How to Use Amazon Leadership Principles To Level Up Your Life

Amazon is one of the most innovative companies in the world. Besides being known for their products and services, they are also known for their leadership principles, their Working Backward approach to product development, and much more.
AWS has democratized access to on-demand infrastructure. Lowering the cost to innovate and build. Many of the services we use daily are powered by the cloud. Amazon has not only changed the face of retail but also accelerated the rate of innovation and is transforming many industries.

Amazon leadership principles are becoming a blueprint for new startups. So what are these principles, and how can we adopt them in our lives?

Here I attempt to look at 13 leadership principles through self-improvement lenses.

1. Customer Obsession

Obsessing over customers means working hard to earn and keep their trust.
Who should you work hard to earn and keep their trust? Whoever those are, you should listen to them, be there for them.
Do not take your family and close friends for granted. Just because they are loyal, it doesn’t mean you should not obsess about them, listen to them, think about their needs before they ask.

2. Ownership

Accept responsibility for your life. The life you have results from your decisions, or lack thereof, and your imagination. Stop blaming the weather, the government, the inflation, and the world. Own your life, and you will see abundance everywhere.

3. Invent and Simplify

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” — Einstein

Always find ways to improve and simplify.

4. Are Right, A Lot

You have to be ready to be wrong a lot to be right a lot. Be open and seek diverse perspectives, and you will increase the odds of being right.

5. Learn and Be Curious

Learning is a lifelong endeavor. Enjoy it and get better at it.
Be curious and open to exploring new things.

6. Hire and Develop the Best

This one is hard to apply in a context outside an organization. Still, on the individual level, I would say give credit to others and be the person who attracts the best. If you are searching for your dream partner, then be the person that partner would want to be with.

7. Insist on the Highest Standards

“Anyone who isn’t embarrassed of who they were last year probably isn’t learning enough.” — Alain de Botton.

Keep raising the bar. Don’t settle for “average.”
Read The 10X Rule.

8. Think Big

“Believe Big. The size of your success is determined by the size of your belief. Think little goals and expect little achievements.” — David J. Schwartz

“If you can dream it, you can achieve it.” — Zig Ziglar

9. Bias for Action

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”— Chinese proverb.

Speed matters not only in business but in life. Stop thinking. Just do.
Read Skip The Line. Do 10,000 experiments.
Just Do It.

10. Frugality

Embrace essentialism. Do more with less.

11. Earn Trust

Surround yourself with the best, be the best. Treat others with respect and be impeccable with your words (1sth agreement from the Fourth Agreements book).

12. Dive Deep

Go deep, be genuinely curious. Delegate but audit. Do not just do, but track and retrospect.

13. Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit

Have conviction and be tenacious, but be open to feedback and critics.
Challenge status-quo, zig when others zag.

Younes Hairej