“Disagree and commit” is Amazon’s most misunderstood and misused Leadership Principle, both within and outside the company. Let’s break this down phrase by phrase. First, here is the complete description of the principle:
“Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit
Leaders are obligated to respectfully challenge decisions when they disagree, even when doing so is uncomfortable or exhausting. Leaders have conviction and are tenacious. They do not compromise for the sake of social cohesion. Once a decision is determined, they commit wholly.”
“Having Backbone”
>> This means being willing to hold and defend a contrarian point of view. To defend your ideas to your team and upwards.
“Leaders are obligated to respectfully challenge decisions when they disagree, even when doing so is uncomfortable or exhausting.”
>> ‘obligated’ carries significant weight. This means it is not acceptable to lurk in the background, hold your contrarian views to yourself, and perhaps grumble to others outside the meeting. It is part of your job as a leader to clearly articulate your thoughts and the logic and assumptions behind them.
“even when doing so is uncomfortable or exhausting.”
>> expressing your disagreement may be time-consuming… You need to communicate it to the right leaders, both in writing and verbally, and you may need to continue doing so (in addition to your job) for weeks or months.
“Leaders have conviction and are tenacious.”
>> self-explanatory
“They do not compromise for the sake of social cohesion.”
>> This was a topic that Jeff talked about a lot. Humans are social people. One of the mechanisms we have all developed over 300,000 years of evolution is the ability to get along with other members of our community and to be liked by others. To do this, we can’t always disagree with everyone else. We have to go along to get along. This principle requires leaders to fight this natural tendency and prioritize their beliefs over their likability.
“Once a decision is determined, they commit wholly.”
>> This means, once a final decision has been made, leaders set aside their misgivings and support the decision as if it were their own idea. They shift to presenting the pro argument and drop the con argument.
But this is often the part people get wrong—they don’t understand when they have reached the point at which the final decision has been made, and their protest should cease. At the most senior level, when the buck stops with the CEO, that moment is clear. It is understandable that this line is less clear to a junior or middle-management leader who will never make it to a meeting with the CEO. Do I stop disagreeing when my manager or my manager’s manager says we have made a decision and it’s time to commit?
The short answer is probably yes, but there are cases where it is no. So how do you know? That is where you have to apply judgment. There are lots of blurry lines in life, and this is one of them.
