Taking control of your career | Ethan Evans (Amazon)
Brought to you by Sidebar—Accelerate your career by surrounding yourself with extraordinary peers | Sprig—Build a product people love | Arcade Software—Create effortlessly beautiful demos in minutes — Ethan Evans is a writer, career coach, course instructor, and retired VP at Amazon. During his 15 years at Amazon, he helped invent Prime Video, Amazon Video, the Amazon Appstore, Prime Gaming (formerly Twitch Prime), and Twitch Commerce. Prior to Amazon, Ethan spent 12 years in technical leadership roles at several East Coast startups. He writes a newsletter, Level Up, which publishes candid career advice and has a growing community of ambitious professionals to connect with. Ethan also offers a range of Leadership Development Courses via live online classes and on-demand courses. In this episode, we discuss:
Some takeaways:
Listen now on Apple, Spotify, Overcast, and YouTube. Find the transcript for this episode and all past episodes at: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/episodes/. Today’s transcript will be live by 8 a.m. PT. Where to find Ethan Evans: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethanevansvp/ • Substack: https://levelupwithethanevans.substack.com/ Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • X: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Ethan’s background (04:25) The Magic Loop (08:31) The goal of the Magic Loop (10:59) Clarifications on the framework (12:46) Success stories (17:22) The importance and effectiveness of the Magic Loop (19:01) A quick summary of the steps in the Magic Loop (21:46) What if you’re not pursuing a promotion? (23:09) How to break out of a career plateau (28:52) How to become systematically inventive (36:04) Interview advice and how to stand out (40:43) A story of failing Jeff Bezos (50:31) Lessons learned from that failure (57:30) What Ethan would have done differently (01:00:35) Amazon’s leadership principles (01:08:52) Contrarian corner: Returning to the office vs. staying remote (01:10:39) Contrarian corner: Doing business on a handshake (01:11:52) Lightning round Referenced: • The Magic Loop: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-magic-loop • SDE levels: https://www.masaischool.com/blog/understanding-sde-levels-sde-1-vs-sde-2-vs-sde-3-differences/ • What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful: https://www.amazon.com/What-Got-Here-Wont-There/dp/1401301304 • Thomas Edison’s quote: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/thomas_a_edison_109928 • Jeff Bezos: Amazon and Blue Origin | Lex Fridman Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcWqzZ3I2cY • Unpacking Amazon’s unique ways of working | Bill Carr (author of Working Backwards): https://www.lennyspodcast.com/unpacking-amazons-unique-ways-of-working-bill-carr-author-of-working-backwards/ • Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Working-Backwards-Insights-Stories-Secrets/dp/1250267595 • Jeff Wilke on X: https://twitter.com/jeffawilke • Andy Jassy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-jassy-8b1615/ • Werner Vogels on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wernervogels/ • Amazon’s Silk browser explained: https://www.androidpolice.com/amazon-silk-browser-explainer/ • Chickens and pigs: https://www.scrum.org/resources/chickens-and-pigs • 58% of tech employees experience imposter syndrome. Here’s how to overcome it: https://medium.com/wearefutureworks/58-of-tech-employees-experience-imposter-syndrome-heres-how-to-overcome-it-78172d8a2258 • Jeff Bezos to exec after product totally flopped: ‘You can’t, for one minute, feel bad’: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/22/jeff-bezos-why-you-cant-feel-bad-about-failure.html • Amazon’s leadership principles: https://www.amazon.jobs/content/en/our-workplace/leadership-principles • Sam Altman on X: https://twitter.com/sama • Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work: https://www.amazon.com/Decisive-Make-Better-Choices-Life/dp/0307956393 • Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting Out of the Box: https://www.amazon.com/Leadership-Self-Deception-Getting-Out-Box/dp/1523097809 • The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness: https://www.amazon.com/Almanack-Naval-Ravikant-Wealth-Happiness/dp/1544514212/ • Angel list: https://venture.angellist.com/naval/syndicate • Naval Ravikant on X: https://twitter.com/naval • 1923 on Paramount+: https://www.paramountplus.com/shows/1923/ • Yellowstone on Paramount+: https://www.paramountnetwork.com/shows/yellowstone • Chuckit! dog toys: https://www.chuckit-toys.co.uk/ • Luke 12:48: https://law.utk.edu/2016/05/10/to-whom-much-is-given-much-will-be-required • The Challenger space shuttle disaster: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challenger_disaster • Ethan’s popular course on Maven: https://maven.com/ethan-evans/break-through-to-executive Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. You're currently a free subscriber to Lenny's Newsletter. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription. |
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