“The announcement that we made a few days ago was not really financially driven, and it’s not even really AI-driven, not right now at least. It’s culture.”

That’s what Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said after the layoffs last week. Ignoring its tone-deafness (for now), I want to question the “culture” bit.

Long ago, I worked in the same building as Jeff Wilke. We often chatted in the elevator, usually on the way up from the parking garage. He was the CEO of Amazon Retail, and the #2 Jeff at Amazon.

I attended Jeff Wilke’s seminal talk on “a culture of and.”

Most companies are cultures of or. Add new customers OR improve customer service. Create loyal customers OR charge for luggage. Companies that “are the industry’s best X” usually thrive by sacrificing one thing to be the best at another. Airlines are the obvious example. Cell phone companies. Grok. Starbucks. Krispy Kreme Donuts.

But Wilke believed that the most successful companies were the ones with a culture of and. That’s why Amazon wanted the best prices AND the fastest delivery AND the best customer service.

Wilke explained that Amazon’s leadership principles were intentionally constructed to create a culture of and. They’re SUPPOSED have tension.

Every single one contradicts at least one other. Some even contradict themselves. That’s the point.

Amazon pushed to do it all. Delivering results with low standards was as bad as not delivering results because we kept the standards high. Bias for action without diving deep was an anti-pattern, and a sign of a disengaged leader. Having backbone was actually bad if you wouldn’t also commit.

Last week, Andy said, “It’s culture.”

His culture isn’t the culture that I learned from Jeff Wilke.

If I were to chat with Andy in the elevator, I’d ask: where in the leadership principles does it say that leaders lead “the world’s largest startup?” Where is “flatness” mentioned?

I’d point out that leaders earn trust. I’d say that leaders hire and develop the best. I’d refer to being earth’s best employer, and how leaders shoulder the responsibility of being better, and doing better, for their employees.

I’d tell him that when I think about what Amazon culture used to be – the one that Wilke advocated for – it was about ALL of the leadership principles, and the culture of and.

And I’d tell him that the “culture” that he’s fostering is a culture of or, instead of a culture of and.

PS: I personally knew several 10- and 15-plus-year veterans that he laid off last week. I’d also mention that implying that they were somehow bad for Amazon’s culture is not only tone-deaf, but downright mean.About What Andy Said…