Preparing for Amazon behavioral interview questions? Cracking the code to Amazon’s leadership principles is like holding the golden ticket to a world of innovation and excellence. In this cheat sheet, we’ll demystify the 14 principles that drive Amazon’s success, arming you with the confidence and expertise to ace your Amazon behavioral interview questions and join the ranks of the Amazon elite.
Grading Criteria
- Strength: Consistently exceeds expectations, demonstrating a deep understanding and application of the principle.
- Mild Strength: Demonstrates a good understanding and application of the principle, with some areas for improvement.
- Mixed: Shows a mixed level of understanding and application, with both strengths and weaknesses.
- Concern: Demonstrates a below-average understanding and application of the principle, requiring improvement.
- Mild Concern: Shows a limited understanding and application of the principle, requiring significant development and support.
These criteria assess your ability to embody Amazon’s Leadership Principles, ranging from strengths to areas of concern. By understanding these criteria, you can better prepare to showcase your skills and knowledge during the interview process.
Customer Obsession
Leaders start with the customer and work backwards. They work vigorously to earn and keep customer trust. Although leaders pay attention to competitors, they obsess over customers.
Concern
- Makes decisions or takes actions without adequately considering the customer impact
- Fails to collect or respond to customer input appropriately
- Fails to meet customer commitments
- Loses and doesn’t regain customers’ trust
- Develops a project approach based on industry trends rather than customer needs
- Unable to identify primary customers
Strength
- Takes actions guided by customer input
- Works backwards from the optimal customer experience
- Tries to surprise and delight the customer
- Applies time and energy to make the customer experience more efficient or enjoyable
- Identifies new ways of gathering feedback from customers
- Listens to feedback from customers and uses it to make improvements
- Pushes back when necessary to ensure that decisions consider what is best for customer in the long-term
- Earns customers trust by delivering promised services and products which meet or exceed expectations
- Stops activities that no longer enhance the customer experience
Questions
- Describe a difficult interaction you had with a customer. How did you deal with it? What was the outcome? How would you handle it differently?
- Tell me about a time when you went above and beyond for a customer. Why did you do it? How did the customer respond? What was the outcome?
- Give me an example of when you were able to anticipate a customer need with a solution or product they did not know they needed or wanted yet. How did you know they needed this? How did they respond?
- Give me an example of a time when you asked for customer feedback. How did you use that feedback to drive innovation or improvement? How did the customer respond?
- Tell me about a time when you evaluated the customer experience of your product or service. What did you do? What was the result?
- Tell me about a time when a customer came to you for something that would not actually address their need. How did you approach the situation? What was the result?
- Sometimes customers make unreasonable requests. Tell me about a time when you have had to push back or say no to a customer request. What did you say or do in response to that request?
- Tell me about a time when you had to balance the needs of the customer with the needs of the business. What did you do? What was the result?
- Give me an example of a time when you had to think about the unique backgrounds of a customer base (either internal or external) that you hadn’t yet served. How did you know what products or services they needed? (DEI)
- Give me an example of a change you implemented in your current team or organization to meet the needs of your customers. What has been the result? (Manager)
Ownership
Leaders are owners. They think long term and don’t sacrifice long-term value for short-term results. They act on behalf of the entire company, beyond just their team. They never say “that’s not my job.”
Concern
- Makes decisions for short-term team success rather than long-term value
- Describes setbacks or problems without talking about how to address them
- Relies on others to remove roadblocks
- Avoids tough decisions
- Avoids addressing problems that are in others’ work areas
- Blames others for setbacks
- Assigns work to others because the work is undesirable
- Walks away if there are too many difficulties
- Creates solutions that negatively impact other teams
Strength
- Actively makes improvements outside of one’s area of responsibility
- Makes decisions that consider risks and future outcomes
- Makes decisions that are scalable and contribute to long-term success
- Takes the lead in solving problems
- Takes accountability for dependencies and their work
- Takes ownership for mistakes
- Accepts responsibility
- Inspires others to take ownership
- Sees things through to completion
Questions
- Tell me about a time when you took on something significant outside your area of responsibility. Why was it important? What was the outcome?
- Describe a time when you didn’t think you were going to meet a commitment you promised. How did you identify the risk and communicate it to stakeholders? Is there anything you would do differently?
- Give me an example of an initiative you undertook because you saw that it could benefit the whole company or your customers, but wasn’t within any group’s individual responsibility so nothing was being done.
- Tell me about a time when you made a hard decision to sacrifice short term gain for something that would create long term value for the business. What was the outcome? Knowing what you know now, would you have done anything differently?
- Describe a time when you had to transition a project you owned to a new owner. What steps did you take to make sure the transition went smoothly? Tell me about a time that you chose to get involved in a project that you had already transitioned to somebody else. What was the situation? Why was it important to get involved?
- Tell me about a time when you saw a peer struggling and decided to step in and help. What was the situation? Why did you decide to step in? What actions did you take?
Invent and Simplify
Leaders expect and require innovation and invention from their teams and always find ways to simplify. They are externally aware, look for new ideas from everywhere, and are not limited to “not invented here.” As we do new things, we accept that we may be misunderstood for long periods of time.
Concern
- Accepts current processes even if there is room for improvement
- Creates a cumbersome process to solve a short-term problem
- Allows complex processes to exist within their control
- Doesn’t share discoveries and insights with others
- Only focuses on ideas and resources that can be gathered internally
- Discourages others from exploring new ideas
- Looks for a standard process or series of steps to copy
- Speaks at length about the difficulty of doing something without naming ideas for a better process
Strength
- Generates new ideas or methods for solving a problem
- Identifies areas for improvement and deliver new features that are scalable and avoid unnecessary complexity
- Actively gathers ideas from a wide range of internal and external sources
- Focuses on solutions that will impact the customer experience long-term
- Seeks out opportunities to improve a product or process
Questions
- Give me an example of a complex problem you solved with a simple solution. What made the problem complex? How do you know your solution addressed the problem?
- Describe the most innovative thing you’ve done and why you thought it was innovative. Ask for one or two more examples to see if it’s a pattern of innovative thinking. What was the problem it was solving? What was innovative about it?
- Tell me about a time when you were able to make something simpler for customers. What drove you to implement this change? What was the impact?
- Describe a time when you influenced and drove new thinking and innovation out of your team. Give an example of how your approach led to a specific innovation.
- Tell me about a time when you had a challenging problem or situation that the usual approach wouldn’t address. How did you select an alternative approach? What alternative approach(es) did you consider? What was the end result? What was the impact?
- Tell me about a novel idea you had or decision you made that had a big impact on your business. What was novel about it?
- Tell me about a time when you identified a simple change on your team to make the culture more inclusive. What problem were you trying to solve, what was the outcome? (DEI)
- Tell me about a time when you enabled your team/a team member to implement a significant change or improvement. What problem were you trying to solve? How did you measure success? What was the end result/impact? (Manager)
Are Right, a Lot
Leaders are right a lot. They have strong judgment and good instincts. They seek diverse perspectives and work to disconfirm their beliefs.
Concern
- Does not seek others’ perspectives or additional data
- Relies on incorrect knowledge or flawed logic
- Becomes defensive when shown opposing points of view
- Refuses to change point of view no matter what data is presented
- Undervalues own experience and judgment
- Changes point of view too easily to follow the group
Strength
- Makes good decisions in the face of ambiguity, uncertainty, and/or time pressure
- Applies experience to determine the best approach
- Seeks out additional perspective and data to make the best decision
- Recognizes they are not always right and supports the best idea
- Recognizes when they are lacking expertise or information in a particular subject area
Questions
- Tell me about a time when you didn’t have enough data to make the right decision. What did you do? What path did you take? Did the decision turn out to be the correct one?
- Tell me about a strategic decision you had to make without clear data or benchmarks. How did you make your final decision? What alternatives did you consider? What were the tradeoffs of each? How did you mitigate risk?
- Tell me about a time when you made a difficult decision with input from many different sources (customers, stakeholders, partner teams, etc.). What was the situation and how did you arrive at your decision? Did the decision turn out to be the correct one? Why or why not?
- We don’t always make the right decision all the time. Tell me about a time when you made a bad decision. What was the impact of that decision? What did you learn? How have you applied what you learned?
- We don’t always make the right judgment all the time. Tell me about a time when you made an error in judgment. What was the impact? What did you learn? How have you applied what you learned?
- Tell me about a time when you discovered that your idea was not the best course of action. What was your idea? Why wasn’t your idea the best course of action? How did you find out it was not the correct path? What was the best course of action? Who provided it? What did you learn from the experience?
- Describe a time when you brought different perspectives together to solve a problem. What types of different perspectives were represented? How did you seek out different points of view? What was the outcome? Were there any key learnings from this experience? Knowing what you know now, would you have done anything different?
- At Amazon, we find that diverse and inclusive teams bring a wide variety of perspectives to solve a problem. Give me an example of a time when you sought diverse perspectives. Did those perspectives challenge any of your assumptions? (DEI)
Learn and Be Curious
Leaders are never done learning and always seek to improve themselves. They are curious about new possibilities and act to explore them.
Concern
- Prefers to stay with familiar situations and use existing skillsets
- Actively avoids new experiences or trying new things
- Avoids, disregards, or acts defensively toward feedback from others
- Reacts to negative situations by focusing on what went wrong rather than how to improve for the future
- Does not take steps to develop oneself
Strength
- Seeks opportunities to explore new possibilities and learn new skills
- Shows curiosity about how things work
- Consistently asks “I wonder what would happen if…” to make continued improvements
- Accepts new and challenging situations, despite the risk of failure
- Willing to pursue knowledge that does not have an immediate gain or deliverable
- Seeks and embraces feedback from others
- Discusses lessons learned from past setbacks
- Currently working on initiatives to improve themselves
Questions
- Tell me about a time when you realized you needed a deeper level of subject matter expertise to do your job well. What did you do about it? What was the outcome? Is there anything you would have done differently?
- Describe a time when you took on work outside of your comfort area. How did you identify what you needed to learn to be successful? How did you go about building expertise to meet your goal? Did you meet your goal?
- Tell me about a time when you didn’t know what to do next or how to solve a challenging problem. How do you learn what you don’t know? What were the options you considered? How did you decide the best path forward? What was the outcome?
- We all have things about ourselves we’d like to improve on at work. Give me an example of something that you’ve worked on to improve your overall work effectiveness. What resources did you identify to help you develop? What was the impact?
- Give me an example of a time when you explored a new or unexpected area of an existing space. Why hadn’t this been explored already? Why did you move forward? What were the results or what was the impact?
- Describe a time when someone on your team challenged you to think differently about a problem. What was the situation? How did you respond? What was the outcome?
- Tell me about a time when you used external trends to improve your own company’s products or services. How did you keep up to date with external trends? How did you decide to apply them to your own company? What was the result?
- Give me an example of a time when you were intentional about learning different cultures or identities. How has this led to a better customer or workplace experience? (DEI)
Hire and Develop the Best
Leaders raise the performance bar with every hire and promotion. They recognize exceptional talent, and willingly move them throughout the organization. Leaders develop leaders and take seriously their role in coaching others. We work on behalf of our people to invest in mechanisms for development like Career Choice.
Concern
- Does not coach or mentor others when necessary
- Does not provide support or feedback to poor performers
- Avoids addressing performance issues when required
- Does not understand or consider the career and development goals of directs and peers
- Discourages others from seeking new opportunities at Amazon when it would be good for his/her development
Strength
- Invests in growth of others
- Provides regular, actionable feedback to others that could improve their success
- Recognizes and acts upon poor performance
- Learns and values the development goals of employees or teammates
- Provides appropriately challenging assignments to others
- Encourages high performers to join other teams to facilitate career growth
Questions
- Tell me about a time when you helped one of your team members develop their career. How did you help that team member? What was the result?
- Tell me about a time when you invested in an employee’s development. What did you invest in and why? What was the outcome? Can you share an example where investing in an employee’s development didn’t work out?
- Give me an example of a time you provided feedback to develop the strengths of someone on your team. Were you able to positively impact their performance?
- Tell me about a time when you provided coaching for a team member. What started the coaching? What was the outcome?
- Tell me about someone you hired that you thought complemented your skills. How did you coach an individual in areas where you have a weakness? (Manager)
- Tell me about a time when you helped a remote team member develop their career. Can you give me an example of a specific team member and how you helped them develop across the geographic distance? (Manager)
- Describe a person who struggled to get promoted under your leadership and how you helped facilitate their success. (Manager)
- Tell me about your most challenging talent review and promotion process that you conducted for your team. What made it challenging? What factors did you consider in your talent review? What factors did you consider in the promotion process? Did you incorporate a tool to counter unconscious bias? If yes, how? How do you manage perceptions of unfair treatment? What did you learn from this process? Knowing what you know now, would you have done anything different? (Manager)
- Describe a time when you constructed a team to accomplish a goal. What factors did you consider in constructing the team? Did you factor diversity into your team construction? How did you balance work requirements, team skill composition, and team stretch opportunities? What do you consider when you allocate work? How did you ensure team members were able to work effectively together? Would you have done anything differently? (Manager)
- Tell me about a time when you had a low performing individual on your team. How did you deliver feedback? Did their performance improve? (Manager)
- How have you considered diversity, equity and inclusion as you are building and growing teams? Who did you seek input from and why? (DEI) (Manager)
Insist on the Highest Standards
Leaders have relentlessly high standards – many people may think these standards are unreasonably high. Leaders are continually raising the bar and drive their teams to deliver high quality products, services, and processes. Leaders ensure that defects do not get sent down the line and that problems are fixed so they stay fixed.
Concern
- Conducts minimal reviews of others’ work
- Emphasizes speed over quality for most projects
- Fails to recognize the long-term impact of lower standards
- Creates or accepts goals that are too easily achievable
- Accepts quick solutions to problems with minimal follow-up to ensure they are addressed
Strength
- Sets and commits to goals that are challenging, yet realistic
- Reviews work extensively and offers high quality feedback
- Communicates and gets agreement on expected standards
- Builds systems that are scalable and serve customer needs
- Continually tries to improve processes
Questions
- Describe a time when you refused to compromise your standards around quality/customer service, etc. Who was your customer? What was the result?
- Tell me about a time when you were unsatisfied with the way things were in your team or organization.What did you do to change it, if anything? What was the impact? Would you do anything differently in the future?
- Tell me about a time when you worked to improve the quality of a product, service, or solution that was already getting good customer feedback. Why did you think it needed improvement? How did customers react?
- Tell me about a time when you had to make a decision between standards and delivery. What tradeoffs did you have make? What was the outcome? Knowing what you know now, would you have done anything differently?
- Give me an example of a goal you’ve had where you wish you had done better. What was the goal? How could you have improved on it?
- Describe the most significant continuous improvement project that you led. What was the catalyst to this change and how did you go about it? What was the outcome?
- Give me an example of a time when you saw an accessibility issue for a product or service that wouldn’t meet the needs of all customers.(DEI)
- Tell me about a time when you used feedback about your team to drive a change. How did you gather or receive feedback on your team’s performance? What was the outcome? (Manager)
Think Big
Thinking small is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Leaders create and communicate a bold direction that inspires results. They think differently and look around corners for ways to serve customers.
Concern
- Focuses on day-to day delivery without considering long-term strategy
- Fails to see opportunities and possibilities
- Focuses mostly on the problems associated with a project rather than opportunities and possibilities
- Does not consider the big picture or larger goals
- Does not propose new projects or ideas
Strength
- Identifies bold, yet rational and defensible directions, even if the steps to get there are unclear
- Takes risks when necessary in pursuit of an idea
- Carefully reviews of existing processes
- Able to work around limitations or challenges
- Tries to think about a problem from a new perspective
Questions
- Tell me about time when you were working on an initiative or goal and saw an opportunity to do something much bigger or better than the initial focus. Did you take that opportunity? Why or why not? What was the outcome?
- Give me an example of how you have changed the direction or view of a specific function/department and helped them embrace a new way of thinking. Why was a change needed? What was the outcome?
- Give me an example of a time you proposed a novel approach to a problem. What was the problem and why did it require a novel approach? Was your approach successful?
- Tell me about a time when you drove adoption for your vision/ideas. How did you know your vision/idea was adopted by others? How did you drive adoption for your vision/ideas? How did you track adoption? Would you do anything differently?
- Give me an example of an idea or vision you had which was adopted by global stakeholders. How did you drive adoption for your vision/ideas? How did you track adoption? Would you do anything differently?
- Tell me about a time when you thought differently to improve a process that was working. What assumptions did you have to question? How did you evaluate if the change improved the process? Knowing what you know now, would you do anything differently?
- How have you communicated a vision to ensure that your product/service/process provided accessibility for all? Who did you seek input from and why? (DEI)
- Tell me about a time when you encouraged a team member or organization to take a big risk. How did you balance the risk against existing business goals? What was the outcome? What did you learn from this situation? (Manager)
- Tell me about a time when you established a vision for a (team, product, initiative) when there wasn’t one. How did you gain buy-in and drive execution? What was the outcome? Would you have done anything differently? (Manager)
Bias For Action
Speed matters in business. Many decisions and actions are reversible and do not need extensive study. We value calculated risk taking.
Concern
- Moves slower than necessary when faced with incomplete information
- Hesitates longer than necessary when making even small decisions
- Fears making mistakes and doing things that haven’t been done before
Strength
- Moves quickly on a project, even when some information is lacking
- Understands when to consult with others and when its not necessary
- Willing to make small progress toward a solution rather than finding the perfect solution right away
- Deals with problems quickly so others can make progress
- Carefully considers what is important to get done right away and what can wait
Questions
- Give me an example of a calculated risk that you have taken where speed was critical. What was the situation and how did you handle it? What steps did you take to mitigate the risk? What was the outcome? Knowing what you know now, would you have done anything differently?
- Tell me about a time when you worked against tight deadlines and didn’t have time to consider all options before making a decision. How much time did you have? What approach did you take? What did you learn from the situation?
- Describe a situation where you made an important business decision without consulting your manager. What was the situation and how did it turn out? Would you have done anything differently?
- Tell me about a time when you had to gather information and respond immediately to a situation. What was the outcome? Would you have done anything differently?
- Give me an example of when you had to make an important decision and had to decide between moving forward or gathering more information. What did you do? What was the outcome? What information is necessary for you to have before acting?
- Tell me about a time when you saw an issue that would impact your team and took a proactive approach to solve it. What was the issue? What did you do and what was the outcome? What did you learn from this situation?
- Tell me about a time when you had to make a decision quickly but needed to gather diverse perspectives from those on your team? (DEI)
- Tell me about a time when you felt your team was not moving to action quickly enough. What was the situation? What did you do? What was the outcome? Would you have done anything differently? (Manager)
- Tell me about a time when you were able to remove a serious roadblock/barrier preventing your team from making progress. What was the barrier? How were you able to remove it? What was the outcome? Knowing what you know now, would you have done anything differently? (Manager)
Frugality
Accomplish more with less. Constraints breed resourcefulness, self-sufficiency and invention. There are no extra points for growing headcount, budget size or fixed expense.
Concern
- Spends all of the money in a budget just because it’s there
- Doesn’t consider budget in decision-making
- Spends excessive amounts of money on things that don’t have lasting impact
- Doesn’t look for ways to eliminate waste
Strength
- Maximizes available resources
- Examines what it takes to achieve something and explores less costly alternatives
- Uses budget as one consideration when making business decisions
- Looks for ways to standardize processes, automate, and eliminate waste
Questions
- Give me an example of how you have helped save costs or eliminate waste within your role or organization. What was the situation? What was the impact?
- Describe a time when you had to get a project or initiative completed with limited resources. How did you approach the situation? What was the impact? Knowing what you know now, would you have done anything differently?
- Tell me about a time when you didn’t have enough resources to do something you felt was important but found a creative way to get it done anyway. What was the situation? What other options did you consider? How did you decide on a path forward? What was the outcome?
- Tell me about a time when you had to make tradeoffs between quality and cost. How did you weigh the options? What was the result? Would you have done anything differently?
- Tell me about a time when you generated a creative solution to a problem or project without requiring additional resources. What was the problem? What was the solution and how did you come up with it? What was the outcome?
- Give an example of a time you requested additional funding/budget to complete a project. Why was it needed? Did you try to figure out another approach? Did you get the additional resources? Why or why not?
- Describe a time when you had to decide whether or not to award or ask for additional resources. What criteria do you use for making the call? What was the outcome? Knowing what you know now, would you have done anything differently? (Manager)
- Give an example of a time when you challenged your team to come up with a more efficient solution or process. What drove the request? How did you help? What were some of your biggest challenges? What were the end results? (Manager)
Earn Trust
Leaders listen attentively, speak candidly, and treat others respectfully. They are vocally self-critical, even when doing so is awkward or embarrassing. Leaders do not believe their or their team’s body odor smells of perfume. They benchmark themselves and their teams against the best.
Concern
- Fails to treat others and their ideas with respect
- Blames others for mistakes
- Denies or covers up mistakes
- Publicly criticizes or humiliates others
Strength
- Builds positive working relationships by treating others and their ideas with respect
- Seeks out and accepts feedback for self or team
- Takes responsibility for shortfalls
- Openly acknowledges mistakes
- Provides feedback to others in a respectful manner
- Represents data and information entirely transparently
- Honors commitments and makes good on promises
Questions
- Tell me about a time when you had to communicate a change in direction that you anticipated people would have concerns with. What did you do to understand the concerns and mitigate them? Were there any changes you made along the way after hearing these concerns? How did you handle questions and/or resistance? Were you able to get people comfortable with the change?
- Give me an example of a tough or critical piece of feedback you received. What was it and what did you do about it?
- Describe a time when you needed to influence a peer who had a differing opinion about a shared goal. What did you do? What was the outcome?
- Give me an example of a time when you were not able to meet a commitment. What was the commitment and what were the obstacles that prevented success? What was the impact to your customers/peers and what did you learn from it?
- Tell me about a time when your team’s goals were out of alignment with another team you relied on in order to meet your goal. How did you work with the other team? Were you able to achieve your goals?
- Tell me about a time when you uncovered a significant problem in your team. What was it and how did you communicate it to your manager and other stakeholders? What did you do to address the problem? How did you manage the impact of this problem for the rest of your team?
- Describe a time when you improved morale and productivity on your team. What were the underlying problems and their causes? How did you prevent them from negatively impacting the team in the future?
- Tell me about a time when a team member was struggling at work and you stepped in to help out. Why did you think they were struggling? Why did you decided to step in and support? What did you do to help out? How did it impact your work? What was the outcome? What did you learn from that situation?
- Tell me about a time when you experienced someone being treated unfairly. How did you respond? Would you have done anything differently? (DEI)
Dive Deep
Leaders operate at all levels, stay connected to the details, audit frequently, and are skeptical when metrics and anecdotes differ. No task is beneath them.
Concern
- Does not understand the details of projects
- Does not understand how different groups or systems work together
- Only holds surface-level understanding of metrics and data
- Does not question assumptions
- Unable to step in and get work done
Strength
- Stays connected to the details of projects and programs
- Understands how different groups or systems work together
- Critically evaluates metrics and data
- Asks good questions that provide clarity to situations
- Steps in and gets work done
- Investigates and get details in order to solve a problem
- Gathers information to solve a problem, even if it’s difficult or time-consuming
Questions
- Tell me about a time when you were trying to understand a complex problem on your team and you had to dig into the details to figure it out. Who did you talk with or where did you have to look to find the most valuable information? How did you use that information to help solve the problem?
- Tell me about a situation that required you to dig deep to get to the root cause. How did you know you were focusing on the right things? What was the outcome? Would you have done anything differently?
- Tell me about a problem you had to solve that required in-depth thought and analysis. How did you know you were focusing on the right things? What was the outcome? Would you have done anything differently?
- Walk me through a big problem or issue in your organization that you helped to solve. How did you become aware of it? What information did you gather? What information was missing and how did you fill the gaps? Did you do a reflection at the conclusion of the project? If so, what did you learn?
- Tell me about a specific metric you have used to identify a need for a change in your department. Did you create the metric or was it already available? How did this and other information influence the change? What was the outcome of this change?
- Have you ever created a metric that helped identify a need for a change in your department? What was the metric? Why did you create it? How did this and other information influence change? What was the outcome of the change?
- Tell me about a time when you had to validate the assumptions underlying a direct report’s project. How did you decide follow up was necessary? What steps, if any, did you take to validate the assumptions? What was the result? (Manager)
- Tell me about a time when you sought diverse perspectives to evaluate the assumptions underlying a direct report’s project. How did you ensure that you were being inclusive in your review? (Manager) (DEI)
Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit
Leaders are obligated to respectfully challenge decisions when they disagree, even when doing so is uncomfortable or exhausting. Leaders have conviction and are tenacious. They do not compromise for the sake of social cohesion. Once a decision is determined, they commit wholly.
Concern
- Refuses to change direction even when data shows this is necessary
- Unwilling to challenge other’s decisions when necessary
- Comes off as consistently argumentative
- Continues to advocate original point of view even after final decision has been made
- Focuses on getting their own way rather than what is best for the customer
Strength
- Disagrees with peers and supervisors using data to thoughtfully explain counter-arguments
- Stands up for what they believe is in the best interest of the company and the customer
- Advocates clearly and passionately for beliefs
- Openly supports and commits to decisions that have been made, even if not originally in agreement
Questions
- Tell me about a time when you strongly disagreed with your manager or peer on something you considered very important to the business. What was it and how did you handle it? Knowing what you know now, would you do anything differently?
- Describe a time when you took an unpopular stance in a meeting with peers and your leader. What was it? Why did you feel strongly about it? What did you do? What was the outcome?
- Often, we must make decisions as a group. Give me an example of a time you committed to a group decision even though you disagreed. What factors led you to commit to the decision? Would you make the same decision now?
- Describe a time when you felt really strongly about something on a project but the team decided to go in a different direction. How hard did you press the issue? How did you approach that project afterward?
- Tell me about a time when you pushed back against a decision that negatively impacted your team. What was the issue? How did it turn out? Would you have done anything differently?
- Give me an example of when you submitted a great idea to your manager and they did not support it. What was the idea? How did you handle the lack of support?
- Describe a time when you had to support a business initiative that you didn’t agree with. How did you handle it? How did you deliver the message to your team?
- Tell me about a time when the business gained something because you persisted for a length of time. Why were you so determined? How did it turn out?
- Give me an example of a time when you were inclusive and respectful of the perspectives of others although they had an opinion which was different than yours. How did you support your position? (DEI)
Deliver Results
Leaders focus on the key inputs for their business and deliver them with the right quality and in a timely fashion. Despite setbacks, they rise to the occasion and never settle.
Concern
- Fails to deliver on required commitments
- Does not commit adequate time and resources to deliver quality results
- Settles for work products that do not meet expectations
- Makes excuses for why things cannot be done before a deadline
- Delivers projects late or with missing requirements
Strength
- Meets deadlines and expectations with products that are well-executed and high-quality
- Focuses on delivering the most important products
- Able to deliver multiple projects at the same time
- Overcomes and persists in the face of obstacles
- Communicates regularly about the status of projects
Questions
- Give me an example of a time when you were able to deliver an important project under a tight deadline. What sacrifices did you have to make to meet the deadline? How did they impact the final deliverable? What was the final outcome?
- Tell me about a time when you had significant, unanticipated obstacles to overcome in achieving a key goal. What was the obstacle? Were you eventually successful? Knowing what you know now, is there anything you would have done differently?
- Tell me about a time when you not only met a goal but considerably exceeded expectations. How were you able to do it? What challenges did you have to overcome?
- Tell me about a time when you or your team were more than half way to meeting a goal when you realized it may not be the right goal or may have unintended consequences. What was the situation? What did you do? What was the outcome? Looking back, would you have done anything differently?
- Give me an example of a mission or goal you didn’t think was achievable. What was it and how did you help your team try to achieve it? Were you successful in the end? Looking back, would you have done anything differently?
- Tell me about a time when you did not effectively manage your projects and something did not get completed on time. What was the impact? What approaches do you use to make sure you are focusing on the right deliverables when you have several competing priorities?
- How have you delivered quality service for customers with diverse needs? What obstacles did you encounter and how did you overcome them? How did you audit customer experience? (DEI)
- It can be difficult to set goals for a team that are challenging, yet achievable. Tell me about a time when you hit the right balance. How did you approach setting the goals? What was the outcome? (Manager)
Strive to be earth’s best employer
Leaders work every day to create a safer, more productive, higher performing, more diverse, and more just work environment. They lead with empathy, have fun at work, and make it easy for others to have fun. Leaders ask themselves: Are my fellow employees growing? Are they empowered? Are they ready for what’s next? Leaders have a vision for and commitment to their employees’ personal success, whether that be at Amazon or elsewhere.
Concern
- Actions result in only certain individuals feeling valued, informed, connected, safe, supported, respected, and treated fairly
- Dismisses feedback or input from anyone they see as different or less influential
- Doesn’t acknowledge others’ or teams’ success; treats success as an expectation not something to appreciate
- Actions prevent or hinder others from achieving their goals
- Allows personal or majority views to drown out diverse opinions and viewpoints
- Doesn’t take responsibility for the impact of their words, actions, and/or demeanor on others
- Doesn’t prioritize their own or others’ safety
- Actions foster an environment where productivity or profit is prioritized over all else
Strength
- Takes actions to ensure everyone feels valued, informed, connected, safe, supported, respected, and treated fairly
- Treats others with respect, regardless of tenure, title, or level of influence
- Acknowledges success; takes actions to create an environment of appreciation
- Finds opportunities to help others be heard, achieve their goals, and to grow and develop
- Identifies ways to overcome conscious and unconscious bias
- Takes responsibility for how one’s words, actions, or demeanor impact others
- Creates or maintains a safe work environment
- Actions foster an environment where well-being is valued and supported
Questions
- Tell me a time when you helped build a more inclusive working environment. What problems were you trying to address? What did you do? What were the employees’ reactions? How did the changes help the employees?
- Tell me about a time when you advocated for someone who had less influence or seniority than you. How or why did you advocate for them and what was the outcome?
- Describe a time when you implemented a change at work aimed at improving the work experience of yourself or coworkers. What was the goal? Why did you feel this change was necessary? What was the outcome?
- Describe a time when you promoted diversity, equity, or inclusion in the workplace. What forms of diversity did you consider (for example, gender, ethnicity, personal interests)? What approach did you use?
- Tell me about a time when you showed compassion toward someone during a stressful or high-pressure situation. How did you recognize that it was important to demonstrate sensitivity? What did you do to demonstrate compassion? What were the outcomes for that person and the situation?
- Tell me about a time when you supported or empowered someone else on your team to achieve a professional or personal goal. What was your role in the situation? How did it impact you?
- Give me an example of a time when you organized or participated in an initiative to foster an enjoyable work environment. What was the activity or initiative? What did you do? How did other employees react?
- Tell me about a time when you noticed someone was being excluded or treated unfairly. Were you able to do anything to help?
- Tell me about a time you created an environment where your direct reports felt comfortable speaking up with questions, concerns, ideas, or mistakes. How did you do this and how do you know that it worked? (Manager)
- Give me an example of when you worked to improve your team’s work environment? Why did you think the improvement was needed? How did you decide what steps to take? What impact did this improvement have on your team? (Manager)
- Tell me about a time you influenced a change that fostered diversity, equity, and inclusion on your team or in your org? What indicators did you use to identify the problem? What measures did you employ to course correct the issue? (Manager)
Success And Scale Bring Broad Responsibility
We started in a garage, but we’re not there anymore. We are big, we impact the world, and we are far from perfect. We must be humble and thoughtful about even the secondary effects of our actions. Our local communities, planet, and future generations need us to be better every day. We must begin each day with a determination to make better, do better, and be better for our customers, our employees, our partners, and the world at large. And we must end every day knowing we can do even more tomorrow. Leaders create more than they consume and always leave things better than how they found them.
Concern
- Possesses a narrow view of reach in the world; doesn’t recognize even small actions can have broad downstream consequences
- Doesn’t evaluate the impact of their actions at scale
- Makes decisions to optimize for success regardless of the costs
- Views oneself and the world as perfect; dismisses identified areas for improvement
- Doesn’t take time to support or help others
Strength
- Evaluates the broad implications of their actions at scale
- Makes decisions by weighing the benefits and potential downstream consequences
- Recognizes what is effective today may not be appropriate for tomorrow; course corrects when unintentional consequences are identified
- Actively listens and asks the right questions to finds ways (big or small) to make a difference or contribution
- Contributes time, skill, knowledge, or expertise to help or support others
Questions
- Tell me about a time you worked on a project that had impact beyond your immediate client, customer, or organization. How did you approach the potential downstream impact of this work? When in the course of the project did you start thinking about this impact, and what efforts did you make to manage this impact? What were the risks?
- Tell me about a time when you decided to change a decision because of unintended consequences for your customers. What was the impact to your customers? What tradeoffs did you have to make? How did your new solution better serve your customers?
- Tell me about a time when you changed course because of the negative impact you were going to cause to a third-party.
- Tell me a time when you thought carefully about social responsibility as a critical aspect of your decision making. Why was social responsibility important? How did it (that is, considering social responsibility) have impact on the decision-making process?
- Tell me about a time when you considered everyone who was affected by your work, not just your direct customers or people within your organization.
- Describe a time when you had to balance growth or perceived progress with environmental or societal impacts. What were the environmental or societal impacts? What steps did you take to minimize any negative impacts?
- Tell me about a time where you realized a project you were working on would have unintended, and perhaps undesired, consequences in the future. Can you tell me about a time when you didn’t realize the unintended consequences until the project was complete?
- Tell me about a time you left something better than how you found it. What was it and how did you change or impact it? How did your actions influence things for the better?
- Tell me about a time you influenced an organizational change to bring new social awareness and responsibility among the teams. What activities or exercises did you employ to promote this awareness? What was the outcome from these efforts? (Manager)
Conclusion
In conclusion, mastering Amazon’s leadership principles is crucial to acing your behavioral interview questions and landing your dream job at Amazon. By understanding and embracing these 14 principles, you’ll demonstrate your ability to think like an Amazonian, drive innovation, and deliver results. With this cheat sheet, you’ll be well-prepared to showcase your skills and join the ranks of the Amazon elite. Good luck with your interview!
