Before Amazon CEO Andy Jassy joined Amazon in 1997 as a marketing manager, he had tried multiple career paths, working in investment banking, sports production, and retail.
In an Amazon blog post published last week, Jassy, 57, reflected on his career and emphasized how important the right attitude was for his success.
“I do believe that an embarrassing amount of what makes people successful is attitude,” Jassy wrote in the post.
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After taking on various leadership roles at Amazon, he internally founded and led the company’s cloud computing business Amazon Web Services (AWS), becoming CEO of the division in 2016. By 2020, AWS had an annual operating profit of $13.5 billion, which was more than 63% of Amazon’s entire operating profit for the year. The following year, Jassy succeeded founder Jeff Bezos as Amazon’s CEO.
Jassy defined a successful attitude as working hard, following through on commitments, being trustworthy, being able to work on a team, and caring about the mission of a company. Amazon’s mission is to be “Earth’s most customer-centric company.” He also stated that those with a successful attitude have a can-do mentality that allows them to contribute meaningfully to a company.
Jassy said that he tried out multiple career paths before joining Amazon and that each was a lesson in what he didn’t want to do.
“I don’t think that you have to know what your final destination is in your job early in your life,” Jassy wrote, “Maybe not even in your 40s, 50s, and 60s. I think that you have a chance to keep writing your own story and reinventing your own story.”
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy. Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images
This isn’t the first time Jassy has highlighted attitude as a vital ingredient for success. In an interview with LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky last year, Jassy said that his best career advice, especially for those starting in the workforce, would be to adopt the right attitude.
“There are so many things that you can’t control in your work life, but you can control your attitude,” Jassy said, at the time.
He explained in the interview that having a trustworthy, can-do mentality “makes a big difference” and allows people to pick up mentors and advocates more quickly.
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Jassy is the latest leader on a career advice kick. Last week, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon advised CEOs and company executives to be humble and treat employees well regardless of what title they hold in the company. Dimon also told leaders to show grit and make decisions quickly throughout the day.
Amazon is the fourth most valuable company in the world with a market cap of over $2 trillion.
