The Amazon Leadership Principle “Bias for Action” is a cornerstone of Amazon’s culture, driving innovation and rapid decision-making across all levels of the company. This principle encourages employees to make decisions quickly, even in the face of uncertainty, fostering an environment where calculated risks are embraced. By prioritizing speed and agility, Amazon empowers its teams to move fast, experiment, and iterate, which has been instrumental in the company’s ability to stay ahead in a fiercely competitive marketplace.
In the world of Big Bet Leadership, “Bias for Action” aligns closely with the habit of maintaining velocity, a critical aspect of successful leadership. Leaders who embody this principle understand that inaction is often the biggest risk, and they prioritize momentum to avoid stagnation. In this blog post, we’ll explore how “Bias for Action” not only shapes the culture at Amazon but also serves as a powerful tool for leaders looking to drive their organizations forward with purpose and precision.
Amazon Leadership Principle – Bias for Action
Amazon’s Leadership Principle — Bias for Action
The physics of inertia shows us that a body at rest has a tendency to remain at rest. In his book, The Wall Street Journal Essential Guide to Management, Alan Murray points out that a corollary of that physical principle is this: It’s usually easier to stop things from happening than it is to make them happen.1
At Amazon, there is a natural tendency to push forward at all times. The right kind of person for Amazon is somebody who is astute and contemplative yet avoids paralysis from analysis, the kind of person who is always moving forward on things without waiting to be asked to do so. This is one of the best aspects of working at Amazon. There is no status quo—just a continual effort to push ahead. I read somewhere that Hall of Fame NFL coach Bill Parcells posted a sign in his locker room that read “Blame Nobody. Expect Nothing. Do Something.” He would make an excellent leader at Amazon.
Jeff has always reassured his people that they will never be punished for erring on the side of action. This has resulted in both huge wins (the creation of one-click shopping) and colossal failures (the creation of Amazon Auction). There’s a common assumption that it’s important to know the exact right action to take before doing anything. That’s not how things are viewed at Amazon. As Jeff once said, “If you never want to be criticized, for goodness’ sake, don’t do anything new.”2 (Of course, this bias for action and willingness to be wrong doesn’t mean you can also be wrong repeatedly. Unlike Thomas Edison, leaders at Amazon don’t get 2,000 tries at developing just the right filament for the light bulb.)
Sometimes the Mere Threat of a Big Idea Is Enough
In a December 1, 2013, television interview, Jeff sent the media into a tizzy by unveiling his plan to eventually use drones to facilitate same-day delivery of packages. While he admitted that this service was still some way off in the future and faced such obstacles as FAA regulations and limitations on package size, the drone story was great PR copy that was timed perfectly, the day before Cyber Monday, when reporters everywhere are focused on the retail industry. And it worked. Sales shot through the roof the morning after the interview aired, partly because Jeff’s sly smile and the Amazon brand seemed to be plastered across every news media page and blog.
The primary message I took from the interview was a simple one: Jeff’s focus on the long view and on thinking big has clearly remained unchanged. If you are not inventing for your customers and improving their experience every day—even in ways that may hurt short-term financial results—then someone else will.
Even if drones never deliver a single package for Amazon, they make a highly effective symbol of Amazon’s commitment to continuing to invent and simplify on fulfillment. As radical and controversial as drone delivery may seem today, the idea is perfectly in line with this strategy. And quite frankly, I wouldn’t be shocked if Jeff finds a way to make them work.
Don’t Let Simple Things Be Hard Things
A bias for action does have its downside. Many current and ex-employees at Amazon complained to me that they were occasionally not given the resources they needed to build things properly. This was especially common in the early days. There is continuous pressure to get things done as quickly as possible, which sometimes leads people to apply Band-Aids to problems rather than address the underlying issues. Some say Amazon would be better served by slowing down and moving at a more deliberate pace.
In response, Jeff would probably say, “If you double the number of experiments you do per year, you’re going to double your inventiveness.”3 You may or may not agree with this philosophy, but it’s hard to argue with it when Jeff propounds it because he’s proven it works.
Nonetheless, it is true that a bias for action tends to encourage decision-making that is based on gut instinct. There’s a reason why a bias for action is often mentioned as a characteristic trait of successful start-ups. The time and money budgets of start-up companies simply don’t allow for elaborate market analysis. And it’s clear that Jeff has often followed his gut instincts over the years. He respects leaders who are willing to do the same.
However, this can cause a leader to run head-on into a paradox. Amazon has what I would call a two-strike culture. Leaders are expected to be right—a lot. They are encouraged to take risks, but they must be calculated risks. And a leader cannot completely blow it very often before being shown the door.
So how do you successfully balance a bias for action with the ability to be right a lot? By developing and monitoring the metrics. As Jeff lectured Neil Roseman and me one time, “Don’t let simple things be hard things.”Innovating products, increasing sales, recruiting great talent, these are hard things to do. Administrative and procedural tasks like collections should be simple. Therefore, a question like “Are we up to date on collections or not?” should be easy to answer. But at many companies, the information to answer questions like these is simply not available.
That’s where the metrics come in. Creating an operational environment that automates processes and makes them clear and transparent allows you to invest more time and energy on the thornier issues that require more work and creativity.
A key to creating and sustaining a successful bias for action is having the right data in front of you at the right time. Of course, you have to trust that the data are trustworthy and accurate, and that’s why Jeff puts so much stock into hiring world-class engineers.
The seriousness of Jeff’s commitment to the bias for action is shown by the thought he has given to rewarding and honoring it. For example, Amazon’s system of iconography rewards and engages employees who develop new skills or attributes. These “merit badges” take the form of highly visible icons on their phone tool, the internal phone directory on the intranet of Amazon. You’d be surprised how effective this is at motivating people to take on new challenges.
Then there’s the Just Do It award, which is presented at the quarterly all-hands meeting to employees who exemplify the values of a bias for action, ownership, frugality, and self-starting. The award may just be an old tennis shoe that’s been mounted and bronzed, but it’s also a highly-coveted, visible icon that winners display proudly in their offices.
Leaders understand that 100 percent certainty about the prospects for any new venture is almost never available. No matter how much research and analysis you do, the future can never be guaranteed. That’s why Amazon rewards leaders who just do it—who respond to uncertainty by taking a (smart) risk and learning from the results.
