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There are few companies that have created cultures as all-consuming as Amazon.
Amazonians are famous for their six-page memos. They have a “two-pizza rule” that defines how small certain teams should be based on how much they need for a meal. But perhaps most importantly, they have 16 leadership principles. These range from “Customer obsession,” to “Bias for action,” to “Disagree and commit,” but they’ve all been encoded into the company’s DNA for decades.
The upside is a company-wide understanding of mission, and a “granular level” knowledge up and down the corporate ladder about how things work within the company. The downside is a corporate culture that borders on fanaticism, with the occasional weaponization of principles to the detriment of people and groups with less power .
But what was once an agreed-upon set of rules permeating every facet of company life has shown signs of fraying, writes my colleague Jason Del Rey in a new feature . Not only have they become more diluted, but many managers say the focus has shifted away from guiding good work, and more towards criticizing fellow employees.
The source of the change can be traced in part to the pandemic. Amazon did booming business during the height of COVID, doubling its headcount within two years, and hiring new executives from outside. These managers were introduced to company culture via Zoom rather than in-person gatherings, and were less familiar—as well as devoted—to the company’s old-school culture.
The differences are noticeable. There are now PowerPoint presentations at times in place of the famous six-pagers. One VP has directed her team to begin with a one-page memo, and increase it to six as needed. And when Amazon was in the spotlight during the massive unionization efforts of warehouse workers, and sued by the FTC for alleged antitrust activity, the company’s attempt to add two more principles went over like a lead balloon: “Strive to be the Earth’s best employer,” and “Success and scale bring broad responsibility.”
“They are clearly a marketing ploy and they devalue the rest of the Leadership Principles,” one former senior manager of more than 10 years who left the company recently told Fortune .
CEO Andy Jassy recently released an hour-long video explaining the principles. But the issue begs a larger question: Should companies stay true to their original playbook, or are they only useful to management during a certain period of time?
“The company has shifted and grown,” says Beryl Tomay, the VP of Amazon’s transportation division. “So you have to keep adapting.”
Azure Gilman
azure.gilman@fortune.com
Today's edition was curated by Emma Burleigh.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
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