Jeff Bezos doesn’t recognize the Amazon in Times report

High-performance, fast-growth companies have performance standards and expectations that are different from “mainstream,” established companies. Similar allegations have been made of Google and Microsoft in the past.

Given the high degree of bias and inaccuracies in many mainstream media stories, one has to view sensational journalism with a fair amount of skepticism. Regardless of the source, these kinds of stories are large a “he says/she says” kind of thing.

At the end of the day, each worker still has the ultimate choice where they work. If the corporate rat race becomes too much for an individual’s lifestyle choice, they can leave.

I seriously doubt that this will affect Amazon’s recruiting. Many young people starting careers relish the opportunity to work in a “pressure cooker of innovation.” And bear in mind the new stat: Millennials are projected to have at least 30 different jobs in their careers. They expect to change jobs frequently!

As a company, you know that you have arrived in the rarified air of being a powerhouse when your corporate laundry is aired in the New York Times. While we can’t know what is real or fantasy about the complaint, what we can all assume from our experience is that large companies that are growing at breakneck speed are susceptible to maintaining a consistent corporate culture across the enterprise.

From what I have read and understand about Bezos, he is a driven guy that puts in many hours, which can be expected from such a highly successful CEO. However, if he implicitly expects that same level of intensity and commitment all the way down the food chain of employees, I can believe that there are at least isolated opportunities for workplace abuse.

Someone smarter than I once said that success is more about how one handles problems than anything else. Given Bezos’ track record, I would wager he will handle this problem effectively as well as the many more that will come with the territory of being a retailing juggernaut.

I am a b-school faculty member and many students (and some friends) that I personally know work at Amazon. I have kept in regular touch with them (as my research is in retail and Amazon is of course very interesting to me). Over the last five to six years, I have never heard even one person complain about the work culture at Amazon. In fact, after internships at Amazon, many people want to go there to work full time.

The truth is almost always somewhere in between.

I heard an interview this morning on CBS News with Jay Carney, former White House Press Secretary now working with Amazon. He took the same line of response as Mr. Bezos, which is to be expected.

If the Times article is incorrect, I wonder why their editors let it get through their process and be published. That said, Rolling Stone badly mishandled a report concerning rape at the University of Virginia last fall and so, as we see, mistakes can be made.

More important to me is, why should we care? Those working at Amazon are not slaves, they are being paid for a job and can make the decision to leave at any time. If there is mass exodus, then we know that Amazon has some internal problems. If their turnover is similar to other tech companies, as Mr. Carney indicated in his interview, then maybe the reporting is overblown.

I’m more concerned about my own company culture and less about what Amazon is doing!

Part of the issue with the lack of Amazon’s side to the story may have to do with the retailer failing to cooperate (nothing unusual there) with the Times in its reporting. It’s tough to get both sides of a story when one side won’t speak.

Any time you have a culture of high expectations and hard work there will be people in management who drive people too hard and do not reflect the true culture of an organization. Whether they are highly driven to succeed, are insecure in their own abilities or just poor managers there will almost always be a segment in a company as large and as innovative as Amazon where these conditions will exist. I applaud Jeff Bezos for responding in a positive manner to eliminate this behavior from his company. If he is the culprit then his statements will only be viewed as hot air inside Amazon but if he is sincere people who work there should get the message.

Good judgement need be applied as with any “news report.”

My take away is this: analytically driven businesses (such as Amazon and all pure-play digital players such as Netflix, eBay, Google, etc.) will REQUIRE a high performance workforce at all levels. Why? Well, because they are in affect the drivers of changing consumer behavior, whilst traditional brick and mortar retailers (for example) are perpetually in a catch-up game. If your mission statement includes “change the world” the implication is that the entire organization must believe it and be committed to it.

Make no mistake, some of the behaviors in the NYT report are reprehensible if true, and there may indeed be some isolated cases where this should be dealt with appropriately.

As other readers have pointed out, as an employee, Amazon is probably not a place where you should expect to work “forever” and some day retire, but the learning experience (like any start-up environment, frankly) could certainly be an amazing experience and career booster. Having done a few stints myself with start-ups, I can attest to the long hours, broad reaching responsibilities and sometimes tense (e.g. obtaining funding, or roll-out of new solution features), but the experiences were tremendous and a highlight of my career.

My business life began and flourished in a zero tolerance pressure cooker sales environment. The ones that made a good living and owned a reputation for high productivity were paid by the pound in cash. The challenge was all in and no leftovers for the losers. An importance of a win was providing an ample reward for all as in company, client, vendors and employees. I have lost count of the hundreds of failed attempts at this level of sales and marketing and I still own several hundred of business cards from those who couldn’t get to the finish line.

The purpose of making this sound like a game is because that is much like how it really is. A game with no extra lives and where every mistake is always fatal to the effort. In every endeavor, the rules included following a legal and moral business practice using professional business conduct and courtesy. People stayed in because they won and winning was more important than the lavish rewards. In truth, winning was and is everything for the successful.

One of the key ingredients for a lasting success in this high stakes market plan is knowing what you have to sell and selling everything you have. Corporations that rely on selling price to make a living—like the subject of this discussion—never stand the test of time. The reason is that all of their customers see them as a place to look for the same for less. What these companies do not know is that everyone is a customer. Client customers render money for product, vendor customers furnish product for money and employee customers supply time and in some cases value added experience and know how for money. Smart companies realize the importance of this arrangement and work to provide a balanced return for all revenue types and participants.

Selling more for less to the client makes necessary a plan to provide less for more from labor and suppliers. Not much of a recipe for long-term success for the company. Perhaps that is the company plan or at least a part of it.