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1/ What can we learn from Amazon's shareholder letters about how to hire well and establish a strong culture?
2/ Bezos opened his 1997 by saying that “You can work long, hard, or smart, but at Amazon.com, you can’t choose two out of three”
3/ From everyone I’ve spoken with at Amazon, this is still mostly true. It is an extremely demanding workplace culture 
4/ In 2002, Bezos laid out the three Amazon hiring criteria
1. Will you admire this person?
2. Will this person raise the average level of effectiveness of the group they’re entering?
3. Along what dimension might the person be a superstar?
1. Will you admire this person?
2. Will this person raise the average level of effectiveness of the group they’re entering?
3. Along what dimension might the person be a superstar?
5/ I particularly like the admiration criteria. @samhinkie mentioned in his interview with @patrick_oshag in his first job at Bain the advice was: A players higher A players, B players hire B players.
6/ If you are insecure then you tend to hire someone that you know will be worse than you so they don’t pose a threat.
If you are secure, then you want to hire someone who will push you to be even better.
If you are secure, then you want to hire someone who will push you to be even better.
7/ In 2007, Bezos talked about how rapid growth was a cultural attribute and had become a part of Amazon’s culture
(and seeing what’s happened since 2007, he wasn’t wrong…)
(and seeing what’s happened since 2007, he wasn’t wrong…)
8/ In the 2016 letter, Bezos goes into talking more about how a culture is formed. He points out that Amazon’s retail and AWS businesses were very different on the surface but had both grown quickly.
9/ He argues this is a result of a “distinctive organization culture” with these characteristics
1. Customer obsessions over competitor obsession
2. Eagerness to invent and pioneer
3. Willingness to fail
4. The patience to think long-term
1. Customer obsessions over competitor obsession
2. Eagerness to invent and pioneer
3. Willingness to fail
4. The patience to think long-term
10/ He goes on to say that cultures are not something you write into being, they are created slowly over time by people and events. They are incredibly hard to change.
11/ Cultures tend to stay stable over time because people self-select into companies with cultures that match them.
Someone who likes to pioneer will prefer a company that embodies that culture versus one that doesn’t.
Someone who likes to pioneer will prefer a company that embodies that culture versus one that doesn’t.
12/ The takeaways on Amazon's Hiring and Culture:
1. Hire people who are capable of working smart and willing to work long and hard
2. Hire people you admire that raises the average effectiveness of your group and has the potential to be a superstar along some dimension
1. Hire people who are capable of working smart and willing to work long and hard
2. Hire people you admire that raises the average effectiveness of your group and has the potential to be a superstar along some dimension
13/
3.Growth is a culture
4. Culture is enduring because people tend to self-select into companies that match their attributes.
5. Culture is not something you just write into existence, but the result of events and people and the narrative weaved around them
3.Growth is a culture
4. Culture is enduring because people tend to self-select into companies that match their attributes.
5. Culture is not something you just write into existence, but the result of events and people and the narrative weaved around them
