Amazon Interview Questions
"You have 30 people working under you with 2 working indirect. Each employee can do 150 units/hour. Each work day has two 15 min breaks and one 30 min lunch. In a 5 day work week, how many total units can you complete?"
30(8-1)5=1120 hours worked 1120*150 = 168000 units
"What is the angle between the hour hand and minute hand in an analog clock?"
A degree of some amount? 360/60=6
What make a good leader and how does that match up with your personal style?
A good leader may have different personalities and are very unique. I have seen good and bad leaders as Autocratic, Visionary, and Democratic. I think my personalities are a hybrid of a visionary and democratic. I am a thinker that tries to make many improvements for the greater good of the customer, employee, and company. Yet I understand I do not always know what the best path is to take or how to get there. I rely on the voice of co workers, managers, for collaboration. However, at the end of the day it is my decision and the team needs to be fully committed.
How do I handle a an upset customer
Adjust your mindset Listen Don't take it personally Actively sympathize Apologize gracefully Find a solution Reflect and use feedback for future situations.
Amazon Devices and Services
Amazon Devices and Services Amazon introduced the first Kindle in 2007 — at that time, it offered 90,000 eBooks and sold out 5.5 hours after the announcement. Since then, we have expanded to become the best-selling e-reader family in the world. We have gone beyond Kindle with our powerhouse Fire tablets, built for work and play with our Fire operating system. For streaming media lovers, we have created Amazon Fire TV, Fire TV Stick, and Fire TV Edition with voice search. Fire TV devices come with access to 500,000 movies, TV shows, and tens of thousands of channels, apps, and Alexa skills. Most recently, we introduced Amazon Echo and Alexa, the voice service that powers Echo and other devices so customers can play music, control their smart homes, and get information, news, weather, and more using just their voice.
Worldwide Operations and Customer Service
Amazon's mission is "to be Earth's most customer-centric company", and our Operations and award-winning Customer Service teams are at the heart of that mission. Supported by innovative world-class technologies, our global network of FCs, delivery stations and customer service teams are dedicated to supporting customers worldwide. Together, we create, we build, and we take ownership for what we do — whether we're developing new technology in-house, launching a new Amazon Fulfillment Center, or delighting our customers by delivering packages directly to them. We're constantly creating the ideas, services, and products that make life easier for millions of customers.
"What would you do if you saw someone being unsafe at work?"
As a leader, I would immediately stop their unsafe behavior and coach them on the safe and proper ways to complete their task. On one recent occasion at Bulkmatic I saw a driver step out of his truck using only two points of contact and he had something in his other hand. The safety procedure is 3 points on contact at all times entering or leaving a truck. I quietly explained to him that most injuries are related to getting out of a truck, and the 3 points of contact have a high degree of success preventing injury. Because I was disarming and showing him I cared about his wellness and not policy he was thankful and respected the coaching session.
Are Right, A Lot When she disagreed with your design, how did you know yours was right?
As a ops manager for Bulkmatic i was always questioning best practices and trying to find my footing. I was in a new career, and at one of the largest customers for Bulkmatic. So new career and new high profile position. As a trading manger I had to run the shop and lead a team of portfolio managers and analyst. I was good because of research and development. Great instincts are natural trait of success in the trading industry, but what set me a part was willing to study new patterns and trends and more importantly to have a plan. My trading strategy had multiple layers or contingencies. I wanted to have a backup plan of a backup plan.
"If your direct manager was instructing you to do something you disagreed with, how would you handle it?"
As an empathetic leader, I try to put myself in their position. After considering the reasons why he/she is asking me to go about this project I will come up with other solutions or observations i think fit better. I'll quietly have a discussion with my superior and give my suggestions. When the meeting is over I will follow his instructions with every intent to do the best job possible.
"Who was your most difficult customer?"
At AlphaBit a small buy-side investment company (Halo) worked me every time for a reduced price on investment bonds. At first it was usual sales strategy but then they started to become annoyingly rude and almost combative. I didn't want to lose them as a customer and didn't want to be treated rudely either.I went to my manager and ask if I could work out a bulk price for the customer; meaning they would be able to buy the bonds at a heavy discount yet bundled them with other structured products we made a a profit on. The customer loved the idea, saw value in the deal and we made money bundling the package- it was a win win.
Frugality Accomplish more with less. Constraints breed resourcefulness, self-sufficiency and invention. There are no extra points for growing headcount, budget size or fixed expense. Things never cost what they cost, because we can always do less, do it cheaper, do it slower, do it with lower quality. We always have options. We almost never have the resources we feel we "need" at Amazon. And that does amazing things for the products we build. I know the process can frustrate people, but pay attention to the language in the principle. We're inventing to solve problems in a cheaper way. Which often is faster, easier to maintain, easier to extend, etc. When you're interviewing, we're looking for you to understand that having not enough time or resources is a fine and expected thing. Having too much to do, and too little time is perfectly ok. Not doing everything you want on a project is healthy, because doing everything you ever wanted to do is inefficient. The last thing on your stack rank will never be done, and we should all be happy with that.
At AlphaBit the developers tried to build apps like a Lamborghini or Ferrari's, and we needed a Yugo. I got involved after several apps took longer than 8 -12 months to create and by then the marketplace changed and the app was shelved. I thought it was time to discover new ways to manage and guide traders and developers. The idea was to strip out the unnecessary tools and functions of an algo, and build us the frame and power train. Let us see what we like and what we should build on. Many traders have very good ideas and would like them to be structured for their needs, not the greater good of the company and resources. There isn't enough time or money to make all functional ideas of an app, and not all apps can be created.
Handle an under-performing employee
At Bulkmatic I used "time" as an indicator of performance for loaders. If a loader was taking longer than 3 hours to load a trailer I ask for an update. Since I documented anything grater than 3 hours I noticed a pattern in one loader in particular. I called him into my office and reminded him of our loading policy and asked why he was running over his allotted time more frequently. He's answers didn't jive and I said he was to take a refresher loading course and improve his efficiency. Other loaders were getting the same work done in 2 - 2.5 hours. His work started to slip again and I gave him another coaching session. It was steps we used in our disciplinary policy.
Uncomfortable situation with a boss
At Bulkmatic I was working on a project and in the middle of it, I was following up on the delivery of the equipment (a large scale for weighing trailers) and there was a problem. I had not anticipated a bridge that it needed to go under, and the scale was just not going to to make it. The costs getting the bridge rerouted was expensive and I had to come up with ideas to save cost somewhere else. Luckily I was able to buy a used catwalk that was going to be used to inspect and seal our trailers for a lot less than originally priced. The saving cut the losses by 65%, and although my boss was not happy to eat the losses he was happy I made efforts to save money in other ways.
Tell me when you went above and beyond customer service
At Bulkmatic we are required to deliver a product during a certain window. Many problems can arise causing delays. A delay is a failure and that is not an option. I will work with loaders get the product loaded, I will rework a schedule and call in more help if needed. We will work together as a team to fulfill an order. The last time Ingredion asked me to complete a special project needed a lot of labor and I made sure we all pitched in to complete it. The plant manager was very appreciative.
Think Big Imagine the first person at Amazon who said "You know, I bet we could make a store where everything is checked out automatically by just picking up an item." I love that thinking big is such a part of the Amazon DNA that we have it written in our leadership principles. Leaders here never accept that our vision is big enough, innovative enough, or that we have high enough standards. If we are asking you in an interview for an idea, you can't say the first small idea which pops in your head, and believe you've satisfied the requirement. When you're asked for ideas, you should err on the side of being asked to stop. We're always looking for bold vision (perhaps grounded in a small amount of reality), and need to know that our leaders are open to the idea of thinking bigger than the thing in front of their face. When I'm interviewing someone, I prefer to think that someone's idea is somewhat impossible, because explaining constraints to a co-worker is easier than explaining how to invent and think.
At Bulkmatic we have a lot of equipment that needs maintenance. But our maintenance department was 45 miles away. I made a presentation of opening a new maintenance shop for the Argo and Hodgkins terminal. That project never came to fruition, but I negotiated to have our fleet serviced by a shop closer to both terminals. This also created an idea of researching the possibility of leasing our equipment instead of owning it.
Ownership When that happened and your whole application went down for a day, how'd you get it back up in the end?
At Bulkmatic we have sales, logistics, maintenance, operations. Cross-departmental communication was terrible, people were always refusing to go the extra step in helping a teammate or the customer. I commonly needed more trailers to be assigned to orders for loading, and if I asked anyone besides my logistics coordinator I was told: "that's not my customer". I explained that we all worked for the same goal to fulfill the needs of the customer. The attitude around the office started to change when I took ownership of everything that came across my office. One example is when a driver was told to grab a loaded trailer that needed to be delivered and he had an issue with paperwork, normally logistics or inside sales would correct it. However, I was able to help and I took ownership of correcting the paperwork and getting the driver on his way because my job was to provide a service to the customer. I never thought twice about helping him get the correct paperwork. Drivers, logistics, sales, all knew they could count on me to help. Another example is my job was to answer the call of Ingredion and their customers. My team was experts at loading trailers, the best in the company. When new drivers were training from other terminals, I suggested some should come train with our loaders. This would give them the skills they would need to help when they were out on the road. The vice president loved the idea and began a training program for drivers as well as loaders. My team was compensated for the extra work we did, and it made everyone a more efficient loader.
Example of a situation where you took the initiative to solve a problem or correct a situation?
At Purdue I needed to work on a project with a team. The class was data mining so we needed specific software the was not peer to peer; we could not work simultaneously or remote. To complete an assignment, we needed specific labs with the software on the computers. Well, many labs that had the software were not always available. I went to the Dean of Business and asked her to create a public lab that had the software so the class and teams could work together. She agreed to my request and opened a lab, my team was able to complete all projects. I received a A in the class.
Measurable improvement
At Traditium I noticed a downturn in my quarterly PnL and I couldn't figure out what the root cause was. I was hitting positive profits on all of my trading strategies, and I couldn't see any glaring reason for the drop in performance. I asked a developer to create a program to capture my trades and to include products, time, and prices. I also wanted to the program to time stamp all prices of relative derivatives and spreads. This would give me market breadth to analyze with my trades. In Q1 of 2011 my trading desk made 500k, in Q2 I was at 350k in Q3 I was at 300k. At the end of Q3 I had enough data to make several observations. Certain treasury spreads had been blowing out because of the Federal Reserve and their QE program. To simply sum it up, when the spreads move so far apart the likelihood that they mean revert becomes less likely What I discovered was so obvious I was embarrassed to admit it. But I needed to explain my performance to management, and show them what I had discovered. The risk manager was so impressed he pushed the program out the entire firm. Every trading manager used the program to identify weaknesses in their trading performance. In trading the difference between a good year and great year are small adjustments, and I made them. In Q4 I made 650k and in Q1 2012 I made almost 750k.
hold someone accountable
By setting: Clear expectations Clear capabilities Clear measures Clear feedback Clear consequences repeat reward release
"How would you improve Amazon's website?"
Change the algorithm to add diverse suggestions instead of what it thinks I would buy. Help the algo show me a better verity.
"Here's a string with numbers from 1-250 in random order, but it's missing one number. How will you find the missed number?"
Copy and paste the string in order them, count them down till I come to the missing number, or write a function in excel to find the missing number.
Influence / Change negative culture
Define values & behaviors Accept responsibility Hold someone accountable Create a safe work environment for people to discuss information
"What would you do if somehow you misdirected 10,000 units of something?"
First, inform all superiors that need to be notified. Take 100% ownership of the mistake and find a low-cost solution getting the units to their correct destination. If the customer needs the units immediately then cost savings is not part of the solution and I would get the units to them as quickly as possible
Retail
From a garage-based start-up in 1995, to one of the world's most respected brands today, Amazon has grown to become an integral part of customers' lives. Amazon's Retail organization is at the center of that evolution. We're the people behind the Amazon.com website and customer experience, beloved programs like Amazon Prime, Amazon Go, Whole Foods, private label products, and all of Amazon's retail categories. Whether it's technical teams pushing the boundaries of what is possible using machine learning, or business teams launching new voice ordering capabilities, employees innovate on behalf of customers at a massive scale — and we're just getting started.
Successful goals or accomplishments.
Graduating with a 3.5 overall GPA and gaining a minor in Business Analytics which are not easy classes.
Strengths
Highly motivated- Can-do attitude Superior interpersonal skills- helps build relationships that lead to team building Organized- able to sound decisions and prioritize Ambitious- failure is not an option. Extreme ownership-
Tell me about a time when you had to make a decision without sufficient information. How did the situation work out?
How about a dramatic change in careers. I was still making more money than I will at my job today, but I saw the margins shrinking every quarter, trades that once made a lot of money were no longer moving at all. I committed to going back to school and use new skills coupled with being a strong leader and visionary, I believed I would be better in 5 years than had I remained a trader. Now I have proven I can be an effective operations manager, and I friends that once lived in million dollar homes struggling to find work beyond sales and service jobs.
What type of leader am I
I am not a micro manager I enable my team with the skills and resources they will need to succeed. Create a team oriented culture where rewards and recognition for the accomplishments of the team over the individual.
Why should we hire you?
I feel that the combination of my skills, experience, and exceptional team oriented approach is hard to duplicate and will produce results in this roll for years to come.
Tell me about a time when quality in the finished product was critical. What was the situation? What did you do? What was the result?
I just completed renovating my basement. Because I am perfectionist, I spend hours if not days redoing parts of the project over and over again. The result is a beautiful looking basement, that I am proud to use and entertain in.
Hire and Develop the Best How do manage top performers differently
I move them into learning new functions at the company. One example at Bulkmatic we have loaders load trailers... That's it. If loaders were efficient and customer conscientious, I could move them into other departments at the plant. They learned something new and take that knowledge to develop new on-sight skills or advance their careers by becoming supervisors. Example 2: The tank wash supervisor had been there for several years. Although he did not have a degree, I believed he was ready to explore a corporate role. I presented some opportunities available and explained why I thought he was ready to take the next step in his career. Today he is a logistics coordinator. Cross-training is a win-win because we always need to have people that can many different job functions.
"You are Amazon and Samsung offers you 10,000 Samsung Galaxy S3s at a 34% discount. Is that a good deal?"
I would have to know the market value and then I could determine if that discount is a good value.
weakness
I would like to continue to grow my analytics skills by learning to code so that I may use BI to help make better business decisions. Although I do have confidence in my negotiation skills I would like to take courses to embolden and hone stronger negotiation skills so that they will help deepen relationships and foster a better work environment.
"How would you solve problems if you were from Mars?"
Identify the problem Understand the interests Try and define all options Evaluate all options select an option document the results monitor and evaluate.
"What is the most difficult situation you have ever faced in your life? How did you handle it?"
In 2009 I had to close the trading company. The recession took its toll on the economy and the markets. The most difficult part about closing the business was putting 25 people out of work, and 5 of them moved to San Diego. So I felt responsible for their future. For six months we worked as a team to build resumes and relationships outside of the company. I assisted in finding 16 people find new careers, hired 3 to work with me in Chicago. The business was supposed to be my legacy, I was depressed, broke, needed a job, and yet I didn't collapse under the pressure and didn't turn my back on the ones that believed in my dream.
Learn and Be Curious what is something new you learned and how did you manage it?
In school, I wanted to round my education in Information Systems with Business Analytics. Although modeling was not new to me, the applications and business modeling were. As an assistant terminal manager, I applied the modeling technique to data we had in the maintenance shop. The idea was to find out if we should change the way we paid the mechanics; should we pay them by commission or hourly. The mechanics be more productive on a commission base? Although the project was large and costly the company is still working on the commission-based structure. I worked on a project to change the way projects were created and pushed to the traders. One of the problems I had managing the traders and developers was how a project was built and what projects to create. I self-taught myself Agile and Scrum methodology and implemented sprints for developers. Every 3 weeks I wanted some type of application for traders to use. I wanted the development of the project to be based on 3-week iterations. We had stand-ups and everyone was held accountable for the development. This created dozens of apps that the company used. It also created synergy with the traders, developers and managing partners
measurable improvements
In trading, managers will stress to always be at your desk and be prepared for a market-moving event. For years I spent glued to my desk trading up to 18 hours a day. This was how I outperformed my peers that worked 6-8 hours a day. But that changed over time, and my PnL was no longer outperforming other traders. There was a declining PnL trend developing among other managers that had similar trading styles. To find out the root cause I needed to have all of my trading activity broken down. I wanted to see PnL by the time of the day, month, and qtr, products traded, the time I held positions. I even wanted to analyze the information with high medium and low correlated markets. So I asked a programmer to build the company a database, so we could access information and cross-reference it with news, and other correlated market information. When the database was finally created, the first query I pulled up was a break down of my PnL by the time of the day. I almost vomited when I saw I lost ~300k between the hours of 10 am and noon. The average profitable day was much smaller than the average down day, and I had a lot more down days. There were many more revelations, I traded a lot based on the direction of the S&P 500, and the relationship between the 10 yr note and the S&Ps were starting to dissolve. What once had a 90% correlation was turning was 70%. I discovered other products that were better correlated, for instance, gold and Eurodollars. Gold is used to hedge against inflation and Euros are used for short term interest rates. The results led to trading 7-9 hours a day, and making a lot less and making 25-35% more a year. for the next several years. Building this database gave me the idea to build other like programs, without a database. A programmer had to write the code and use a server rather than a database warehouse.
Customer Obsession Interview questions should show the how the end result of something will be to benefit the customer.
In trading, the end result was making money for the clients and investors. If I didn't make money I didn't get paid and the client would pull their money out the firm. At Bulkmatic we had a motto provide the highest quality transportation service. This meant the safest drivers, cleanest trailers, safest equipment, best customer service, and always providing solutions beyond transportation.
What would you do if you found out that your closest friend at work was stealing?"
It would break my heart if I found out my close friend was stealing. I would have to get to the root cause of his disrespect and illegal activity. If there was a problem with his personal life I would take that into consideration and try to help him get back on his feet. I would still document it and get HR involved, at that point it is out of my hands, and policy will take precedence. If the root cause of his theft is lack of respect it will be documented, notify HR and file for his termination.
Biggest disaster in your career that you have been responsible for?
Itrading
Motivate an employee
Lead by example - Get in there and get dirty show teammates you are just as motivated as them to get the job done. Help them complete a task. Create a positive work environment, expel negativity and change the culture to reflect a positive place to work Some examples of this are gym memberships, holding a meeting outside the office, buy the team lunch once in a while. Studies have shown that in 2019 camaraderie and peer motivation is the most important motivation factor over money and benefits. Intrinsic values are the next top reasons for people to be motivated at work. Here I use intrinsic to mean the person naturally belongs, they were the right fit for the job. Acknowledgment is very important. Telling people they have done a great job in front of others is a very strong motivator.
How do you persuade people?
Make sure you sound confident or else no one will believe or listen to you. I try and offer a reciprocating gesture. Get this project done, and I will give you something in return. Also find ways to act and mirror the other person, a lot of people want to be around people like themselves. The most important way to persuade someone to build trust! The last time I had to persuade a group of people was the 1st shift loaders. There were told their work schedule was going to include weekends. They were upset and strongly pushed back, but when I told them I understand how they feel, but I went on to explain this move will benefit the customer for several reasons. Most important is we will load more trailers more efficiently. And I said loaders have been assigned weekend OT since many had started at Bulkmatic. Now they will not be assigned, and it will be easier to plan your work/life schedule. 1. Reciprocity 2. Commitment and Consistency 3. Social Proof 4. Liking 5. Authority 6. Scarcity
Amazon supply chain
Manufacturing Delivery Technology Warehousing
"Do you think you'll reach a point where you storm off the floor and never return?"
Never, even if there is an explosive situation st the office I will always time to decompress and then find a solution to the problem.
"Which Amazon leadership principle do you resonate most with?"
Ownership-Leaders are owners. They think long term and don't sacrifice long-term value for short-term results. They act on behalf of the entire company, beyond just their own team. They never say "that's not my job".
Conflict at work
Privately talk about it Listen to all aspects of a problem Identify the problem or reason there is a conflict Develop a solution and a road map that will end this conflict. Follow-up and set a time to reflect and draw conclusions Jim and Carl had a conflict. Jim was upset because shuttle drivers didn't have to load from a railcar. Pulled Jim aside and explained hey were no longer at the same position of the company.
Tell me about a time you did not know what to do
SPSS Project
Do you have the natural ability to explain things clearly to people? If yes, can you describe a time when you had to get your point across to an individual or a group?
Safety meetings Safety was critical in the transportation industry. I routinely observed the employees going about their daily routine. Then I could correct or improve the way an employee was working or going about a process. The way I communicated best practices was by reinforcement. Show or explain what the correct way to do something, and why we want to do something safely. One particular occasion a loader was not wearing his hearing protection, so I stopped him and asked why he wasn't wearing earplugs. He said someone took his set and couldn't find a new pair. I reinforced safety proceedure by reminding him that personal protection equipment was mandatory, and he needs to wear it at all times. I reminded him of the rate at which our equipment will cause permanent hearing loss is -8 months. I use short anologies and stories to shed light on an important topic. ex; If you lose your hearing in 12 how will your life be like. Is the task you are performing more important that your hearing...
"Tell the story of the last time you had to apologize to someone."
So last Friday night when my wife came home she started going on and on about how she likes her manager is going to start looking for another job.I replied well that sounds like a smart idea.The backstory is the company she works at is going through some growing pains and the employees may not receive a bonus. The CFO is her boss' boss, and the CFO can be very combative and passive aggressive. Also my wife has mentioned she would like to work closer to home, find a roll that has more responsibility.So when I said something to the tune her boss is smart for looking for another job, it implied my wife is dumb for not doing the same thing.I knew I said that out of spite and before she could get upset I apologized. I told her how much pressure I was under finding a new job and I was sorry that I made her her feel less of a hard working determined person.Understanding what I said and how it can make someone feel has helped my many many times in my relationships with coworkers and clients. If I make a mistake I own it!
Process Improvement
Story about using avoiding building 25
Insist on the Highest Standards How did you know what you had delivered was what the customer wanted?
THINK: We care about fixing the root causes of problems (not just hiding or patching them). We care that you are always thinking "I know we can do better than this". At Bulkmatic our motto was Quality. Customers had plenty of choices to get their product delivered. At Bulkmatic one of the biggest catastrophes is loading the wrong product. When a trailer is loaded with the wrong product the trailer is contaminated, the product will be reprocessed or destroyed. Even worse if the trailer leaves the yard and actually delivers the wrong product to the consignee. Contaminated silos could cost Bulkmatic hundreds of thousands of dollars we will most likely lose that customer. One time one of my loaders grabbed the wrong trailer and discovered the error before he loaded it. The near-miss scared me so much that I insisted we add another layer of security. I researched different methods and found a locked device called Glad HAnds that goes on the trailers' product tube. The loader will need to use a key from a lockbox assigned to a specific trailer. He will not be able to remove the Glad Hands if he is at the wrong trailer. This was so successful the company has started to implement glad-hands at all terminals.
Business Development
The Business Development and Entertainment team includes Prime Video and Studios, Amazon Music, IMDb, Worldwide Advertising, Amazon Registry Services, and Corporate and Business Development. These teams drive new businesses that innovate in new or emerging market segments.
"What is the worst mistake you ever made?"
The worst mistake was not recognizing the severity of the 2008 recession and not cutting costs/expenses. When I started the trading company in San Diego I mirrored the spending habits that I was used to in Chicago. Work hard play hard was expensive but even as a new company we were rapidly growing. In 2008 we noticed a downturn in profits yet I did not decrease expenses. By 2009 it was too late, my ego kept me from decreasing our cash burn and we look bad on paper. Had I curbed expenses we may have been able to get venture capital loan. I was forced to close the company and start over.I promised my self no matter the position I am in, keeping costs in line and in check will be branded on my arm. Since then, I have made cost reduction a mission statement everywhere I work. And it has been an invaluable trait.
"Describe what Human Resource means to you."
Their role is centered inside an organization that is designed to screen, hire, train, new hires. They are also tasked with administering benefits and retirement plans. What this really means is investing vast amounts of time and energy in finding the best people to help grow the company. After all the number one resource a company has is its employees.
Process Improvement
There was a special project at Ingredions overflow lot, and the starch building manager needed us to take over and load an extra 10 trailers a day. To fulfill this request I needed to pull people from other projects at the plant. I thought if I added the 3 loaders to load 3-4 railers on 1st shift I would be able to fulfill the new workload. However, this was causing greater than usual loading delays. Crews had to wait for other loaders to load from railcars, so I moved railcar loading to silos and pulled loaders from first shift to second and third shift. This smoothed out the extra assignment and reduced OT. I was able to fulfill the 10 extra loads a day. The extra work lasted for several weeks.
Tell me about a decision that you did not agree with but went ahead with.
To alleviate loading bottlenecks my manager wanted to change the loaders schedule to reflect an overlapping workweek. Loaders were hired on as M-F with expectation weekend work could be assigned. This new schedule would force them to work weekends and I didn't think the new schedule would alleviate the loading congestion. I met with my manager and discussed the concerns; we had no control over the root cause of the congestion and would upset the employees. I suggested fixing the root cause instead, and he didn't want to go down that path at the time, he said to make the changes. I reworked the schedule and said the changes were for the greater good of the customer, getting trailers loaded and delivered were a priority. I showed the loaders how certain guys were constantly working weekends and this new schedule will help stretch out our resources. As a team, we all needed to contribute to working weekends. After a while, the guys didn't mind it, especially when I offered free lunches for their hard work.
Process Improvement
Trailers needed to be returned to the plant when the drivers were done with their last load. between 20% and 40% Trailers that were being assigned for 3rd shift loading were not being returned. Creating a nightmare for planning. I would start my day looking for trailers and re-planning the workload. The root cause was drivers were tired and would drop the trailer where they parked their cars at. Another reason was was "Hours of Service." Many times a driver didn't have the time on his clock to drive to Ingredion and make it back to his car. Getting them to return their trailers to Ingredion was difficult. I had a meeting with the manager that was in charge of the driver to come up with an answer to my unreturned trailers. We looked at logistics, disciplining drivers that had HOS yet disregarded instructions, and I finally came up with an idea to have a driver trainee shuttle trailers back and forth from different locations to Ingredion. This was not going to cost us any money as the trainees get a set amount, I began having all of my trailers returned to the plant for 3rd shift loading.
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. In the very end, Amazon employees need to deliver value. That one is pretty obvious. Take a look at a few key words, which are the ones we often dive into in interviews. "Key Inputs" is a good one. Do you know your key inputs?
We want to deliver the product to the customer; that is the only goal at Bulkmatic. So when loading delays or a mechanical breakdown do occur we are not going to meet the scheduled number of loaded trailers in a shift. What I never did was say we can't get something delivered due to X. If I needed to approve overtime or ask someone to come in over the weekend or a holiday, they answered the call. If I had to rent equipment or pay for onsite maintenance then I did, I didn't care about the bottom line, or how much we're going to make on the order. I believe it better to satisfy the customer and then try and figure out how fix the problem later.
Drive change
Wear PPE Hold safety meetings Be approachable / understanding Why is there change - Influence the need Show the benefits
Invent and Simplify Ah, so you use wishlists. If you were in charge, how would you improve the wishlists feature on Amazon?" Oh, I'd fix the drop down to sort the lists in most recently used order." Ok good, what else?<Long pause> " Hm.. no, that's about it."
What did I invent or create? I created the culture that lives on in trading communities. Working together as a team was alien to traders. I never believed in the lone wolf mentality. At Alphabit I created the first multiple shift trading desk, in which our motto was simply "make more money than God" and everyone was an equal partner in the group. We structured the portfolio to reflect a continuous living entity. As one person handed off the trading book the new manager was aware of the principles of the group. Look for a new way to add value, don't be afraid to try something different, and stay within risk parameters. We were so successful, more traders started to find groups and niches within the company, by the end of 2017 80% of the traders were affiliated with another trading desk.
Dive Deep Leaders operate at all levels, stay connected to the details, audit frequently, and are skeptical when metrics and anecdote differ. No task is beneath them.
When I took over the operations of the Ingredion facility, I was told it took 2-2.5 hours to load a trailer from start to finish. So scheduling for the day, I assumed we could accomplish approximately 4 loads per person I was shocked to find out were only doing 3. I dove headfirst into the details of our loading procedures, and even physically went out to load the trailers. What I discovered was this; before a trailer can be loaded it needed to inspected and sealed by an Ingredion operator, and it was taking up to 90 minutes. I was horrified, I asked the loaders how long it should take and all of them agreed it could be done within 15 minutes. I arranged a meeting with several top managers at Ingredion to discuss the lag time. I gave them documented times from my loaders of the delays for waiting to get inspected and sealed. After months of planning, they agreed to let my loaders seal and inspect their own trailers. After 4 months of discovering the bottlenecks, we were loading 4 and 5 trailers a day. Billing at 65 dollars an hour Paying 22 straight time Paying 33 Overtime 5 loaders loading 20 per day v 15 Loading 100 per week v 753 hr 25 loads at $32 = 2400 per week 52 = 124000
eCommerce
When customers shop on Amazon.com, they expect a safe, simple and consistent experience. A large number of systems and services contribute to that experience, from identity services to massive data warehouses and innovations, specifically focusing on managing the incredible scale and complexity of operating one of today's most successful businesses. eCommerce Foundation (eCF) owns the core systems, services and infrastructure behind Amazon.com, delivering key aspects of the Amazon shopping experience, managing hosting for Amazon websites worldwide, and creating the services that technology teams across the company use to develop and run their systems.
How do I measure success
When the outcome of a designed plan or project is excepted or better than expected
Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit Leaders are obligated to respectfully challenge decisions when they disagree, even when doing so is uncomfortable or exhausting. Leaders have conviction and are tenacious. They do not compromise for the sake of social cohesion. Once a decision is determined, they commit wholly.
When the regional manager asked me to change the work schedule for the 1st loaders to even out the schedule, I should him data that we can still get all the 1st loading done without working on the weekends. He said we are still going with the new schedule, so when the loaders were not happy I said this will be a more efficient way to the necessary orders completed. It actually was a more efficient way to schedule because it reduced weekend overtime from the second shift
Bias for Action Speed matters in business. Many decisions and actions are reversible and do not need extensive study. We value calculated risk taking. We strongly feel that making some decision is much better than making no decision. We assume that we hire smart people who are right a lot. We want those smart leaders to make quick decisions and move forward. You learn more from doing things and measuring rather than surveying or testing or projecting results. We value this type of risk taking, because we need to move fast in areas where we can't possibly know the right answer. Option A or Option B? Pick and move on.
When trading I need to make extremely risky decisions based on small amounts of information. I know what direction the market will move based on a single Bloomberg headline. After I make the trade I am not done, I am scouring news terminals looking for more information. If the market moves against me, i know there is more information out there, I just haven't found it. I make another decision based on market reaction instead of what I know. Because the only thing certain in trading is the market is ALWAYS right.
Kindle, Digital Content and Publishing
With a mission to make every book ever written available in minutes, the Kindle, Digital Content and Publishing teams have pioneered services like Kindle Direct Publishing to empower independent authors to reach new audiences, and Kindle Unlimited subscription reading for avid eBook readers. Innovation doesn't stop there, this team continues to build new tools for authors to publish and distribute their work, and readers to access a growing variety of content on any device, anywhere in the world.
"Should we sell private label cleaning products?"
Yes, I think Amazon should sell everything! As long as the customer has a strong desire for it over something else.
"Give me an example of a time when you were 75% of the way through a project, and you had to pivot strategy--how were you able to make that into a success story?"
Yes, at AlphaBit trading we used a project management method Scrum to build software applications. Using scum we are able to quickly build small iterations of the overall project, and it welcomes change. No matter where we are in the project we can add new user stories and change direction easily.
"Would you tell on a employee for stealing?"
Yes- I would use company protocol and document the theft.
Describe a decision you made that was unpopular. Why did you make the decision? How did you sell your decision? What was the outcome?
enforcing the employees to take a lunch. I noticed all but 3 employees were punching in for lunch. When I asked why some were not, they said it wasn't required. So I dug into the situation because I knew it was company policy, and some of the guys were drivers so it was a DOT regulation. I installed a time clock, and said because Bulkmatics safety policy requires all hourly employees to take a lunch. The policy took a while to become routine, but eventually everyone was punching in/out for lunch. This saved the company $100,000 by enforcing a safety rule.
"How do you detect whether or not a word is a palindrome?"
is a palindrome a word written the same backward? If so then I would check to see if the first letter matches the last letter.
A situation where you got people to think outside the box. What did you say and do? What happened?
sparking an idea for Bulkmatic to structure the compensation to the maintenance shop by installing a commission based structure. Going this route could get more production from mechanics, and even put more money in their pockets. We data minded for information on how long repairs took, but didn't have enough data. The company didn't want to spend the money on a data scientist or cleaning the data. I know it was successfully implemented in certain body shops companies, so i thought it was worth looking into. I am not sure where they are at on the idea.
"Are you willing to work on your feet for ten hours, four days a week?"
yea that is not a problem, I do not have any physical problems, and I am used to standing a lot v. sitting. Veridesk, and as a pit trader. I walked an awful lot in Bulkmatic as was in a very large facility.
