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Shawn A. Van Ness's avatar

Just like the old joke lawyers tell -- "you know it's a good compromise when both parties are equally unhappy"

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Patrick McGah's avatar

Ah "don't compromise for the sake of social cohesion." This part of the LP is probably the signle biggest source of the 'Amhole' stereotype. Certainly a distinctive belief of the company that harmony is often overvalued in the workplace - that it can stifle honest critique or encourage polite praise for flawed ideas. One downside is that every meeting becomes a "battle royale".

I half-jokingly tell people that this scene (linked below) is a good depiction of a real life Amazon meeting. It's from S1 of the Star Wars TV show Andor.

https://youtu.be/iKl0F640914?si=PrBlp0rHBNE9Y73g

Side note, I suspect that Bezos would score very low on 'agreeableness' on a personality test. Not meant as a diss, but agreeableness is a trait in psychology quantified on a sliding scale similar to introversion/extroversion. It's kind of a poor name since saying one is "disagreeable" has a negative connotation. Would also not surprise me if folks in company leadership also generally score low on agreeableness. Check out the "Big 5" personality traits.

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