| I’m a recently joined SDM in AWS. I do not mean to negate your years of experience. I expect to find exactly your experience as my time progresses and I see more teams. I find that a lot of Amazon’s management systems appear to be built as safeguards against the pitfalls less experienced leaders might not know how to handle. Unfortunately it is optimized for the “least common denominator” of human collaboration, which is basically coercing individuals to behave like machines. I agree with your characterization of the problem. I would go so far as to say that I disagree with the system in a philosophical manner. It is opposite of good leadership, in motivating humans to grow, innovate, and create success, in my understanding. Yet I cannot ignore Amazon’s market success; it may have succeeded in spite of these flaws. I do not know how long I will stay. I anticipate a deep enough philosophical conflict to motivate my eventual exit. Until then, my team will benefit from stronger cohesion, shared knowledge, clearer prioritization, growth, work life balance, and ultimately happiness. Some of them have taken their first vacations in the last few years, in the few months of my tenure so far, because of the changes we’ve embraced. I will create a healthy environment of leadership for my team, and we will succeed. We will show Amazon what is required, as long as I can. If past experience is any indication, I will carry my team’s allegiance because I look out for their interests, individually and collectively. And when we deliver strategic advancements, we will gain autonomy. If not, I know that my talents can be impactful elsewhere. I hope that I can quell the tide of dynamics of which you warn. |
I keep waiting for that shoe to drop, and so far it hasn't.
We recently had an off-site meeting for everyone in the organization under our L10, and I now feel so much better about where we are going and how we are going to get there. I didn't realize how much pent up angst I had until the end of the first day of the off-site, and I felt like a huge weight had been taken off my shoulders, and that I had finally seen the light.
That said, my history with employers is that everything can be perfect and great up to a certain point, and then there is a sudden change. In the past, that change has usually been because of a change in leadership somewhere, possibly just down at the level of the new manager hired right above me.
After that change, what was one of the best places I've ever worked suddenly becomes one of the worst. I've seen this happen time after time at virtually every single employer I've had since 1989. I can count on one hand the number of times where this didn't happen.
So, I will continue to keep an eye out for that dropping shoe. But I will also continue to enjoy working on this team, with these people, and this leadership.
And with any luck, we will be able to successfully change the world for the better.