My predicted scenario was off mark, based on the article, but what surprised me about it was how much Jeff acted exactly like every Director, VP, and SVP that I'm familiar with (with a handful of suggestions). Being in the supply chain, I've seen Jeff exactly zero times in the entire time I've been here (we're not exactly the flashiest part of the company). But you could have taken almost every instance he was mentioned in this article, replaced his name with Jeff Wilke or Dave Clark, and it would have sounded just as correct.
The funny thing about Amazon culture compared to other corporate cultures is that there isn't much of a Negative Selection going on. You can generally be assured that a VP is going to be exceptionally capable and intelligent. The caveat is that they are also going to be a Yes Man, because their boss demands that respect, and they will require that their own direct reports be Yes Men. It is a culture with hundreds of Stalins...extremely talented technocratic leaders that are right most of the time and wrong a handful of times, but where subordinates are deathly afraid of being contrary in the instances where their boss is wrong.
The funny thing about Amazon culture compared to other corporate cultures is that there isn't much of a Negative Selection going on. You can generally be assured that a VP is going to be exceptionally capable and intelligent. The caveat is that they are also going to be a Yes Man, because their boss demands that respect, and they will require that their own direct reports be Yes Men. It is a culture with hundreds of Stalins...extremely talented technocratic leaders that are right most of the time and wrong a handful of times, but where subordinates are deathly afraid of being contrary in the instances where their boss is wrong.