In 2006, I led a disastrous product launch for Amazon. My mistakes cost the company millions of dollars. Here is what I wrote about my own performance and why Jeff Bezos didn’t fire me:
This is my self-assessment from my performance review that year:
“Overall, my performance was dreadful in 2006. In Unbox (the product), our launch was poorly received, partly due to DRM [digital rights management] and licensing issues that restrict content usage and selection, partly due to bad product choices we made for consumers, and partly due to engineering defects.
In any case, I didn’t manage these issues appropriately, and the result was a weak launch with weak consumer responses and a negative press reaction.
My performance versus goals can be summarized by a low execution rate in terms of completed projects. The main project that was completed (Unbox Video) has not yet delivered a compelling customer experience, and sales have been disappointing.
I think a grade of ‘D’ for my performance vs. goals would be generous.”
_________
In any other company, I probably would have been fired for my mistakes. Fortunately for me, Amazon’s commitment to long-term thinking includes its investment in people.
They understand that if you fire the person who had a failure experience, you lose the benefit of the learning that came along with it.
Jeff used to say something like, “Why would I fire you now? I just made a million-dollar investment in you. Now you have an obligation to make that investment pay off.”
He would then advise the person who made the mistake to “Figure out and clearly document where you went wrong. Share what you have learned with other leaders throughout the company. Be sure you don’t make the same mistake again and help others avoid making it the first time.”
Basically, making mistakes gives you the knowledge to make the company better and the responsibility to do so.
I share the full story of what led to this disaster in the book “Working Backwards,” which you can view here: https://lnkd.in/gzJ4qb45
