Amazon Leadership Principle 14: Deliver Results

What It Means to Deliver Results at Amazon

The Amazon Leadership Principle ‘Deliver Results’ is not just about delivering results, but also about getting past obstacles. It is about the work that you do to overcome those obstacles and deliver results despite the challenges. It is about being able to rise to the occasion even with roadblocks blocking your way.

Performance and Impact

The principle ‘Deliver Results’ is also about performance. It is about making an impact on your company by making a financial impact, improvement, or product launch.

Learning from Failure and Success

‘Deliver Results’ is about understanding failure. When workers at Amazon fail to deliver results and miss the target, they try to figure out why. When they succeed, they work to figure out why they were successful. After the outcome happens, they ask themselves what they would change or do differently if they could go back, and they also think about what they ultimately learned from the experience.

Why This Principle Is So Critical

The principle ‘Deliver Results’ may be the most important Amazon principle for many reasons. The other principles are also very important, but ‘Deliver Results’ is extremely important when working in any job. Everyone at Amazon must be able to deliver results because otherwise, the company would fall apart. The other principles are the foundation for this one, which is the final result. The others are steps you take to achieve that result.

Amazon’s View on Delivering Results

The following quote shows how Amazon thinks about the leadership principle ‘Deliver Results’:

“Leaders focus on the key inputs for their business and deliver them with the right quality and in a timely fashion. Despite setbacks, they rise to the occasion and never settle.”

Traits of People Who Deliver Results

People who deliver results will complete their work and deliver, work past obstacles in their way, rise to the occasion, and work to understand their failures and successes.

How to Present This Principle in an Interview

In an interview, you should tell stories about times you have succeeded. You should talk about what actions you took to get a good result. Any story about solving problems successfully or doing something successfully will work for most ‘Deliver Results’ questions, whether you have helped out a peer or customer, successfully taken ownership for something, or been successful in other times.

Sample Interview Questions – Deliver Results

What is your proudest accomplishment?
How did you make an impact on your previous organization?
Give an example of a challenging project you were working on and what you did to overcome obstacles in your way.
Describe a time you overcame difficulties and setbacks to deliver amazing results. How did you do it?
How do you communicate goals for your team, help people keep focus, and remove or overcome barriers preventing you or your team from meeting goals?
What is the most challenging obstacle or setback you have ever faced?
Have you ever put a lot of time and effort into something only to end up failing? What did you learn from that experience?
Tell me about a time when you exceeded the standards when trying to meet a goal. How did you do it?
How do you create a balance with humility and leadership?

Final Tips for Answering

When you answer questions about the principle ‘Deliver Results,’ you should answer the questions precisely and show that you go above and beyond to ensure that you deliver results. Try to pick stories about challenging parts of business, like culture change, that the interviewer may be able to relate to. You should also show that you use what you learn from your experience of failing or succeeding in delivering results to help your organization. Remember to focus on your successes and tell stories about how you made an impact on your organization.