Can't trust my manager

The chain of events below exemplify a case study on how the interpretation of the Amazon leadership principles by Amazon managers can impact employee satisfaction.

After my first year at Amazon, I was so successful in my job that I wasn’t excited to share my process with my manager. I was scared I was going to get in trouble for bending the rules - maybe even fired. The org was competitive and I was new in my career. I didn't trust my manager since he changed my job description in the middle of the year and didn't consider how it would impact my team members' success. Therefore, I censored the information I shared. When I told him I spent nights and weekends doing extra work, he commended me and said that "it shows your bias for action".  Then I showed him a document template and he started scolding me and saying "that’s so unprofessional! You need to share more information! Insist on the highest standards." I pushed back by referencing my success rates in an attempt to be data driven, but he said the performance data was "just luck", so I surrendered and committed to using his process.

It still makes me cringe to remember that interaction years later. I felt powerless and afraid. I was praised for working harder instead of smarter. The data showed success but my approach was questioned and criticized. This manager completely fails to correctly apply Amazon's Leadership Principles. What would have happened if he had used them in the spirit they were intended? We'll never know.

Many can’t understand how Amazon survived let alone thrived given the environment its employees operate in. They question if the Amazon company culture is sustainable.  They label it as unethical and inhumane. Amazon is a company where culture equates to Amazon employees living and breathing the Leadership Principles. By doing so, Amazon has been able to harness the collective brainpower of very smart people and revolutionize technology and business in many ways.   However, when humans are expected to deliver huge results again and again and they are aware that elimination is the consequence of a failure to do so, they do what humans have always done - they do whatever they feel is needed to survive. When operating from a place of acute fear that their survival is threatened, humans can and will do ugly things. Employees are mistreated, talent is stifled, and opportunities are missed.