As a manager, the easy thing to do is to give everyone a great performance review. This avoids conflict, but it is short-sighted. At Amazon, we believed that a high-performance culture required honesty even when it was uncomfortable. The company put systems in place to make sure that happened.
One example was the promotion process. It was intentionally rigorous and relied on hard data about goals met and impact created. This meant that you couldn’t be promoted based on relationships or storytelling alone.
You had to show actual business results and evidence of the Amazon Leadership Principles (LPs) in action. This process was designed to make it hard to inflate someone’s performance without scrutiny.
Another example was the performance review calibration process. Leaders were asked to present their team’s performance ratings to their peers, defend their evaluations, and back them up with specifics. As a leader, you’re expected to advocate for your team. But you also need to be honest and seek outside perspective. Your peers will call you out if you are not being measured and objective.
Calibration was a mechanism to align expectations across teams so that one manager couldn’t lower the bar while another held it high. It ensured that great reviews actually meant great performance throughout the company.
These mechanisms tied directly to several of Amazon’s Leadership Principles:
– “Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit” (you must be willing to speak hard truths in front of peers)
– “Earn Trust” (you lose credibility if your assessments aren’t objective)
– “Insist on the Highest Standards.” These reviews weren’t just administrative—they were tools to maintain and raise the bar.
Underlying all of this was Amazon’s feedback culture. Truth-telling was not just encouraged, it was required. Leaders were expected to give direct, actionable feedback, even if it was hard. Avoiding those conversations might preserve short-term comfort, but it leads to long-term dysfunction. You can’t develop people if you aren’t clear with them about where they’re excelling and where they’re falling short.
Giving everyone a great review might feel easier in the moment, but it undermines the trust people have in the system. High performers stop believing their effort is recognized, and others miss the chance to improve. Over time, the team weakens and the bar is lowered.
High performers want to work with other high performers. You have to take proactive steps to maintain a high bar. Otherwise, entropy takes hold, resulting in disorder, randomness and reversion to the mean.
To read more about Amazon’s systems for excellence, read the book *Working Backwards*.
