Interviewing at Amazon – 14 Leadership Principles

Every company has their own set of principles that defines the culture of the company. Amazon is no different. In fact, Amazon has 14 clearly defined leadership principles that every employee is trained to embody every single day to help grow the vision of Jeff Bezos and make Amazon the most customer centric company in the world.

If you are planning to interview at Amazon, you must study the 14 leadership principles because the whole interview will be based around them. Every question will fit into one of the 14 leadership principles and you must clearly explain how you have demonstrated it in your past experience.

When preparing for your interview, make sure you have multiple examples that you can talk about so that you don’t keep reusing the same couple examples multiple times. Your interviewer will ask for another example if your first example didn’t satisfy what they were looking for. In addition, you will get many follow up questions about your example; sometimes up to five! This is done to make sure that what you are telling the interviewer is true and what you actually did – not what your teammate did or what you think they want you to say.

I strongly encourage you to not embellish or lie about your examples during the interview, as hard as that can be. If you get stuck and can’t think about an example to give, you can demonstrate the principle – Earn Trust – by saying one of the following: 1) “Can we come back to that question later?”, or 2) “I haven’t experienced that before but this is what I would have done….”.

The best advice I can give you during the interview, is to just be yourself. That is what Amazon is looking for! If you feel like your examples aren’t good enough or that you have to embellish a little bit, then it might be a sign that you’re not ready to work at Amazon – and that is totally okay! Amazon is a very demanding company to work for and a lot of employees burnout very quickly working there. You need to make sure that you really want to work there and can handle that kind of stress or else you’ll burnout too.

14 Leadership Principles

I have listed all 14 of Amazon’s leadership principles as well as some common interview questions that you could get from each.

Customer Obsession

Leaders start with the customer and work backwards. They work vigorously to earn and keep customer trust. Although leaders pay attention to competitors, they obsess over customers.

– Tell the story of the last time you had to apologize to someone.
– How have you used data to better understand your customer?
– When do you think it’s reasonable and appropriate to push back on a very difficult customer?

Ownership

Leaders are owners. They think long term and don’t sacrifice long-term value for short-term results. They act on behalf of the entire company, beyond just their own team. They never say “that’s not my job.”

– Tell me about a time when you had to leave a task unfinished.
– Tell me about a time when you had to work on a project with unclear responsibilities.
– Describe a time when you have taken ownership in your job.

Invent and Simplify

Leaders expect and require innovation and invention from their teams and always find ways to simplify. They are externally aware, look for new ideas from everywhere, and are not limited by “not invented here.” As we do new things, we accept that we may be misunderstood for long periods of time.

– Tell me about a time when you gave a simple solution to a complex problem.
– Tell me about a time when you invented something.
– When was the last time you tried something new?

Are Right, A Lot

Leaders are right a lot. They have strong judgment and good instincts. They seek diverse perspectives and work to disconfirm their beliefs.

– Tell me about a time when you were wrong.
– Tell me about a time when you had to work with incomplete data or information.
– What is your biggest achievement? What tangible impact did your achievement have?

Learn and Be Curious

Leaders are never done learning and always seek to improve themselves. They are curious about new possibilities and act to explore them.

– Tell me about a time when you influenced a change by only asking questions.
– Tell me about a time when you solved a problem through just superior knowledge or observation.
– How do you find the time to stay inspired, acquire new knowledge, and innovate in your work?

Hire and Develop the Best

Leaders raise the performance bar with every hire and promotion. They recognize exceptional talent, and willingly move them throughout the organization. Leaders develop leaders and take seriously their role in coaching others. We work on behalf of our people to invent mechanisms for development like Career Choice.

– Tell me about a time when you mentored someone.
– What is your management philosophy?

Insist on the Highest Standards

Leaders have relentlessly high standards — many people may think these standards are unreasonably high. Leaders are continually raising the bar and drive their teams to deliver high quality products, services, and processes. Leaders ensure that defects do not get sent down the line and that problems are fixed so they stay fixed.

– Tell me about a time when you couldn’t meet your own expectations on a project.
– Tell me about a time when a team member didn’t meet your expectations of a project.
– How have you raised the bar to increase quality of your work?

Think Big

Thinking small is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Leaders create and communicate a bold direction that inspires results. They think differently and look around corners for ways to serve customers.

– Tell me about your proudest professional achievement.
– Tell me about a time when you went way behind the scope of the project and delivered.
– Sometimes we can get buried in the details and lose sight of the big picture. How do you ensure this doesn’t happen?

Bias for Action

Speed matters in business. Many decisions and actions are reversible and do not need extensive study. We value calculated risk taking.

– Tell me about a time when you took a calculated risk.
– Tell me about a time you needed to get information from someone who wasn’t very responsive. What did you do?
– How do you overcome analysis paralysis? What is your level of risk tolerance? Why?

Frugality

Accomplish more with less. Constraints breed resourcefulness, self-sufficiency, and invention. There are no extra points for growing headcount, budget size, or fixed expense.

– Tell me about a time when you had to work with limited time or resources.
– Describe a time when you improved a process with limited budget.

Earn Trust

Leaders listen attentively, speak candidly, and treat others respectfully. They are vocally self-critical, even when doing so is awkward or embarrassing. Leaders do not believe their or their team’s body odor smells of perfume. They benchmark themselves and their teams against the best.

– What would you do if you found out that your closest friend at work was stealing?
– Tell me about a time when you had to tell someone a harsh truth?
– Share an example of a failure in your career.

Dive Deep

Leaders operate at all levels, stay connected to the details, audit frequently, and are skeptical when metrics and anecdote differ. No task is beneath them.

– Give me an example of when you did more than what was required in any job experience.
– Describe a problem you solved recently. Why did it happen, what was the root cause of the problem?
– Walk me through your biggest failure. What could you have done differently?

Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit

Leaders are obligated to respectfully challenge decisions when they disagree, even when doing so is uncomfortable or exhausting. Leaders have conviction and are tenacious. They do not compromise for the sake of social cohesion. Once a decision is determined, they commit wholly.

– Tell me about a time when you did not accept the status quo.
– Tell me about a time when you had to step up and disagree with a team members approach.
– If your direct manager was instructing you to do something you disagreed with, how would you handle it?

Deliver Results

Leaders focus on the key inputs for their business and deliver them with the right quality and in a timely fashion. Despite setbacks, they rise to the occasion and never settle.

– What is the most difficult situation you have ever faced in your life? How did you handle it?
– What is your biggest accomplishment? What impact did you make in your previous company?
– Give me an example of a time when you were 75% of the way through a project, and you had to pivot strategy- how were you able to make that into a success story?