Let's dive into the often-discussed, and for many, deeply problematic, world of Amazon's Leadership Principles (LPs) through the lens of someone who's seen them in action. As a former Amazonian, I've spent a lot of time reflecting on my experience and the countless stories shared by others. While these principles are often lauded externally and presented as pillars of Amazon's success, many employees discover a far darker reality in how they are implemented and weaponized internally.
Let's pull back the curtain on "The Dark Side of Leadership Principles."
Amazon’s Leadership Principles are 16 core tenets that supposedly guide every decision and action within the company. They were designed to “frame conversations.” On paper, they sound admirable – aspirational goals for building a thriving, customer-focused business. But for many employees, the application of these principles creates a culture of fear, burnout, and mistrust. The stories I have (FACEs of Amazon, now gone but not forgotten), including my own, paint a clear picture of this disconnect.
The Dark Side of Amazon's Leadership Principles
Amazon's Leadership Principles are famous. They're talked about in interviews, referenced in meetings, and appear to be the cultural bedrock of a wildly successful company. But for many of us who've worked there, the reality is starkly different from the polished external image. These principles, while seemingly positive, can be twisted for nefarious purposes. The stories shared by former and current employees reveal how these guiding lights often cast long, demoralizing shadows.
Let's explore some of the most impactful examples:
1. Customer Obsession
The Promise: The principle is about starting with the customer and working backward, earning and keeping customer trust. It's about focusing intensely on customer needs.
The Perversion: ... Customer Obsession can mean stalking customers, ignoring privacy concerns, or exploiting their data for profit. It can also manifest as an intense focus on the external customer at the complete neglect of internal employees, who are often treated as disposable resources to serve that external customer.
In Practice: A negative example is a company using intrusive tracking to gather personal info for targeted advertising, justifying it as understanding customer needs. In the stories, this perversion extends to employees. One former employee states, "Being an employee of Amazon is exactly the opposite of being a customer here". Another highlights how Jeff Bezos is lauded for customer service but ignores how employees are treated. Some report that customer service roles involve deceiving customers to close issues or that managers only care about customers who spend money, not the employees themselves. The intense focus on customer experience stands in stark contrast to the disregard for employee well-being.
2. Ownership
The Promise: Owners are long-term thinkers, acting on behalf of the entire company, and never saying "that's not my job".
The Perversion: ... Ownership can mean micromanaging employees, blaming others for failures, or refusing to collaborate. Managers can take credit for team successes but deflect responsibility when things go wrong. This twisting of the principle creates an environment where managers prioritize their own success by stepping on others.
In Practice: An example is a manager taking credit for a team's success but blaming others for failures. (This resonates deeply with me.) Many accounts detail managers blaming employees for problems they didn't cause, sometimes to save their own careers. The idea that "that's not my job" is replaced by "that's your job (so I can blame you)" or simply shifting blame to protect oneself. Collaboration is often replaced by an "every man for himself" mentality where helping others is seen as a risk.
3. Invent and Simplify
The Promise: Leaders expect and require innovation and invention, and always find ways to simplify.
The Perversion: ... Invent and Simplify can encourage reckless experimentation, cutting corners on safety, or ignoring user feedback. It can lead to rushing products to market with known flaws, creating technical debt, and implementing chaotic processes under the guise of simplification or innovation.
In Practice: A company rushing a product to market with known flaws to be seen as innovative is a negative example. The stories reveal this manifests internally as well. Employees report constantly patching broken systems held together with "garbage code" instead of fixing them properly. There's pressure to get "meaningless things done fast". Cutting corners on safety is explicitly mentioned in warehouse contexts, leading to injuries. Managers may ignore employee feedback or ideas, opting for quick, often poorly planned actions. The "blank whiteboard" approach to management hiring means inexperienced managers are thrown in to "figure it out", potentially leading to reckless, unsimplified or hacky solutions.
4. Are Right, A Lot
The Promise: Leaders are often right, possess strong judgment and good instincts, and seek diverse perspectives.
The Perversion: ... this principle cultivates an arrogant culture, suppresses dissenting opinions, or ignores evidence that contradicts beliefs. Managers can use it to dismiss concerns or silence those who disagree. This creates an environment where speaking truth to power is dangerous.
In Practice: A leader dismissing concerns about feasibility, insisting they are always right and silencing dissent, is a negative example. In the shared experiences, this is rampant. Managers and senior leaders are described as having huge egos, being arrogant, and lashing out when questioned. Employees report being "corrected like a child" or told their performance data is "just luck" when it contradicts a manager's view. Trying to challenge managers or suggest improvements can lead to being labeled "disruptive", or worse, PIP’d. The focus shifts from finding the right answer together to winning arguments and being seen as "right" individually.
5. Learn and Be Curious
The Promise: Leaders are never done learning and seek to explore new possibilities.
The Perversion: ... this can involve snooping into employees' personal lives, engaging in corporate espionage, or using "learning" as an excuse for procrastination. It can also justify constant monitoring and a lack of privacy under the guise of understanding behavior. More broadly, it fails when the company doesn't invest in employee learning and development.
In Practice: Justifying monitoring internet activity to foster learning while actually tracking productivity and loyalty is a negative example. Employees report feeling constantly watched and tracked, living in a "surveilled and data-mining context". Managers may demand reports on employee behavior rather than teaching them, leading to "snooping" being part of the job description. Furthermore, many stories complain about a severe lack of training and development opportunities; employees are often left to "figure it out" on their own. The principle seems to apply only to discovering new business opportunities, not investing in the human capital already present.
6. Hire and Develop the Best
The Promise: Leaders raise the performance bar with every hire and promotion, recognize exceptional talent, and develop leaders.
The Perversion: ... this principle results in creating a cutthroat environment, promoting favoritism, or neglecting employee well-being. It can lead to prioritizing hiring young, ambitious individuals with high burnout potential, viewing them as easily replaceable. This contributes to the high turnover rate and a culture of disposability.
In Practice: Prioritizing hiring young, easily replaceable individuals with high burnout potential is a negative example. This is a core theme in the stories. As is “getting rid” of employees about to reach their 3rd year RSUs. Amazon is described as "burning through quality" hires, having "absurdly low morale" despite good pay, and a culture where "employees are regarded as disposable". Favoritism is rampant in hiring, promotions, and team assignments. The "bar" is often raised not on performance but on political savvy or willingness to engage in unethical behavior. Many feel hired to be "chewed up and spit out". Some have complained of “hire to fire” practices due to “unregretted attrition” (URA) - that for all intents and purposes is an institutionalized decimation of high performing teams.
7. Insist on the Highest Standards
The Promise: Leaders have relentlessly high standards, constantly raising the bar and driving teams to deliver high quality products, services, and processes.
The Perversion: ... this creates an atmosphere of fear and anxiety, setting impossible goals, or promoting unethical behavior to achieve results. It can lead to demanding perfection and punishing any minor mistake.
In Practice: A manager demanding unrealistic sales targets, leading employees to deceptive practices, is a negative example. The stories are filled with accounts of impossible goals and crushing pressure. Employees report constant fear of losing their jobs over minor issues. Unethical practices are described as commonplace to meet demands, from faking metrics to pressuring employees to work while sick or injured. The intense scrutiny on performance is used to find reasons to fire people. In some case, the WBR leads to mad rushes on weekends to get whatever data is available - and has also led employees to develop hypertension and worse ailments.
8. Think Big
The Promise: Thinking Small is a self-fulfilling prophecy; leaders create and communicate a bold direction that inspires results.
The Perversion: ... this can encourage reckless expansion, overpromising to investors, or ignoring ethical considerations in pursuit of growth. The focus on "big" numbers and growth can overshadow the human cost.
In Practice: A company investing heavily in risky ventures disregarding environmental impact or stakeholder harm is a negative example. Within Amazon, "Thinking Big" can be used to justify pushing employees past their limits for ambitious goals, sometimes even without clear planning. The focus on rapid growth can mean corners are cut elsewhere, including employee treatment. Overpromising in recruitment to meet ambitious hiring targets is also frequently mentioned. Some stories link this relentless pursuit of growth and scale to ignoring ethical concerns and treating employees poorly.
9. Bias for Action
The Promise: Speed matters in business; many decisions and actions are reversible and do not need extensive study.
The Perversion: ... this involves making impulsive decisions, neglecting thorough analysis, or rushing into actions without considering consequences. It can lead to poorly planned projects and constant firefighting.
In Practice: A company hastily implementing a new policy without proper testing is a negative example. In the stories, this principle is linked to a chaotic work environment, arbitrary changes, and managers acting impulsively or without proper planning. It can mean employees are expected to "figure it out and do it yourself" without guidance or that quick "hacks" are prioritized over proper engineering. One story recounts a manager commending an employee's "bias for action" (working nights and weekends) while simultaneously criticizing their process as "unprofessional". The pressure for speed often results in errors and neglect of analysis.
10. Frugality
The Promise: Accomplish more with less; constraints breed resourcefulness, self-sufficiency, and invention.
The Perversion: ... this means underpaying employees, cutting corners on quality, or neglecting essential investments. It can be used to justify poor working conditions and lack of support.
In Practice: A company refusing to upgrade outdated equipment or invest in training is a negative example. The stories frequently mention low pay, especially in fulfillment centers, and insufficient breaks. "Frugality" is cited as a reason for issues like not providing training or expecting managers to work excessive hours without overtime pay. Employees describe penny-pinching on perks like parking or mobile phone expenses. The stock vesting schedule is seen as a way to retain employees temporarily while minimizing payout, exploiting their need for the sign-on bonus or future stock.
11. Earn Trust
The Promise: Leaders listen attentively, speak candidly, and treat others respectfully; they are vocally self-critical, even when doing so is awkward or embarrassing; they benchmark themselves and their teams against the best.
The Perversion: ... this can involve manipulating employees' emotions, using guilt to enforce loyalty, or pretending to be transparent while hiding ulterior motives. It can be used to justify backstabbing and dishonesty. Managers can use anonymous feedback tools to target employees.
In Practice: A leader publicly praising an employee while privately undermining them is a negative example. The stories are rife with accounts of dishonesty and lack of trust. Anonymous feedback is described as a tool for "ganging up" and getting colleagues in trouble based on lies. Escalating issues to HR or senior leadership, supposedly protected actions, often results in retaliation and being pushed out. Managers are described as outright lying to employees, including in performance reviews. The principle is seen as a way for managers to accuse employees of failing to "earn trust" as a pretext for negative reviews or termination.
12. Dive Deep
The Promise: Leaders operate at all levels, stay connected to the details, audit frequently, and are skeptical when metrics and anecdotes differ.
The Perversion: ... this involves micromanaging every detail, undermining employees' autonomy, or using data to justify preconceived notions. It can lead managers to obsessively track employees and use minor discrepancies against them.
In Practice: A manager obsessively tracking employees' every move to accuse them of incompetence is a negative example. Micromanagement is a recurring complaint, described as extending to tracking bathroom breaks, minor parking errors, or tiny lateness issues. Managers are seen as nitpicking details rather than focusing on the big picture. The principle is interpreted as managers needing to know everything employees are doing, often without understanding the work themselves. Instead of using data objectively, managers manipulate or ignore it to serve their political agendas.
13. Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit
The Promise: Leaders are obligated to respectfully challenge decisions when they disagree, even when doing so is uncomfortable or exhausting; they have conviction and are tenacious; they do not compromise for the sake of social cohesion; once a decision is determined, they commit wholly.
The Perversion: ... this fosters a culture of conflict, belittling opposing viewpoints, or undermining team morale through relentless disagreement. It can punish respectful disagreement, leading to fear of speaking up.
In Practice: A leader constantly challenging every team decision, creating a toxic environment, is a negative example. Employees report being belittled or shut down when they disagree or point out problems. Challenging a manager, even respectfully, can lead to retaliation. The principle is twisted to mean managers are always right and employees must blindly commit, punishing those who show "backbone" as being "disruptive". The constant conflict and backstabbing creates a toxic and demoralizing atmosphere.
14. Deliver Results
The Promise: Leaders focus on the key inputs for their business and deliver them with the right quality and in a timely fashion.
The Perversion: ... this promotes a culture of overwork, prioritizing results at the expense of employee well-being, or ignoring ethical concerns in pursuit of success. It fuels the "churn and burn" mentality.
In Practice: A company pressuring employees to work long hours and sacrifice personal lives for results is a negative example. This is perhaps the most widely reported issue in the stories. Employees consistently report impossible workloads, mandatory excessive overtime, and a complete lack of work-life balance. Managers push employees to meet targets regardless of the human cost, leading to burnout, health issues, and quitting. Ethical concerns are often ignored in the drive for results and metrics. Success is often achieved by stepping on others or claiming their work, reinforcing a toxic competitive environment.
15. Strive to be Earth's Best Employer
The Promise: Leaders work every day to create a safer, more productive, higher performing, more diverse, and more just work environment.
The Perversion: ... this means using superficial perks to mask poor working conditions, promoting a false sense of inclusivity, or exploiting employees' desire for a positive work environment. It's seen as a PR tool to cover systemic issues.
In Practice: A company boasting about a "fun" work environment while ignoring discrimination, harassment, and low wages is a negative example. Many stories highlight the disconnect between Amazon's public image and internal reality. While some enjoy perks like dogs in the office or free bananas in Seattle, these are seen as masking systemic issues like discrimination (age, disability, race, gender, sexual orientation) and harassment. This principle is often seen as pure propaganda.
16. Success and Scale Bring Broad Responsibility
The Promise: Amazon is a large company and is under scrutiny, taking pride in their impact and considering the local effects of their decisions.
The Perversion: ... this means using corporate social responsibility as a PR tool, engaging in greenwashing, or prioritizing profits over ethical considerations. It's a façade that hides underlying issues.
In Practice: A company pledging to reduce carbon footprint while investing in harmful practices is a negative example. The stories suggest Amazon leverages its scale and success for profit while ignoring the negative impact on local economies, the environment, or worker well-being. Initiatives like raising minimum wage or philanthropic efforts are sometimes viewed cynically as PR reactions to negative press rather than genuine commitment to responsibility. The massive growth in employee count is seen as coming at the cost of individual employee treatment and retention.
It's clear from these accounts that the Amazon Leadership Principles, while potentially effective tools for driving business results and customer satisfaction, are frequently distorted and misused within the internal culture. This distortion creates a workplace experience characterized by fear, intense pressure, lack of trust, and a feeling of being disposable. For many, surviving at Amazon means learning to navigate this perverse application of the LPs, often at the expense of personal well-being and ethical integrity.
These are not isolated incidents; they are recurring themes reported by employees across different roles and locations. Until Amazon addresses this fundamental problem in how its leadership principles are applied and managers are held accountable, the "dark side" will continue to overshadow the promise of a truly innovative and great place to work.
