Taking control of your career

Ethan Evans, a former Amazon vice president who spent 15 years there building Prime Video, the Amazon Appstore and Twitch Commerce, and now works as an executive coach, discusses career growth. The conversation centers on his 'Magic Loop' method for advancing with a manager, getting unstuck at senior manager level, systematic invention, and lessons from a high-stakes launch failure at Amazon.

01Key learnings

• Do your current job well first; you can't grow your career while your manager wishes you were different about your performance.
• Ask your manager directly how you can help them, then do what they ask even when the work is unglamorous.
• Once trust exists, tell your manager your specific career goal and ask what they need that would also advance you; managers help those who help them.
• Repeat the loop continuously, and move toward anticipating needs and proactively keeping leadership informed only after trust is earned.
• Senior managers get stuck because next-level roles require influence, strategy and letting go of details; start practicing those skills before a role opens.
• Invention is systematic: become knowledgeable in an area, set aside dedicated thinking time, and combine two existing things; one good idea can take years to express.
• After a mistake, own it immediately, give updates on a fixed cadence to rebuild trust, and work through the problem with urgency.
• Be enthusiastic and show impact in interviews; leaders hire people who show the difference they made, not just how hard they worked.

02Frameworks mentioned

Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.