Amazon Leadership Principles

There are 14 leadership principles that Jeff Bezos himself wrote for Amazon. Some of them seem to overlap, and some of them don't even seem like principles. I'm looking at you 'Invent and Simplify'. The principles that resonate with me are:

• Customer obsession
• Ownership
• Bias for Action
• Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit
• Dive Deep

Customer obsession

It's too easy to be doing something just for the sake of doing it. But with every task or feature that we work on, we have an obligation to ask ourselves and others around us, how will this help the customer?

Ownership

Having a strong sense of ownership likely means a highly engaged and motivated worker. Lack of solid ownership can be when people are knowingly cutting corners that will cause damaging effects in the future. Owners don't trade short terms outcomes for long-term outcomes and are more likely to step up when needed.

Bias for Action

In general, having a bias for action is a great principle to have in life. In the age of the internet, we can spend hours debating the best way to do something, but nothing beats the experience of simply trying to do it and iterating. In business, things move fast, and you want to be able to move with them. Most decisions are easily reversible and don't require as many discussions.

Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit

Disagreeing and arguing your case comfortably is an important skill to have as it helps cultivate better ideas. But at the same time, when something is agreed upon, we should commit 100%.

Dive Deep

People like being lead by people they can learn from or have respect for. A leader operating at a deep level of understanding will make better decisions and help others do the same.