One of the hallmarks of Andy Jassy’s leadership in Amazon.com Inc.’s cloud computing unit was a meeting tool called “the wheel.”
At weekly staff meetings, Mr. Jassy and other top executives would use the wheel to randomly select employees to make presentations about their business, based on current and former employees. Mr. Jassy and the executives listened carefully – perhaps interrupted to correct mistakes – and then harassed staff with detailed questions.
Starting Monday, Jassy will bring that ultra-detail-oriented management style to the monumental task of managing all of Amazon. He occupies some of the biggest shoes in business when he takes over as CEO of the company’s centibillion-dollar founder, Jeff Bezos.
Jassy, 53, is a lifelong rider who learned to work alongside Bezos. He shares some traits with his mentor and is a different kind of leader in other ways. People who have worked closely with Jassy over the years describe him as soft-spoken and approachable in a way that some say Bezos is not. An avid sports and music fan, Mr. Jassy likes to wear jeans to the office and can occasionally be seen in restaurants around Amazon’s Seattle campus.
While some former employees say Jassy is more level-headed with employees than Bezos, who has been known to explode in meetings if an executive appears ill-prepared, they also say he’s at least as intense and competitive. And while Bezos for the past few years has largely governed with a hands-off approach, as EDL reported in February, Jassy is known for digging into the minutiae of his division, Amazon Web Services, sometimes to a degree. degree that puzzled his subordinates, according to former employees. He did everything from introducing leads and guiding technical changes to choosing music at company events and editing press releases. It was more difficult to book a spot on Jassy’s calendar than with any other top executive reporting to Bezos, according to former top Amazon executives.
Source: WSJ
