A growth machine.
Becoming Amazon, a workshop.
Any person or leader can have an idea, and take that idea and turn it into the next Amazon, or a tenth of the size of Amazon. While at Amazon, I learned what made it scale. And it is rather simple. It is a set of principles combined with five scalable, repeatable processes. I can teach and consult how to implement each of these five to help your business grow.
Also, my time at Amazon taught me an immense amount about leadership, growth, process, metrics, and helping geographically diverse teams thrive. It’s a method that can be replicated to help businesses grow, scale and make the most of Human Intelligence.
These workshops aim to pass on my learnings and help you walk away with clear, tangible actions you can implement immediately. The day(s) are very hands-on; you will write and work- not just listen. Importantly, everything I took away from scaling Amazon will impact how you run your company tomorrow.
You’ll understand that any company can build a growth engine like Amazon. It is not a cult but rather a set of principles unique to your company combined with scalable, repeatable processes. On the day(s), I’ll teach and advise you on implementing each machine component for your company so you can grow.
Before we embark on the one-day workshop (which has pre and post-day activities), there are three firm rules.
Rule 1.
Everyone attendee must run a team or department, and must be a lead decision-maker.
Throughout the course of the day, we will be writing draft business plans, rearranging teams, building goals and debating key initiatives. It’s key that those attending be empowered to make decisions.
Rule 2
To have diversity of thinking, you need Diversity in the talent.
I ask that we have a true diverse mix of people attending the day. If this can not be achieved, a goal will be set during the day, with key dates, to ensure that diversity and inclusion numbers are met in the future.
Rule 3
Pre-workshop work will need to be prepared and submitted prior.
This will not take a significant amount of time, and mostly it’ll be a collection of assets. However, we must ensure value is gained from the investment and implemented post-event.
“Anthony is among the warmest and most approachable speakers I have met. He’s not there to sell; he’s there to inform and share. The workshops are eye-opening and practical.”
Piotr Rozanski, CMO
The day.
Often a part of a larger initiative (ie, Quarterly Planning), the day is run like a typical Amazon offsite. Frugal, lean, and to-the-point. I complete a significant amount of pre-work to ensure the day, and post-event, is a success and initiatives are implemented.
While we will cover Leadership Principles, 6-page documents, PRFAQs, span-of-control, two-pizza teams, frugality, document review meetings and more, there will be written work completed during the day. Be prepared to dive deep and walk away with action plans.
Principles.
Culture shapes how any company will look next month, next year, and hopefully, in the next ten years. Amazon invests serious time and energy in corporate culture. The 14 Leadership Principles (their Beliefs) are engrained in every one of their 1,000,000+ employee'’ steps and actions. Amazon's corporate culture is so strong that new recruits need 3 to 6 months to get acclimated, no matter their experience level and previous companies (including big four consulting).
True: After starting at Amazon, my SVP didn't want to meet until I had spent three months at the company.
You should expect to discuss the Culture you want to create and how you want to build it - this is not a Values session.
Details. Details. Details.
Similar to other What I learned from Amazon workshops at Kia (South Korea), Ozon (Russia), L Catterton, L’Oreal, and others, you will NOT see a color print out. You will spend time writing and reviewing documents and breaking out into groups. The two-pizza rule at Amazon means that meetings should not be larger than 5-7 people. For efficiency and breakout groups, the maximum size of workshops is 12 people.
Before the event, we will decide on three to four challenges facing the company or possible future direction. These topics will be workshopped during the day. Mutual NDAs will be signed, including the details of what you will learn and implement.
