Taking control of your career | Ethan Evans (Amazon)
Ethan Evans, former Amazon VP, executive coach, and course creator, shares the "Magic Loop" for career growth, advice for senior leaders, interview tips, and lessons from failing Jeff Bezos. He also discusses Amazon's leadership principles and his contrarian views on remote work.
Deep Dive Analysis
15 Topic Outline
Introduction to Ethan Evans and Episode Topics
The Magic Loop Framework for Career Growth
Purpose and Effectiveness of the Magic Loop
Clarifications and Manager's Role in the Magic Loop
Success Stories Applying the Magic Loop
Applicability of the Magic Loop Across Career Levels
Summary of the Magic Loop Steps
Breaking Out of Career Plateaus at Senior Manager Level
Systematically Cultivating Inventiveness
Interview Advice: Standing Out as a Candidate
Story of Failing Jeff Bezos and Lessons Learned
Amazon's Leadership Principles: Ownership and Bias for Action
Contrarian Corner: Return-to-Office vs. Remote Work
Contrarian Corner: Doing Business on a Handshake
Lightning Round
5 Key Concepts
The Magic Loop
A five-step framework for career growth that involves doing your current job well, asking your boss how you can help, doing what they ask, then asking for opportunities that align with your goals, and repeating the process. It fosters a partnership with management to achieve mutual success and career satisfaction.
Systematic Inventiveness
The ability to consistently generate new ideas, not through pure magic, but by combining existing concepts in novel ways. It requires being an expert in an area and dedicating focused time to thinking, often by merging two disparate existing things.
Ownership (Amazon LP)
An Amazon leadership principle emphasizing that leaders are owners who think long-term and don’t sacrifice long-term value for short-term results. It means taking responsibility for results and never saying 'that's not my job,' even when facing challenges outside one's immediate role.
Bias for Action (Amazon LP)
An Amazon leadership principle stating that speed matters in business, and many decisions and actions are reversible and do not need extensive study. It encourages calculated risk-taking and moving quickly to avoid being outpaced by competitors.
Self-Deception
A concept from the book 'Leadership and Self-Deception' where individuals often cause their own interpersonal problems while blaming others. It highlights the importance of understanding one's own role in conflicts and how personal actions contribute to challenges with others.
8 Questions Answered
The Magic Loop is a five-step process: 1) Do your current job well, 2) Ask your boss how you can help, 3) Do what they ask, 4) Ask how you can help them while also meeting your own career goals, and 5) Repeat the loop to build trust and advance.
It's called the Magic Loop because it has proven to work so effectively in almost every circumstance, with people reporting rapid promotions and new opportunities, sometimes feeling overwhelmed by the speed of their career advancement.
Yes, the Magic Loop is still helpful even if you're not pursuing a promotion, as your goal can be to work on different projects, join a higher-performing team, or rebalance your life while maintaining star performance.
Breaking out of a plateau requires patience due to fewer available director roles, but also involves proactively demonstrating next-level skills like strategic thinking, inventiveness, and influence, making yourself the obvious choice when an opportunity arises.
To be systematically inventive, one must be an expert in the area of focus and dedicate specific, regular time (e.g., two hours once a month) to thinking. The most effective method is to combine two existing, often disparate, things into a new concept.
The top factors for standing out in an interview are appearance and enthusiasm, showing genuine interest in the job. Beyond that, candidates should focus on describing the impact of their past work, not just what they did, to demonstrate their contribution to the business.
If you make a major mistake, own it immediately, proactively communicate updates and plans (e.g., hourly updates), and work hard to fix the problem. Also, try to address the situation in person, as it's harder for people to maintain anger face-to-face.
Ethan is contrarian because he believes offices, having been around for 300 years, have limited room for improvement, whereas remote work, being relatively new, has vast untapped potential for innovation and improvement that will ultimately make it triumph.
16 Actionable Insights
1. Master the Magic Loop
Consistently apply the five-step “Magic Loop” to advance your career: 1) Excel in your current role, 2) Ask your manager how you can help, 3) Do what they ask, 4) Propose how you can help them while also achieving your career goals (which you must define), and 5) Repeat the process to build trust and partnership.
2. Proactive Leadership for Advancement
For senior managers aiming for higher roles, proactively practice next-level skills like strategic thinking and inventiveness. Seek opportunities to lead strategic projects to demonstrate readiness for director or VP positions, making yourself the obvious choice when opportunities arise.
3. Systematic Invention Practice
Dedicate focused time (e.g., two hours once a month) away from devices to think about problems in your area of expertise. Aim to combine existing concepts in new ways rather than inventing entirely new things, as this systematic approach can lead to significant innovations over time.
4. Interview with Enthusiasm & Impact
Prioritize appearance and enthusiasm in interviews, showing genuine interest and full presence (especially on Zoom with camera on and eye contact). Crucially, focus on the impact of your past work, demonstrating how your contributions solved business problems rather than just listing tasks performed.
5. Recover from Major Failures
When facing a significant failure, immediately own the mistake, proactively communicate frequent updates on the recovery plan, and work tirelessly to fix the problem. Don’t let shame paralyze you; instead, focus on learning from the mistake and rebuilding trust through consistent, reliable performance.
6. Cultivate Strong Peer Networks
Actively seek to surround yourself with extraordinary peers to gain unbiased opinions, diverse perspectives, and raw feedback on your challenges and career trajectory. This trusted group can provide a significant leap forward in your professional development.
7. Embrace Bias for Action
Understand that speed is critical in business, especially for reversible decisions, and prioritize moving quickly to capitalize on opportunities. Develop a process that values rapid execution and commitment to daily progress.
8. Practice True Ownership
Adopt the mindset that “an owner never says that’s not my job,” taking responsibility for challenges beyond your immediate scope. This demonstrates a broader commitment to the organization’s success.
9. Question Your Own Beliefs
As a leader, actively work to disconfirm your own beliefs and seek diverse perspectives. This ensures decisions are well-rounded and grounded in new evidence, rather than solely relying on existing assumptions.
10. Lead with Trust and Handshakes
Consider doing business based on trust and your word, rather than being overly reliant on contracts and suspicion. While occasional setbacks may occur, this approach fosters stronger relationships and reduces the high cost of constant distrust.
11. Prioritize Beta Testing
When developing new products, prioritize extensive beta testing over surprise launches to catch issues early. This prevents public failures and protects the company’s reputation, even if it means some information leaks.
12. Support Team After Failures
After a team member makes a mistake, especially a junior one, reach out to reassure them that the system failed, not just them, and that bugs happen. This prevents undue responsibility and helps retain valuable talent.
13. Define Your Career Goals
Clearly define your personal career goals, whether it’s promotion, a raise, a new role, or a better work-life balance. Communicating these goals to your manager is crucial for them to help you achieve them through the Magic Loop.
14. Leverage Diverse Perspectives
Actively seek out and incorporate diverse perspectives in decision-making to avoid narrow viewpoints. This ensures that decisions are appropriate for a broad customer base and reflects a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
15. Balance Speed with Caution
For high-impact decisions, balance the bias for action with a “fear the New York Times headline” mindset, meaning carefully consider the potential public repercussions of your actions. This helps avoid mistakes that could damage the company’s reputation.
16. Assess Disagree and Commit
When interviewing leaders, ask about times they disagreed with management to assess their ability to “have backbone, disagree and commit.” This indicates they can challenge effectively while still supporting final decisions.
7 Key Quotes
An owner never says that's not my job.
Ethan Evans
What your manager should do and $4 will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks.
Ethan Evans
Management can be a lonely job because you feel like you're responsible for everything.
Ethan Evans
The most straightforward way to invent is not to somehow come up with something completely new, but instead to put together two things that exist.
Ethan Evans
If I can get away with publicly failing one of the richest and most famous inventors on earth, and then get promoted and finish my career at Amazon very successfully, you can dig out of any hole.
Ethan Evans
Being right is good, but being quick is necessary.
Ethan Evans
To whom much has been given, from him much will be required.
Ethan Evans
3 Protocols
The Magic Loop for Career Growth
Ethan Evans- Do your current job well; ensure your manager is satisfied with your performance.
- Ask your boss how you can help them with their priorities or challenges.
- Do whatever they ask, even if it's not your favorite work, to build trust and show commitment.
- Go back to your manager and ask how you can help them in a way that also helps you achieve your specific career goals (e.g., learn a new skill, get a promotion).
- Repeat the loop, continuously working with your manager to align their needs with your aspirations, building a strong partnership.
Responding to a Major Failure (e.g., with Senior Leadership)
Ethan Evans- Own the problem immediately; admit it's not working and take responsibility.
- Proactively update leadership with frequent, specific communications (e.g., hourly updates) on the current status, actions being taken, and the next update time to prevent micromanagement.
- Work hard and fast to fix the problem, pulling out all stops and resources, even if it's uncomfortable or outside normal working hours.
- Meet with leadership in person (if possible) to discuss the failure and recovery, as face-to-face conversations can de-escalate anger and rebuild relationships more effectively than email.
Systematic Invention Process
Ethan Evans- Become an expert in the area where you want to invent.
- Dedicate specific, uninterrupted time (e.g., two hours once a month) away from devices to concentrate solely on the problem.
- Focus on combining two existing, often disparate, concepts or technologies to create a novel solution, rather than trying to invent something entirely new from scratch.