Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

Taking control of your career | Ethan Evans (Amazon)

Jan 14, 2024

01:21:08

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Ethan Evans, retired VP at Amazon, discusses the Magic Loop framework for career growth, breaking out of career plateaus, cultivating inventiveness, standing out in interviews, a personal story of failing Jeff Bezos, contrarian opinions on the return-to-office movement, and doing business on a handshake.

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Quick takeaways

Ownership and taking responsibility for mistakes is crucial for personal and professional growth.

Consistent communication and prioritization during a crisis help rebuild trust and minimize micromanagement.

Acting fast to rectify mistakes and involving experts to find solutions is essential in overcoming challenges.

Deep dives

Lessons learned from failing Jeff Bezos

One of the main lessons learned from this story is owning up to mistakes and taking full responsibility. Instead of deflecting or making excuses, the speaker acknowledged the problem and took ownership of it.

The Magic Loop: Five Steps to Career Growth

02:35

Overcoming Failure and Rebuilding Trust

01:40

Interview Advice: Appearance, Enthusiasm, and Impact

01:50

The Magic Loop at Executive Level

01:49

Introduction

4min

The Magic Loop: Advancing Your Career

13min

The Importance of Help and Support as a Manager

21min

Tips for Virtual Interviews and the Value of Presentation

5min

Rebuilding Trust and Managing Mistakes

16min

Ownership as a Leadership Principle

15min

Favorite Product and Life Motto

2min

Exploring the Risks and Rewards of Going to Space

4min

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:

• The Magic Loop framework: a five-step process to grow your career

• A handful of reasons why people get stuck in their career growth

• Advice on how to break out of a career plateau

• How to cultivate inventiveness in your work

• How to stand out in interviews

• A personal story of failing Jeff Bezos and lessons learned

• Contrarian opinions on the return-to-office movement and doing business on a handshake

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Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/taking-control-of-your-career-ethan

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Where to find Ethan Evans:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethanevansvp/

• Substack: https://levelupwithethanevans.substack.com/

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Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

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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

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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