#239: Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon – Start with the customer and work backward

Andy Jassy (0:00)

There is this very strong force inside the company that we're here to make customers' lives easier and better every day. And a lot of companies talk about it, not that many really live it. And Amazon is a company that really lives it every day.

David Novak (0:23)

You know, a lot of leaders say they put customers first, but today you're going to see what it really looks like when that mindset drives every decision. Welcome to How Leaders Lead. I'm David Novak, and every week, I have conversations with the very best leaders in the world to help you become the best leader you can be. My guest today is Andy Jassy, the CEO of Amazon. He's been with the company for 28 years, and he's the guy who built and led Amazon Web Services before succeeding Jeff Bezos as CEO in 2021 Now listen, it's not easy to lead one of the biggest companies in the world, not to mention following an iconic founder like Bezos. But as you'll see, Andy is more than up for the task. He's smart, he's curious, and he's committed not just to saying customers matter, but actually operationalizing it. Andy knows how to start with the customer and then work backwards. And if you want to make better decisions and launch better products, you've got to hear the strategies he shares. Plus, he's got some bold takes on AI and post-pandemic work that are definitely going to get your wheels turning. So here's my conversation with my good friend and soon to be yours, Andy Jassy. I gotta ask you this, what was the last thing you bought on Amazon Prime?

Andy Jassy (1:44)

I buy so much on Amazon Prime, probably either razor blades or biotin. I buy so many of my everyday essentials from Amazon just because the selection is so broad and the delivery is so fast, so convenient. So that's probably the last two.

David Novak (2:00)

Yeah, well, I tell you what, my household is continually bombarded by Amazon, and we love it, it's such a great service.

Andy Jassy (2:07)

Bless you, David, thank you.

David Novak (2:09)

Bless me and everybody else in the world, you know. Everyone, Andy, knows about Amazon, but not everyone knows your whole story. And so I'd like to take you back to just to the beginning. What's the story from your childhood that's really shaped the kind of leader that you are today?

Andy Jassy (2:28)

A lot of my childhood was dominated by sports. I played competitive tennis. I played that Junior National Circuit and I played soccer. And I would say on the tennis side, it was it was actually kind of a hard way to grow up. It's such an intense sport. It's so individual focused. When you lose, there's nobody to blame but yourself. When you win, there's no one to really celebrate with but yourself. And growing up in the East Coast, I also felt like the parental environment around tennis was very intense. But you know, tennis taught me a lot of lessons that have really helped me later in my life. It taught me what hard work looks like and what happens when you don't work hard. It taught me really how to be focused in the moment. You know, when you get to competitive levels in tennis, all the matches are won by like 15 to 20 points during the match. So you just have to have the ability to be laser focused in the moments that matter.

It taught me how to move on. You know, when you can play a tennis tournament and you can have the best win of your year at 9 a.m. and then go out at 2 p.m. and play another match and it's all gone. So you have to be able to move on from success really quickly and from failure very quickly. Because the other thing is when you play tennis at a competitive level, you rarely win the tournament. So it means you actually lose almost every single time that you play.

And then it did teach me as well that you have to find a way to be good to yourself even when things go wrong. We all plan so hard and work so hard and no matter what happens sometimes, it just doesn't work out. And if you're competitive and have high standards, you have to live with that. And then you have to find a way to give yourself a little bit of a break. And I learned those things, I would say, from tennis, which have been helpful. And I would say that one lesson I would say from my soccer life, which really involved my dad, was probably the person on this planet that I most respect. And as a kid, I really kind of worship my dad, I still do. But I remember I went to a soccer game, my younger brothers, and I was driving my dad crazy and just being antsy. And he said, Well, why don't you go run a mile around the track? The field was inside of a quarter mile track. And so I went and I ran and I ran it really slowly, but I ran it. And I got back and I said to my dad, I said, See, I did it. And he said, If you're going to run like that, why bother running? Like, if you're going to do something, do it. And he doesn't really remember that story. But that story always stuck with me, that if you're going to do something, whatever it is, do it and do it to your fullest. Or don't do it. And so those were good lessons for me.