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Amazon CEO Bezos’ Response to Culture Shows Lack of Leadership

The Bailey Group | August 23, 2015 | Blog | CEO Advisory | 2 minute read

amazonMany have now weighed in on the New York Times article on Amazon’s culture. There is one side that says it is normal corporate behavior and that people can always leave if they don’t like it. Another side speculates the culture described will be the demise of Amazon.

The most concerning part in all of this is that the CEO, Jeff Bezos, claims the company described in the article is not the company he knows it to be. Bezos was quoted in Fast Company as being unaware of the problems mentioned and invited employees to contact him directly (or HR) to share concerns. This raises a big red flag because one of two things happened:

Scenario 1: Bezos really is completely unaware of the culture complaints outlined in the NYT article. This suggests he is quite far removed from how work gets done and that he took no part in creating his leadership team that drives the culture. A flag gets thrown on this one. An earlier blog I wrote outlines how executive leadership creates and cultivates culture. If there’s a problem with culture, first look to the top. Not taking ownership of what makes Amazon inherently unique—for the behaviors that define the company—calls into question Bezos’ effectiveness as a leader.

Scenario 2: Bezos is aware of the culture he created but won’t own it publicly. This is concerning because it indicates that he buys in to the culture being called into question, but is trying to play it off because a number of people say it’s bad. Bezos has taken great pains to write about how he created the company and publicly outlines the Leadership Principles, which point out that leadership demands high standards and drives results. For anyone being recruited into the company, there is indication from the beginning that people are going to work hard. Pushing employees to be their best is common among high-driving leaders. Why not own it and say it’s not a place for everyone?

I’d have more respect for Bezos if he just owned the Amazon culture, along with its discontents, and didn’t apologize for the work environment he created. If he stood up and proclaimed he deliberately created a high-performing, bar-always-raised atmosphere to consistently weed out those who couldn’t keep up with the goal to drive top dollar for shareholders, he wouldn’t be the first CEO to do so. Not necessarily what I’d consider highly effective and engaging leadership, but at least he’d be standing behind what he created.

My issue is with his proclaimed unawareness. One of the main responsibilities of a CEO is building culture (along with creating and owning the vision, providing resources, delivering the company’s performance). This is on him and his executive leadership team. Time will tell if he’ll use this as an opportunity to redefine the behaviors that uniquely define Amazon’s culture or continue to lead and operate as usual. It’s a great opportunity to show his employees, and all of us watching, who he truly is as a leader.