S10-Ep33: Innovation Insights: Amazon Executives Share How They Deliver the Future

Innovating Leadership: Co-Creating Our Future

Guests: Amazon Vice-Presidents Udit Madan (Worldwide Operations), Jamil Ghani (Worldwide Prime), & Sarah Rhoads (Workplace Health & Safety)

Answer honestly: can you innovate? Most organizations can – but their leaders won’t. Fear of change is often cited, but the reality is they don’t know how.

Amazon’s success is predicated on constant innovation, so leaders there have deeply embedded it into their business culture. In this episode, we hear from three high-level Amazon executives, each one encouraging innovative mindsets in different ways. They reveal their teams’ latest innovations, and their own leadership philosophies that keep their teams on the cutting edge.

Here's what Udit, Jamil, Sarah and host Maureen Metcalf cover:

1. The secret sauce behind all Amazon initiatives: constant customer-back thinking;
2. How Prime uses AI to make shopping easier for those customers; and
3. The Six Pillars that fuel the goal of making Amazon the safest place to work on the planet.

Do a deeper dive on Amazon leadership with these interviews:

• To Err Is to Innovate with Beryl Tomay, Amazon VP of Last Mile Delivery & Technology
• Four Key Lessons on Trust & Safety from Amazon’s Head of Family Trust with Catherine Teitelbaum
• Putting People First with AI with Dave Levy, VP of Amazon Web Services WWPS
• How Moonshots & Robots Put Packages on Your Porch with Steve Armato, VP of Middle Mile & Tech at Amazon

For daily wisdom from our guests, be sure to follow us on LinkedIn. We’re onTikTok, Threads, and Twitter, too!

RESOURCES:

Our host Maureen Metcalf posts a newsletter every week on LinkedIn. You can subscribe here.

Maureen’s latest book is Innovative Leadership & Followership in the Age of AI. You’ll find details about it at https://bit.ly/LeaderInAI, or check out the Kindle version at https://amzn.to/44buVz8 . The audiobook version is now available at https://amzn.to/4dTCleZ.

Her other 10 books are available on Amazon here.

Books we’re reading for fun or personal development right now include:

• Take Back Your Power: 10 New Rules for Women at Work by Ancestry CEO Deb Liu, on how to overcome the obstacles women still face in the workplace – especially in tech. It’s in hardback at https://amzn.to/47OUO9E, and audio at https://amzn.to/3Y6EmOQ.
• Covert Cows and Chick-fil-A by Steve Robinson; it’s available in hardback at https://amzn.to/460LnmQ, on Kindle at https://amzn.to/3RVXhZs, and as an audiobook at https://amzn.to/3xPjBgn.
• The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. Paperback = https://amzn.to/3VEl7cU, Kindle = https://amzn.to/45JGm1L, and audiobook = https://amzn.to/3RPhC2y
• Everyday Ubuntu: Living Better Together, the African Way by Mungi Ngomane. Hardback (https://amzn.to/48Doh6j) and audiobook (https://amzn.to/48YCRF4)

NOTE: As an Amazon partner, we may make a small commission from books you buy through these links.

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OUR PODCAST TEAM:

Host & Executive Producer: Maureen Metcalf

Editor & Executive Producer: Dan Mushalko

Video & Graphics Editor: Devon Mushalko

Eternally Irreplaceable by AI: Jenna Reik

Theme Music by Pavel Bekirov from Pixabay.

CONNECT WITH US:

YouTube: @InnovatingLeadership

Threads: @innovativeleaders

X/Twitter/Whatever New Name It Has This Week: @IL_Institute

LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/ILI-LinkedIn2

Instagram: @innovativeleader

TikTok: @innovativeleadership

Website: InnovativeLeadershipInstitute.com

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About Our Guests:

Udit Madan, VP of Worldwide Operations, oversees fulfillment, transportation, and last-mile delivery operations. Udit joined Amazon in 2008 as a Software Development Engineer, building technology to automate and scale the company’s fulfillment network. Over the years, he has led numerous R&D initiatives, introducing robotics and automated control systems. In 2015, he transitioned to the Last Mile Technology team, where he developed key programs for Amazon’s delivery services. Udit also played a crucial role in Amazon’s COVID-19 operations response. He earned degrees in Computer Science and Economics from the University of Texas and was born and raised in India before moving to the U.S. in 2004.

Jamil Ghani, VP of Worldwide Prime, leads Amazon Prime globally, overseeing product, technology, marketing, decision science, operations, and finance teams that drive the membership’s growth and success. Under his leadership, Prime membership has tripled, and per-member spending has doubled, with new benefits added across categories such as healthcare, grocery, and food delivery. Before joining Amazon in 2017, Jamil was Senior Vice President of Enterprise Strategy, Digital & Innovation at Target, where he played a key role in revitalizing Target.com and launching new customer experiences. Jamil also held leadership roles at The Walt Disney Company, General Mills, and The Boston Consulting Group. He holds a BA in Economics and Computer Science from Harvard College and an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he was named a Baker Scholar.

Sarah Rhoads, VP of Workplace Health & Safety, oversees Amazon’s global health and safety programs, managing a team of over 9,000 professionals dedicated to the well-being of more than 1 million employees. Sarah joined Amazon in 2011 as an Operations Manager and has since held various leadership roles, including Director of Amazon Air. In her role at Amazon Air, she built the company’s air-haul network from scratch, growing it into a global operation with nearly 100 aircraft. A former U.S. Navy fighter pilot, Sarah flew F/A-18 jets and completed over 250 carrier landings. She holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy and a Master’s in National Security and Strategic Studies from the U.S. Naval War College.