innovative

15:36 – The 3-option approach to empower teams to think bigger

17:15 – Three company cultures of innovation and the tradeoffs of each

22:03 – Placing multiple bets and assessing each for traction potential as a way to innovate as an entrepreneur

23:31 – How “thinking small” can be the key to then think big

26:41 – How connecting internal stakeholders with customer problems expedited improvements for Amazon’s baby registry program

28:55 – “Go Bigger” and “go faster” questions anyone can use to help their team innovate

32:15 – What to do when you need to align stakeholders faced with multiple negative options

Alejandro Bethlen spent 8 years at Amazon, first as a general manager for multiple Amazon US Retail teams and then in key executive and program roles in Amazon EU. In our interview, Alejandro expounds on Amazon’s approach to separable, single-threaded leadership and shares examples of how it sped up decision making for organizations. Alejandro pulls back the curtain to share how maintaining a single-threaded leadership culture can be difficult, particularly within young organizations and that these scenarios often call for identifying one-way and two-way door decisions.

Since leaving Amazon last year, Alejandro has stepped into the role of CEO at The Bouqs, and he shares how he has applied a single-threaded leadership structure in goal setting and organizational architecture at his new company. Listen to the full conversation to hear more about the advantages and tradeoffs of single-threaded leadership and what ups and downs you might expect when implementing this approach in your team. 

Mentioned in the podcast:

The Lab Consulting: https://www.thelabconsult.com/

The Bouqs: bouqs.com

Alejando Bethlen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bethlen/

More from the episode:

2:45 – Why pushing decision rights down through the organization becomes increasingly important as a company grows

6:30 – How Amazon’s single-threaded ownership helps category teams make quick, dynamic decisions

8:30 – The importance of establishing trust in creating a single-threaded leadership culture

11:06 – When following separable, single-threaded decision ownership can be more difficult

14:05 – Pitfalls to avoid when setting up a single-threaded ownership structure

15:49 – 1-way and 2-way door decisions

20:40 – Why focus is critical to a single-threaded leadership model

22:37 – Implementing a single-threaded-leader structure outside of Amazon 

25:40 – How to align single-threaded structure with strategic growth objectives 

Stefan Haney is a 15-year Amazon veteran, where he led multiple product, data, and technical teams during formative years of the Amazon marketplace. In addition to participating in countless narrative document reviews with Amazon’s senior leadership team, Stefan brings experience as a former instructor of Amazon’s internal writing class. In this episode, Stefan shares why writing has become a critical exercise for improving thinking and efficient decision making at Amazon. You’ll hear Stefan share best practices for business writing, including how to get started and how to get the most out of a document review meeting. 

Since his time at Amazon, Stefan has gone on to advise many companies on how to use document writing to clarify values, goals, and decisions and to efficiently review business performance. With the variety of tips, examples, and best practices Stefan shares, there is something useful in this episode for everyone – whether a novice writer or an experienced document editor. 

Mentioned in the podcast:

Stefan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stefan-haney-05016/

Vantage Leader: https://vantageleader.com/

More from the episode:

5:06 - Why written narratives are critical for outlining and testing thinking at Amazon

9:00 - What your primary goal should be when writing a business document 

10:05 - How to use "intro-clusions" to prime your reader

12:05 - Using specificity to drive efficient decisions

13:57 - Balancing how much data to use in writing, and how to avoid over writing your document

15:53 - Why you should look out for adverbs in your doc writing

17:36 - Two ways to make sure you are considering diverse functional perspectives in document writing

20:38 - Why you need an FAQ section in your document, and how to approach it

23:11 - Four steps to test a document-review process in your work

27:08 - Three examples of businesses that have found value in adopting a writing culture

29:05 - How to become a better business writer today

Dave Glick spent 20 years at Amazon as a VP responsible for building much of Amazon’s pricing, warehouse management systems, and fulfillment technology. As an early executive at Amazon, Dave played a major role in Amazon’s adoption of tenets and in how the Are Right, A Lot principle is practices at the company. In this episode, Dave shares the stories behind Amazon’s use of tenets and the focus on diverse perspectives in Amazon’s leadership principles. Dave also shares his personal best practices for helping his teams make high-judgement decisions.

Since leaving Amazon, Dave has spent the last two years at Flexe where he continues to grow teams and help craft the organization’s mechanisms. Whether you are looking to help your team make stronger decisions or are interested in benchmarking and improving your own judgement, you are sure to take away a few great nuggets from this chat with Dave.

Mentioned in the podcast:

The Lab: https://www.thelabconsult.com/

Flexe: https://www.flexe.com/

Dave on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidglick1/

More from the episode:

3:24 – This story behind Amazon tenets and how they help to “reload the cache”

6:10 – How tenets help teams to “disagree and commit”

7:58 – How a good tenet helped an Amazon team prevent customer complexity

9:32 – What to consider when creating tenets

11:30 – Why hiring good, diverse people is fundamental to teams that “are right, a lot”

13:57 – The Costanza method to practice being right a lot

15:29 – How to help your team make better decisions

17.22 – Ideas to help small teams access diverse perspectives

19:00 – Establishing must-have points to help improve decision making

21:05 – Sources for benchmarking your judgement

Andrea spent 10 years at Amazon where she led over 15 product categories, helped launch Amazon’s automated pricing system, and ran Amazon Prime for Amazon Canada. During this time, Andrea made and oversaw many decisions where speed was critical to grow nascent programs and delight customers. Since leaving Amazon in 2015, Andrea has consulted hundreds of manufacturers and helped grow an agency business while continuing to make quick, calculated decisions and learn from mistakes. 

In this episode, Andrea shares several examples from key moments in Amazon’s history where speed was critical. You’ll hear how Amazon’s Bias for Action principle can help marketplaces, service industries, and manufacturers better serve customers and make smart decisions, and you’re sure to enjoy a few fresh ideas from Andrea’s examples and advice.

Mentioned in the podcast:

Andrea on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreakleigh/

Andrea Leigh Consulting: https://andreakleighconsulting.com/

Ideoclick:  https://ideoclick.com/

More from the episode:

6:00 – A litmus test for when to lean on Bias for Action

8:50 – [Amazon Fresh example] When it’s hard to experiment with an existing customer base

11:12 – [Amazon Pricing example] How decisions can be both calculated and fast

15:55 – [Amazon Grocery example] Acting quickly to unwind a decision

19:27 – How Bias for Action can look different within a services business

22:58 – The opportunity for manufacturers to have bias for action in understanding their competitive set

25:25 – How creating an organizational tolerance for failure fosters Bias for Action

Nick spent over 5 years at Amazon where he co-founded Amazon Game Studios and led teams to grow Amazon’s partnerships with game developers. During this time, Nick also became an Amazon Bar Raiser, interviewing over 350 Amazon candidates and mentoring multiple bar raisers in training before leaving Amazon to educate job candidates and enterprise clients on Amazon’s hiring process through his company, Amazon Bound.

Listen to Nick share his tips on attracting strong applicants and developing strong performers from his time building Amazon Game Studios. You’ll also hear Nick explain what a Bar Raiser is and walk through this key role at Amazon, sharing best practices from his deep experience.

Whether you are looking for tips to improve your own ability to make strong hiring decisions or curious about what your organization should consider when developing its own Bar Raiser program, you will find battle-tested steps and advice from Nick’s experience in this important space.

Mentioned in the podcast: 

The Day One Syndicate: https://angel.co/day-one/syndicate

Amazon Bound: https://amazonbound.today/

Nick on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickdimitrov/

More from the episode:

7:12 – The origin of the Amazon’s relentless focus on hiring top performers

8:45 – How to attract top performers to your business

11:00 – Why you should develop fungible, general athletes and move them around the organization

16:41 – The Bar Raiser role at Amazon

19:26 – How to help a team make the right hiring decision by focusing on the atomic data points

21:20 – When Amazon will decide to “recycle” a strong candidate

23:00 – How Amazon centers hiring decision on data

25:23 – What pre-requisites an organization should consider to successfully implement a Bar Raiser program

28:53 – The role of the Bar Raiser in training and developing interviewers

32:23 – What should managers be thinking about to improve their hiring

Maju spent 8 years as Vice President for Amazon’s global logistics and fulfillment technology organizations. During his Amazon career, the scope of Maju’s role grew to oversee thousands of engineering, operations, and business employees across the globe. Earlier this year, Maju made the transition from Amazon to become CTO at Bolt, a startup that offers online one-click checkout technology to retailers.  

Listen in to hear Maju describe how he leads innovation across large global organizations. From pivoting fulfillment systems amid the global pandemic to creating mechanisms for encouraging innovation from all levels of the company, this episode is full of stories, ideas, and practical tips that can help any manager think about institutionalizing innovation in their business. 

Mentioned in the podcast: 

The Day One Syndicate: https://angel.co/day-one/syndicate

Bolt Careers: https://www.bolt.com/careers/

Maju on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/majukuruvilla/

More from the episode:

5:47 – Innovating fast to pivot Amazon’s air cargo operations during the global pandemic

8:22 – How to know when to pivot quickly versus preserve existing automation when working under pressure 

11:12 – Developing a future-focused mindset to prioritize innovation

14:19 – How to encourage innovation at scale across a large organization

15:50 – The blind spots to be aware of when working at scale, and how to address them

18:42 – Why patience is often required to drive strategic innovation

22:00 – The top two priorities you must have as a leader to create impact, and the key to scaling that impact 

23:21 – One of Maju’s top mechanisms for increasing organizational focus on innovation and problem solving

30:00 – Examples of Invent & Simplify alive at Bolt

32:17 – Find innovative employees by incorporating this one question with candidates

Skyler spent 8 years at Amazon in retail and data engineering leadership roles, including forming a team within Amazon Hardlines to identify and drive process improvements at scale to deliver hundreds of millions of dollars in cost savings. Key to succeeding in these nascent and disruptive projects were the lessons Skyler learned that helped his team follow the Vocally Self-critical leadership principle.

Whether you’re embarking on a new project, trying to earn trust with stakeholders, or continue to find your team running into roadblocks, you are likely to find valuable takeaways from Skyler’s examples and insights in this episode.

Mentioned in the podcast: 

Skyler on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/skylerramirez/

More from the episode:

4:37 – The history of the Vocally Self Critical leadership principle

6:30 – How being self critical can produce faster problem solving

12:00 – How to measure success on nascent projects

18:15 – Why being vocally self-critical is always better than ignoring an issue

22:53 – How to help your team become vocally self-critical

27:45 – The growing value of self-critical leaders across top tech companies

Kim spent 12 years at Amazon where she managed various retail functions across Books, Grocery, Outdoors, and Tools categories, ultimately serving as director and category leader over a multi-billion-dollar business. Over the years, Kim relied on a customer-first approach to quickly navigate new role transitions and grow successful category businesses. Kim now exercises her customer obsession as Chief Customer Officer at Microsoft where she has leveraged many of the practices picked up at Amazon to help her teams delight enterprise customers.

Listen in to hear Kim share her experience with this core Amazon leadership principle and speak to the ways Amazon leaders use customer obsession to shape weekly business deep dives, team strategy sessions, partnerships with sellers and vendors, and mechanisms to empower frontline workers. You’ll likely come away with some new ideas to try and a renewed sense for how leaders can create value for customers through their work.

Mentioned in the podcast: 

Microsoft Dynamics: http://www.dynamics.com

Kim on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kim-mathisen/

More from the episode:

3:38 – How to use a customer focus to quickly learn a new business

9:12 – Amazon’s internal practices to keep focus on the customer

16:08 – How Amazon leaders view sellers as customers

22:00 – What the difference looks like between just wanting to help customers and really obsessing over customers

27:20 – What sugar-free gummy bears can illustrate about Amazon’s customer obsession and order volume

28:40 – How Kim has applied Customer Obsession in her subsequent work at Microsoft

32:40 – Tips for building a stronger customer-centered culture in any business

Allon spent nearly 7 years at Amazon, holding senior roles across both Amazon’s e-commerce retail category businesses and as Director of Prime Now. During these roles, Allon refined his ability to dive deep into a business and understand its critical levers, a skill he first acquired as a management consultant and now applies post-Amazon as he leads portfolio operations in private equity. 

In this episode, you’ll hear how leaders can continue to stay connected to the key details of their business as their scope increases, how to prioritize when to dive deep, and why being data focused is key to the Customer Obsession principle. Tune in to hear more great ideas and approaches from Allon in this episode. 

Mentioned in the podcast: 

Allon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allonkatz/

More from the episode:

3:00 – How to stay connected to the details of a business as your scope increases

7:50 – How diving deep can help unlock resources for your team

8:35 – Ideas for being data driven in a nascent business

10:10 – How Amazon leaders prioritize where to focus amidst large amounts of data

13:25 – Finding balance between diving deep and operating at a high level

15:57 – When to trust anecdotes over aggregate data [Prime Now example]

20:34 – How a focus on data encourages an culture of ownership

22:50 – Why investing in diving deep early in a role pays dividends later in effective problem solving

24:01 – A mental model for pinpointing which data points to focus your time on

25:44 – Applying the Dive Deep principle in private equity work

Ethan Evans spent over 15 years at Amazon where he held multiple VP roles across Appstore, Twitch, and Amazon Gaming. During this time, Ethan led teams of over 800 people, launched Prime Video and Twitch Prime programs, and has been issued more than 60 patents. During Ethan’s time at Amazon, he helped craft part of the Ownership leadership principle and witnessed the S-team and countless teams demonstrate Ownership and long-term thinking. 

In our interview, Ethan shares how leaders should act in behalf of the entire company and think long term. From examples of having to push back on a request from Jeff Bezos to working with Andy Jassy and other leaders at milestone moments in Amazon history, Ethan draws from his experience to illustrate how Ownership can be demonstrated and taught within an organization. 

Follow Ethan: 

On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethanevansvp/

Website: https://ethanevans.com/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/EthanEvansVP

Podcast: https://theezcoach.libsyn.com/

More from the episode: 

4:30 – The story behind drafting the Ownership principle at Amazon

13:02 – How a billion-dollar Merch by Amazon business came to be from leaders seeing beyond their job descriptions

17:22 – The business model that Amazon has built to encourage ownership thinking

21:25 – The time Andy Jassy (incoming Amazon CEO) exemplified ownership by looking out for peer organizations in a time of crisis

23:16 – Example of 50 VPs and Directors lending their top talent to help Appstore deliver a key deliverable

26:54 – How Ownership can be taught through example and taking an outcome-focused perspective

30:00 – Fear as the enemy of Ownership, and steps to overcome this obstacle

John Olsen spent 7 years at Amazon as VP of Kindle Human Resources and VP of HR for Worldwide Operations. During these years of rapid global expansion for Amazon, John had to rely on proven principles and models to help ensure teams were making strong decisions, avoiding bias, and committed behind key goals. Since leaving Amazon in 2019, John has helped companies and boards learn to have backbone, disagree and commit in his roles as an advisor and investor. 

During our conversation, John shares how the Have Backbone, Disagree and Commit principle integrates with the other Amazon leadership principles, mental models for how to determine when a decision needs to be debated further, how to foster healthy disagreement with remote teams, and much more. 

Follow John: 

On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-olsen-808650/

More from the episode: 

3:40 – Why you can’t just disagree and commit without having backbone

6:25 – How to recognize when it’s time to move a team forward with a decision

7:49 – 6-page memos as a tool to facilitate having backbone

9:40 – How to create a culture where it’s safe to respectfully disagree with other leaders

14:00 – Decision or document bar raisers

23:00 – How to encourage disagreement and speaking up with remote teams

26:30 – When to commit and when to continue to disagree

31:00 – Applying the leadership principle in advisor and governance work

Colin spent 12 years on Amazon’s senior leadership team, including two years as “Chief of Staff” to Jeff Bezos. During this time, Colin had a front-row seat to the development and implementation of Amazon’s core operating principles and mechanisms, such as written memos, single-threaded teams, and the bar raiser program. 

In early 2021, Colin, along with fellow ex-Amazon VP Bill Carr, released the book “Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon.” 


In this episode, host Tyler Wallis sits down with Colin to discuss questions submitted by podcast listeners. The ensuing conversation dives deep into Amazon’s innovation machine, what it was like shadowing Jeff Bezos, and how companies of various sizes and industries are applying Amazon’s operating principles to realize growth in their own organizations. 

Check out Colin’s book:  https://www.workingbackwards.com/

Follow Colin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colinbryar/

Dave spent over 10 years at Amazon where he was a Technology Director prior to being asked to build the technology foundations for Bezos Academy. 

In Part 1 of our conversation, Dave shares his experience and advice on how to develop leaders and accelerate their learning and career development. During his years at Amazon, Dave coached, mentored, and promoted many Amazon leaders and was also promoted three times himself. Throughout the conversation, Dave shares insights, lessons learned, and best practices for developing the best talent. If you are working to develop your leadership scope or building your people management skills, you’ll be sure to pick up some actionable steps from this episode.

Follow Dave: 

On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scarletink/

Leadership blog: https://www.scarletink.com/

Dave spent over 10 years at Amazon where he was a Technology Director prior to being asked to build the technology foundations for Bezos Academy. 

In Part 2 of our conversation, Dave shares his experience as a bar raiser and member of Amazon’s Bar Raiser Core team, a committee tasked with directing how Amazon’s bar raiser hiring program would operate and grow. In this segment of the conversation, Dave shares how Amazon thinks about managing both the quality and quantity of bar raisers to meet the organizations growing needs and demands. Any business curious about designing, managing, or optimizing a hiring control program will find great insights from Dave’s thoughts and experience in this episode.  

Follow Dave: 

On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scarletink/

Leadership blog: https://www.scarletink.com/

Godwin spent 5 years at Amazon as a senior leader of product, retail and program teams. In each role, he led new innovations or launches for Amazon customers. Post Amazon, Godwin spent two years leading a business turnaround and is currently the co-founder at a real-estate tech startup where he continues to leverage the innovation processes he practiced at Amazon. 

In this episode, you’ll hear how Godwin uses customer focus and document writing to develop and refine new solutions for customers. Specifically, Godwin shares how he uses Press Release and Frequently Asked Question (PRFAQ) doc writing to clarify customer benefits and business requirements, which Amazon leadership principles he’s leveraged in businesses outside of Amazon, and why he continues to use written narratives in his startup work today. 

Mentioned in the podcast: 

Godwin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/godwinpavamani/

Vive: https://gotvive.com/

John Rossman joined Amazon in 2002 as Director of Merchant Integration where he led the launch of Amazon’s 3P marketplace business. John also went on to lead the e-commerce solutions business for enterprise clients such as Target.com and Toys R Us before leaving in late 2005 to advise many companies on innovation and digital strategy and write three books on applying Amazon’s principles and mechanisms in business. 

In our conversation, we discuss the foundational considerations and steps to launching Amazon’s seller marketplace, including tradeoffs and key internal decisions to think long term about building a platform business. We examine the Invent & Simplify leadership principle and several practices leaders can take to better operate their businesses while continually innovating. Finally, we discuss Amazon’s newly-released leadership principles and what the next 25 years may look like for Amazon.

Learn more about John: 

On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-rossman/

At Rossman Partners: https://the-amazon-way.com/rossman-partners

Published Books: https://the-amazon-way.com/books/

More from the episode: 

1:50 – What it was like joining Amazon in 2002

7:20 – Amazon’s early vision for its Marketplace business and focus on customer trust

11:45 – The challenges to launching an integrated and seamless online shopping experience

17:45 – Forcing functions to help leaders ensure simplicity and clarity

21:50 – Early efforts to simplify selling on Amazon for brands and resellers

26:10 – Clarifying and simplifying as hallmark attributes of Amazon

28:50 – Learning from Amazon’s focus on measurement to create action and accountability

31:26 – Thoughts on Amazon’s two new leadership principles

Elizabeth spent 15 years at Amazon where she grew multiple billion-dollar businesses and held several roles including Director of Lawn & Garden and Director and General Manager of Business & Technology for Selling Partner Success prior to joining Kraft Heinz as VP of Global eCommerce. 

In our conversation, Elizabeth shares the people-leadership practices that she built throughout her Amazon career and continues to apply in her role at Kraft Heinz. We also dig into how to balance flexibility with having relentlessly high standards and how to develop operational excellence when leading nascent businesses. You’ll be sure to enjoy Elizabeth’s candid advice, stories, and mechanisms throughout this episode. 

Mentioned in the podcast: 

Elizabeth on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-bennett-5b82361/

Faisal spent over 7 years at Amazon as a Director over the early growth of several businesses including Mobile Electronics, Amazon Warehouse, Amazon BuyBack, Amazon TradeIn, and Amazon Basics. Building these programs  helped Faisal hone his ability to Dive Deep into business processes and health. Since leaving Amazon in 2011, Faisal held a number of VP and C-level roles for companies such as eBay, Groupon, Staples, and Google, before joining Fabric as CEO in 2020. 

In this episode, Faisal shares key examples and insights about the Dive Deep principle and his approach to leadership and building an organizational culture. At Fabric – a fast-growing tech startup with two funding rounds in the first half 2021 – Faisal has pulled talent, practices, and values from Amazon, Google, and other top companies to form the current culture at Fabric. Listeners are likely to find valuable insights into how leaders can evaluate the best principles of past companies and apply them in their current work and team building.  

Mentioned in the podcast:

Fabric: fabric.inc

Faisal on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/faisal/

Faisal on Twitter: @FaisMasud

Coffee + Commerce Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/coffee-commerce/id1546141800


More from the episode:

1:40 – Faisal’s journey at Amazon and insights behind the businesses he led

7:20 – Challenges to scaling Amazon TradeIn

9:20 – Single-threaded leaders and document writing as key mechanisms to drive stakeholder engagement

10:29 – Using customer-level anecdotes and asking uncomfortable questions to understand the health of a business

20:00 – Dive Deep mechanisms from Amazon that have and have not transferred well in other organizations

25:33 – Top leadership practices that Faisal picked up outside of Amazon

29:16 – Establishing cultural values (i.e. leadership principles) at Fabric

30:49 – Amazon practices and principles adapted at Fabric

34:25 – How leaders can Dive Deep, regardless of the business culture they find themselves in

Kyle spent over 7 years at Amazon where he launched multiple billion-dollar programs, including Amazon Renewed and Amazon Exclusives – now known as Amazon Launchpad. Since leaving Amazon in 2020, Kyle has co-founded two companies, The Lab Consult, which helps e-commerce brands implement systems to scale profitably online, and Foundry Brands, an FBA brand aggregator that recently raised $100M to buy and grow consumer brands.

In this episode, Kyle shares examples of how listening to his customers (Amazon sellers) helped him to Think Big and set a vision for programs that have grown into billion-dollar Amazon businesses. Kyle's methods of asking questions and uncovering opportunities, and his insights on when to bet big on new initiatives, offer usable tips for aspiring entrepreneurs both inside larger companies and setting out to launch the next big thing.


Mentioned in the podcast:

The Lab Consult: https://www.thelabconsult.com/

Foundry Brands: https://www.foundrybrands.com/

Kyle on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-walker-a2697015/

Melissa spent 19 years at Amazon, progressing through over ten roles that included Technical Advisor to Jeff Wilke, VP of Sports, Outdoors, and Toys, and VP of Sales and Marketing for Amazon Devices. After leaving Amazon, Melissa spent a year as COO of Glossier and recently launched a venture-backed startup, Modern Age, to help people live longer, healthier, happier lives. 

In our conversation, we discuss Amazon’s Learn & Be Curious principle and how consistent curiosity and focused learning have helped Melissa find success throughout her career while innovating for customers and developing others along the way. If you’ve found yourself wanting to live an invigorating career and stay excited about each day of work, you’re sure to find practical advice in Melissa’s wisdom and inspiration from her journey.

Mentioned in the podcast: 

Modern Age: https://modern-age.com/

Melissa on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirmayer/

Dave spent nearly 12 years at Amazon moving from a Development Manager to a Technology Director. In early 2020, Dave took on the role as Head of Technology for Bezos Academy where he spent over a year building their technology foundation. Since leaving Amazon and Bezos Academy in 2021, Dave has begun publishing regular leadership articles on his newsletter, Scarlet Ink.

In this episode, Dave and I dive into the Frugality principle and how it is ingrained in the resource allocation, long-term thinking, and innovation engine of Amazon. Dave shares how frugality, when properly applied, can lead to better product roadmaps, higher profit, greater levels of innovation, and improved employee engagement and autonomy. Dave also shares a few of the needed ingredients an organization should include to mitigate the potential downsides of a constraints-based approach to assigning resources and defining roadmaps.  

Mentioned in the podcast:

Scarlet Ink: https://www.scarletink.com/ 

Dave on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scarletink/

Chad spent nearly 16 years at Amazon which included roles as Director of Fulfillment by Amazon and Director of Global Sales. Having joined Amazon in 1999, Chad helped build and develop many teams to lead these and other core Amazon businesses. Chad left Amazon in 2015 to build and co-lead The Goelzer Home Team and improve the customer focus and use of technology in real estate. 

In this episode, you’ll enjoy Chad’s passion for creating and communicating a business vision and building teams. Chad shares his framework for building a team and making key hires as well as his fresh approach to inviting deep questions about business health. You’ll be sure to enjoy Chad’s enthusiasm, candor, and advice throughout this episode. 

Mentioned in the podcast: 

The Goelzer Home Team: https://goelzerhometeam.com/

Follow us on LinkedIn! https://www.linkedin.com/company/think-like-amazon-podcast/

Justin spent 10 years at Amazon where he helped lead Baby Registry to becoming the #1 US registry, reinvented the vendor negotiation process that led to $1B in profitability improvements, and received a "Just Do It" award from Jeff Bezos for inventing a new communication system for vendors and sellers. In 2019, Justin left his role as Director of Amazon Device Sales and Marketing Technology to pursue several entrepreneurial endeavors. Today, Justin is the CEO of Data Spark, a technology company bringing actionable insights to brands and sellers on Walmart Marketplace.

In this episode, Justin returns to the podcast to discuss Amazon’s Earn Trust principle. As you listen, you’ll hear Justin share actionable steps to build stronger trust as a leader in your organization. A few highlights from our conversation include:

·        Why Earn Trust is the principle that surfaces most as people move up in their career

·        How one Amazon VP turned Earn Trust into a mechanism

·        The 4 elements that make up trust

·        Dealing with a blind spot and why Justin spent a whole day traveling for a 30-minute 1:1 meeting that made all the difference

·        Taming the ego by remembering what you want the most and the power of option

Mentioned in the podcast: 

Data Spark:  https://dataspark.co/

Justin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinmaner/

Follow us on LinkedIn! https://www.linkedin.com/company/think-like-amazon-podcast/

Mandy spent over 13 years at Amazon across a number of roles including as leader of product management, marketing, and retail buying teams, running Prime Pantry, leading the supply chain function for Amazon Private Label, and leading worldwide employee performance management programs. Since Amazon, Mandy has joined The Bouqs, an innovative e-commerce floral delivery service, where she is now VP of People and applying her input focused approach to driving improvements to organizational health. 

In this episode, Mandy shares how gaining broad functional experience in the first half of a career can be a key asset as a leader, the 3 pillars to becoming an effective multi-function leader, how to use inputs to make decisions at a large scale, and why organizations should collect more employee data to navigate successfully through changing work environments. If you’re trying to scale your impact, are involved in people management, or perhaps are just curious about how to leverage your past functional experience, this is a conversation you won't want to miss.

Mentioned in the episode:

The Bouqs:  Bouqs.com

Mandy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mandybottorff/

Follow us on LinkedIn! https://www.linkedin.com/company/think-like-amazon-podcast/

Umer spent nearly 12 years at Amazon as a software development leader across a diverse set of businesses including Amazon’s data warehouse, reverse logistics, Prime Now program, Amazon Fresh, and Whole Foods Market. Umer left Amazon in early 2018 to co-found Veeve, a contact-less shopping checkout solution, and in early 2021, Umer took on the role of CTO at fabric.inc, a high-growth startup providing headless commerce solutions for retail businesses.

In this interview, Umer shares how Amazon mechanisms helped him scale businesses to hundreds of employees and billions in revenue. Umer discusses how he identifies the right objectives and mechanisms needed to fit the core goals and lifecycle of a businesses and when to think about improving or changing and pivot existing mechanisms. You’ll also here examples of three mechanisms that Umer used at Amazon and has successfully applied in leading tech startups: Corrections of Errors, PRFAQs, and Change Management. Umer also addresses how mechanisms can help with VC fundraising and in building company culture.

Mentioned in the Episode: 

fabric Blog: https://resources.fabric.inc/blog

Umer on Twitter: @umersadiq 

Follow us on LinkedIn! https://www.linkedin.com/company/think-like-amazon-podcast/

Steve spent over 20 years as a VP at Amazon where he launched multiple businesses and led organizations around the globe. During his Amazon career, Steve spent time as the country manager for Amazon UK and Amazon China, in addition to roles leading North American Retail expansion and the rollout of international consumer programs. 

In this first installment of our two-episode conversation with Steve, we discuss Amazon’s approach to expanding businesses internationally and what it was like to lead international teams during Amazon’s earlier years. Steve shares how Amazon prioritized efforts to launch internationally, including a few mistakes made along the way and the mental models that ultimately led to Amazon’s international success. 

You’ll also hear Steve share: 

·        How to manage risk and capital expenditure when setting the pace for international expansion

·        When to copy past models vs. create a localized strategy

·        The four decision buckets that need should be covered when launching a new country, and the relative Importance of getting each category right

·        A few costly mistakes, and how Amazon learned from these experiences

·        How to adapt a launch strategy in step with the growing product or service offering of your business

·        Practices for disseminating learning during a launch in order to de-risk future market launches

Steve on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sfrazier/

Follow us on LinkedIn! https://www.linkedin.com/company/think-like-amazon-podcast/

In part two of this 2-episode special with Steve Frazier, a former 20-year Amazon VP, we pick up in talking about how to use data, focus on inputs, and exercise strong judgement in prioritizing your team’s attention in a scaling business.

You’ll hear Steve share: 

·        Why businesses should focus on operational performance reviews, even on day 1

·        The 2 magical metrics that helped Amazon stay focused on the right actions as it scaled

·        The litmus test for a leader to know they have their team focused on the right inputs

·        Why Amazon focuses on the smallest defects in performance

·        Learning from both successes and failures

·        How being a reporter for The Wall Street Journal helped shape Steve’s approach in business

Steve on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sfrazier/

Follow us on LinkedIn! https://www.linkedin.com/company/think-like-amazon-podcast/

Jennifer spent over 16 years at Amazon across various roles that included Financial Analyst, Product Manager, Head of Vendor Management, and Category Leader. During this time, Jennifer’s teams helped create new input metrics and ask questions to evolve Amazon’s use of data in the quest for operational excellence. Jennifer has since taken this ability to lead through data and questioning to launch a marketplace service for BuildDirect Technologies and consult various consumer brands in their Amazon and e-commerce negotiations and growth strategies. 

In this episode, Jennifer shares context behind her career journey and how she used preceding roles to prepare for later leadership roles as Amazon director and executive at Build Direct. She also shared practical examples from her experience asking questions and identifying data to improve business operations. 

You’ll also hear Jennifer share:

·        How increased transparency into variable product costs quickly clarified needed actions

·        Why Dive Deep is such a fundamental principle for managing a P&L and marketplace business

·        How listening to key customer anecdotes helped create a better assortment strategy in the Watches category

·        How leaders can apply the Dive Deep principle when moving to a completely new business

·        How to improve negotiations with the right use of questions and data

Jennifer on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-arthur-460768/

Jennifer’s email: jennifer@jmaconsultingco.com

Follow us on LinkedIn! https://www.linkedin.com/company/think-like-amazon-podcast/