"That's not my job" - How I wrote a part of an Amazon Leadership Principle (LP)
"Ownership" LP
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In 2011, I was in a training class at Amazon for "category leaders" an Amazon term for people who owned retail segments like Shoes, Books, or Video Games (my category).
Jeff Wilke, CEO of Amazon Retail, brought us a revised edit of the Amazon Leadership Principles (LPs) that was about to be released and asked for comment.
The Ownership LP had been dropped.
We proposed restoring it and he asked us to draft a new version.
In the proposal, I supplied the words "An owner never says that's not my job" and they were kept in the final version.
While it is fun to share this story, a post by my colleague and fellow coach, Dave Anderson (check his newsletter), reminded me why I suggested those words.
Early in my career, I suggested a person do something I believed was valuable.
He told me: "That's not in my job description, would you like to see it?"
I was stunned that any person would refer to a piece of paper rather than consider the idea on its merits.
It stuck with me for 15 years so strongly that when given the chance, I suggested the language.
Never use your role as a shield.
If the work needs to be done, either step up and do it, or find the right owner.
If the work is low value, feel free to argue that the work is not worth it.
But never try to hide behind a piece of paper.
If you want to limit your value to what someone put on a piece of paper, that is how you will be seen...as an inflexible, limited-ambition cog who searches for reasons to say no.
To be vocally self-critical, I was too shocked and too new of a leader to know how to respond to the person.
Today, I would lead a person through the implications of their statement and ask questions to get them to think about what they were saying.
In this post, I shared important lessons I learned as a young leader when I personally failed Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos.
Dave and I had a chat where we went into much greater depth on the Amazon LPs:
Audience Insights
I have consolidated additional ideas worth considering from my LinkedIn audience, including:
Another common phrase is “That’s above my pay grade.” People who say this have the cause and effect backwards. The path to a higher pay grade is to solve those problems.
Your Job Description (JD) is the floor, not the ceiling of what you can accomplish.
Having a “That’s not my job” mindset also signals lack of team play. Two interview questions you can ask to check for this mindset:
“Tell me about a time you saw a team or peer dropping or neglecting something, and what did you do?”
“Give me an example of a situation where another stakeholder brought you a problem outside of your normal area, what did you do?”
It does not mean you never say “That’s not my job”, but that you find the right owner, and ensure that person knows that they are the owner.
Ask yourself: When there is a mess in front of you, do you have a Mop or Broom mentality?
Act as owners of a small business even if you manage a large business and team. A small business owner does not state “That’s not my job” when it comes to their business and livelihood.
When you have a “That’s not my job” mindset, you limit your opportunity surface area and may miss gaps that lead to future opportunities (e.g. new role, different domain, potential mentor/sponsor).
Just because something is an Leadership Principal does not mean to follow blindly. All Principals require judgment based on the specific situation. Read what to do about Weaponizing Amazon Leadership Principles and Degenerate Leadership Principles.
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Fulfilling the Ownership leadership principle is possible when teams are properly resourced and roles are backfilled when team members leave. However when neither are true, then the company is taking advantage of its employees by shielding itself behind its leadership principles. As a result, resentment starts brewing. In the current state of affairs, employees do not have enough resources to do their current jobs, and now they’re expected to take on other roles completely outside of their scope without additional compensation. Something isn’t right here.