Have you ever wondered how a manager gets to occupy a position of high responsibility in a company? One of the methods may be the result of the Peter Principle. With this system, an employee is rewarded by promotion until he or she reaches his or her maximum level of incompetence, which is not highly recommended for a strategic position in a large company.
However, Andy Jassy is betting on another model: appointing shadow technical advisors who will learn the “craft” of running a large company.
The technique used by the CEO of Amazon is based on the traditional model of apprenticeship, in which the apprentice becomes the shadow of the master and learns all the secrets from him. The difference is that, at Amazon, this role is called technical advisor or shadow advisor.
Amazon Executive Coach
Under this premise, when the company intends to promote to a senior position within the Amazon organizational chart, it establishes a training period in which the candidate train your leadership and management skills under the supervision of another manager, including Andy Jassy.
For a few weeks now, Alex Dunlap has become Andy Jassy’s shadow. According to an internal organizational chart to which you have had access Business InsiderAlex Dunlap has begun his training accompanying the CEO of Amazon as a shadow advisor. According to his LinkedIn profile, Dunlap held the position of vice president of productivity applications at Amazon Web Services.
As a general rule, this is a temporary position. In fact, Dunlap has taken the place left by Eric Rimling, Amazon’s vice president of logistics who has been Andy Jassy’s shadow for the last two years.
Adam Selipsky, former CEO of Amazon Web Services, explained his experience training other managers in this role in his X profile. “TAs (Technical assistants) accompany the CEO and provide advice and technical support, which helps drive business while removing obstacles,” Selipsky wrote.
The teacher was previously an apprentice
Andy Jassy himself went through that learning process, becoming the shadow of Jeff Bezos. After five years in different management positions in the company’s marketing and commerce departments, Jeff Bezos claimed him at his side. “At that time, we called it ‘the shadow role’. And it was really like being Jeff’s shadow: I participated in all of his meetings, including individual ones,” Andy Jassy confessed in an interview with CRN.
“For me, it was very valuable to be able to observe how Jeff worked every day, as well as his leaders and his direct reports. Jeff is an unusual leader who is incredibly talented and I learned a lot during those 18 months,” said the current Amazon CEO. . Shortly after that training, Jassy made his debut as CEO of AWS and, after a few years, would replace Jeff Bezos at the head of the company.
With this curious system of preparation for promotion, Amazon’s senior managers ensure that they faithfully transmit the values of the company’s culture included in its decalogue of Amazon Leadership Principles. A series of rules on the way of understanding business deeply rooted in the business culture of the company founded by Jeff Bezos.
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Imagen | Flickr (Fortune Brainstorm TECH)
