Purpose Driven

Our leaders are committed to fulfilling the higher purpose, core values, and leadership principles of our company.

Customer Obsession

Our leaders start with the customer and work backwards. We work vigorously to earn and keep customer trust. Although our leaders pay attention to competitors, we obsess over customers. Customers are our most important stakeholder and the lifeblood of our business.

Commitment to Operational Excellence

Our leaders strive for excellence in everything that we do. We want all of our stores and facilities to be the absolute best that they can possibly be. Our leaders have relentlessly high standards. We are continually raising the bar and commit our teams to deliver high quality products, services and processes. We benchmark ourselves and our teams against the best, internally and externally, and strive to be the very best. Our leaders eliminate defects and make sure the problems are fixed and stay fixed. Leaders operate at all levels, staying connected to the details and diving deep to understand and give input.

Long-Term Thinking

Our leaders think long term and don’t sacrifice long-term value creation for short-term financial results. We act on behalf of the entire company, beyond just our own team. We know that many of the decisions and investments we make may have negative short-term financial impacts, but will produce long-term value for our customers and all of our stakeholders.

Passion for Creativity, Innovation, and Invention

Our leaders expect and require innovation and invention from their teams. We are externally aware of what others are doing, look for new ideas from everywhere, and are not limited by “not invented here” thinking. As we do new things, we accept that we may be misunderstood for long periods of time.

Learn and Grow

Our leaders are never done learning, and we always seek to improve ourselves. We are curious about new possibilities and act to explore them. We believe that life can be an incredible adventure of learning and growing and commit to continuous personal growth.

Hire and Develop the Best

Our leaders raise the performance bar with every hire and promotion. We recognize exceptional talent and willingly move them throughout the organization. Our leaders develop talent and take seriously their role in mentoring and coaching others. We have a responsibility to pass our knowledge, skills, and wisdom on to our teams and the larger company.

Think Big

Thinking small is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Our leaders create and communicate a bold direction that inspires results. We think differently and look around corners for better ways to serve our customers.

Just Get it Done

Speed matters in business. Many decisions and actions are reversible and do not need extensive study. Our leaders value calculated risk taking. We believe it is sometimes better to “ask for forgiveness rather than permission,” especially in service to our customers

Frugality

Our leaders accomplish more with less. Constraints breed resourcefulness, self-sufficiency and invention. There are no extra points for growing headcount, budget size or fixed expense.

Earn Trust

Our leaders listen attentively, speak candidly and treat others respectfully. We are willing to admit our mistakes, even when doing so is awkward or embarrassing. We understand that in order to earn trust, we must give trust.

Empower our People

Our leaders know that our success is highly dependent upon empowered teams that are both highly innovative and produce operational excellence. We therefore strive to empower others and help them succeed instead of micro-managing them.

Be a Servant Leader

Our leaders care about others. We are not driven by our ego’s desire for self-aggrandizement. Instead, we always try to serve the higher purpose of the company, as well as serving all of our major stakeholders—customers, team members, our owner Amazon, suppliers, our communities, and our larger environment.

Seek Win-Win Strategies and Solutions

Our leaders reject win-lose thinking. The best strategies for our business, as well as finding solutions to the challenges we face, are always to seek to discover the win-win. Strategies and solutions that cause any of our major stakeholders to lose need to be rethought and reimagined until the win-win can be successfully accomplished.

Have Courage: Disagree and Commit

Our leaders are obligated to respectfully challenge decisions when we disagree, even when doing so is uncomfortable or exhausting. We have conviction and are tenacious. We do not compromise for the sake of social cohesion. However, once a decision is determined, we commit wholly in support of the decision.

Are Right, A Lot

Our leaders are right, a lot. We may make mistakes occasionally, but we also have excellent judgment and good instincts. We seek diverse perspectives and work to disconfirm our own beliefs so that we will make better decisions.

Shared Fate with Self-Responsibility

As stakeholders in the company we share in the successes, as well as setbacks. Team Members have the responsibility for their own successes and failures. Individual creativity and experimentation are essential and mistakes are opportunities to learn and grow. Our Team Members are empowered to create the best working environment and shopping experience for our customers.