Strive to be Earth's best employer

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Strive to be Earth’s best employer

The 15th leadership principle of Amazon is “Strive to be the best employer on Earth”.

1. How does Amazon explain the principle, what it means?

For Amazon, the best employer means someone who employs the best people.

Amazon relates this new principle to leadership principle #6, “Hire and develop the best. But it takes the idea in #6, a few steps further.

Leaders with their work every day create a safer, more productive, more diverse and fairer work environment. Leaders have a vision, they have empathy and commitment to the personal success of their employees, leaders have fun at work, they create a work environment where others have fun.

Are you a leader? Whether it is on Amazon or elsewhere.

Here are the questions that every leader asks himself:

  • Are my fellow employees growing?
  • Are they authorized?
  • Are they ready for the next one?

2. Main ideas introduced by the principle

The leader at Amazon must provide the following principles:

- Security

Safe work for workers at greatest risk of accidents at work. Such as warehouse workers, drivers.

- Diversity

Hiring more diverse staff, as most of the top leaders are white men. Creating a more diverse team.

- Justice

The difference between right and wrong is important for Amazon leaders.

- Fun

The leader’s task is to create a work environment in which he and other employees will have fun.

- Empathy

Amazon requires its leaders to show empathy for employees. And that means taking the time to understand the employees’ point of view, to understand their problems and to find ways to overcome those problems.

- More productive / higher performance /

Standard team management ideas. Focus on personal success, growth, and employee empowerment.

In the interview, Amazon tests you to see if you are a leader who will provide all these principles. Below are the questions you need to expect in the interview:

  • What routines have you established in your workplace to improve safety?
  • When was the last time you constructed a team? What factors did you consider and did you factor in diversity?
  • How did you balance work requirements, team skill composition, and team stretch opportunities? How did you ensure team members were able to work effectively together?
  • What is the composition of your current team? How is your team organized?
  • How do you deal with managing a team of different backgrounds, levels, and skills?
  • How do you tell the difference between “right” and “wrong” as it applies to your job? What does it mean to you to be a “just”-manager?
  • How have you made your employees excited about coming to work?
  • Tell me about a time when you made the wrong assumptions about a direct report or a peer. How did you unearth the wrong assumption? How did you correct it and how did you prevent it from happening again?
  • How do you help your team members develop their careers? Give me two to three examples of a specific person in whom you invested and how you helped them develop their careers, including one who wasn’t being successful but in whom you saw potential and invested?
  • Give me an example of a time you provided feedback to develop and leverage the strengths of someone on your team. Were you able to positively impact that person’s performance? What were your most effective methods?
  • How do you manage your top performers differently?
  • Can you give me an example of someone who has promoted one or two levels up in the organization, not just because they were a star who would naturally rise, but because of your coaching efforts.
  • How have you been successful at empowering either a person or a group to accomplish a task?
  • Tell me about a time when you could remove a serious roadblock preventing your team from making progress.

4. In your answers you should show that you care about safety, you value people who are not like you, that you recognize powerful performers and mentor them. You should show that you try to help your people grow, that you make it a priority to coach and teach employees, and that you provide regular feedback.

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