The Amazon Way: 14 Leadership Principles Behind the World's Most Disruptive Company

Maintaining an atmosphere of urgency (see chapter 8, “Bias for Action”) is crucial.

I talk about the concept of “managing dependencies.” Part of a great lecture I heard at Amazon was, “It is not okay to fail because of a breakdown of dependencies. That’s a failure of leadership.”

Jeff understands that a lack of trust perpetuates fear. If you fail to earn the trust of your team members, fear eventually becomes their primary driver. They will fear your opinions. They will fear your decisions and evaluations. They will fear failure. They will fear you. Once fear becomes dominant, the organization can barely operate, let alone

clarity—clarity in the setting of goals, the communication of those goals throughout the organization, the establishment of metrics, and the use of those metrics in gauging the success or failure of any initiative.

as any major initiative unfolds at Amazon. com, Jeff stays as close to the project team and its data as he can, not only monitoring it but questioning it, poking holes in it, and examining every facet down to the smallest detail.

That’s where the metrics come in. Creating an operational environment that automates processes and makes them clear and transparent allows you to invest more time and energy on the thornier issues that require more work and creativity.

The logical corollary was that the key to creating the most pleasant, frictionless customer experience possible was minimizing human involvement through process innovation and technology.

“He likes you,” one explains with a pat on the shoulder. “He wouldn’t take the time to embarrass you like that if he didn’t.”

It was not uncommon for senior people at Amazon to be able to talk with knowledge and authority about details of a project that was not in their own department, let alone under their direction.