Amazon's ruthlessness - new book

[Anonymous]

WSJ book excerpt, re: Amazon tactics vs Trader Joes
https://www.wsj.com/business/retail/amazon-the-everything-war-dana-mattioli-4966915d?

Comments there are interesting, too.

[Anonymous]

It's not even telling all...there is a reason why few stay more than a year or two....they need to change their leadership. They'd probably do better financially if they treated their employees better and had them stay longer.

[Anonymous]

Utter BS.

My daughter has worked there for over 5 years.

Target is a way worse employer than Amazon by miles and miles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Utter BS.

My daughter has worked there for over 5 years.

Target is a way worse employer than Amazon by miles and miles.

Its not. You can get lucky and have a good supervisor and be sheltered but her time will come, sadly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Utter BS.

My daughter has worked there for over 5 years.

Target is a way worse employer than Amazon by miles and miles.

Its not. You can get lucky and have a good supervisor and be sheltered but her time will come, sadly.

+1. The culture is pretty evident in the article. This is not the first book to paint this picture, sadly.

[Anonymous]

All successful companies and people to a certain extent are ruthless. I don't condone it but think about what it takes to be successful. Some are obnoxiously ruthless and some are less so but very very very few are. It takes a really special company or person to come out above the rest without being somewhat different in their ability to achieve excellence or as a company, market share. I mean either they are spectacular in their talent or product that nobody can touch or they have their own weird style of being that makes them different and untouchable. Chickfilet for example. Whether Michael Jordon Tiger Woods or Pete Sampras Obama - you really have to have that drive and killer instinct to last long term as number one. Federer is an exception I can think of but you really don't know his entire story. That killer instinct is what I've seen as something that's valuable in both business and sports. Totally doesn't mean you should or need to be evil but in some capacity it is an instinct for the highest level of competition to win. It's a fine line as I know you can still be good and have that but most of the time it's easier to be ruthless and nasty. Just saying it's more common than rare.

[Anonymous]

It’s a toxic work place. There is no “community” the way other larger tech companies have. They very much believe in up or out and get out if you’ve been here to long to keep everyone fresh and scared.

[Anonymous]

Bezos is unapologetically progressive.

He’s a lifelong democrat, and donates to liberal/progressive programs.

[Anonymous]

Average tenure is less than 4 years. Supervisors are also require to PIP employees. It’s an awful, toxic environment to be in. That’s why many leave.

[Anonymous]

What does the article say? I don't have a WSJ subscription.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Average tenure is less than 4 years. Supervisors are also require to PIP employees. It’s an awful, toxic environment to be in. That’s why many leave.

This, they are also doing lots of layoffs again.

[Anonymous]

What's not mentioned in the article is the ripple effect that occurs when the fired Amazon employees get other jobs. They take their Amazon miseducations and create a toxic work invite at their new employer. This effect is ten times worse than the original toxic environment at Amazon.

[Anonymous]

What is this book called? I don’t have a WSJ subscription. I did read another book (assuming it’s different since it’s not new) and it was fascinating about Amazon culture. Not a pretty picture.

For humor- here’s the Amazon link to it
https://www.amazon.com/Exit-Interview-Death-Ambitious-Career/dp/0374600902?nodl=1&dplnkId=d62083fc-4d05-4186-9556-26fc943b5603

[Anonymous]

^ if you don’t wanna click the link: Exit Interview: The Life and Death of My Ambitious Career
Book by Kristi Coulter

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All successful companies and people to a certain extent are ruthless. I don't condone it but think about what it takes to be successful. Some are obnoxiously ruthless and some are less so but very very very few are. It takes a really special company or person to come out above the rest without being somewhat different in their ability to achieve excellence or as a company, market share. I mean either they are spectacular in their talent or product that nobody can touch or they have their own weird style of being that makes them different and untouchable. Chickfilet for example. Whether Michael Jordon Tiger Woods or Pete Sampras Obama - you really have to have that drive and killer instinct to last long term as number one. Federer is an exception I can think of but you really don't know his entire story. That killer instinct is what I've seen as something that's valuable in both business and sports. Totally doesn't mean you should or need to be evil but in some capacity it is an instinct for the highest level of competition to win. It's a fine line as I know you can still be good and have that but most of the time it's easier to be ruthless and nasty. Just saying it's more common than rare.

Except the part about Amazon using its third-party marketplace to feed insight/intelligence into its retail division...clearly anti-competitive. I am fine with ruthless but not illegal.