Who is Andy Jassy? The man who will take over Jeff Bezos as Amazon CEO
Several current and former colleagues of Andy Jassy said that he possesses the same competitive streak and scepticism on conventional wisdom as that of Jeff Bezos
On Monday, Andy Jassy, who is serving as the chief of Amazon Web Services (AWS) will take over from Jeff Bezos as the new CEO of the one of the world’s biggest tech giants. Recruited at Amazon way back in 1997, Jassy is known among his colleagues and subordinates as someone who is unassuming and easy to connect, according to a Bloomberg report.
At the same time, Jassy has the competitive bone and apprehension of conventional wisdom similar to that of Bezos. He goes hard by Amazon’s corporate religion – put customers first, move fast, and be frugal, the Bloomberg report added.
How Jassy is with his colleagues and subordinates?
Andy Jassy worked with Bezos and other executives to form Amazon’s guiding principles, and in fact, followed them to the T – thereby paving way to Amazon’s writing and data-driven culture, Bloomberg reported. According to Jassy’s current and former colleagues, during weekly operational and product reviews with the boss, Jassy’s questions often address weak areas in a proposal or projections that presenters didn’t completely thought through.
However, the employees said that even while criticising, Jassy never makes any personal attacks, the Bloomberg report added.
Jassy enjoys pushing impossible-seeming deadlines, the report stated, but several Amazon employees said that the new CEO often sought to connect with them on a rather personal level by striking up conversations around music, indie movies and sports.
As part of Amazon Music’s early days that Jassy was a part of, he would often host silly games that brought out his team’s competitiveness, said Cast who supervised Jassy on the music team. “He’s just very, very competitive,” Cast was quoted as saying by Bloomberg.
Furthermore, Jassy is heavily involved in Amazon’s daily operations, which even include editing press releases and marketing materials, assisting in naming products and also giving opinions on setting prices. The Bloomberg report stated that Jassy also monitors Twitter.
Some employees have even said, the report added, that winning Jassy’s nod for documents can be a bottleneck and that they spend weeks or months getting them “Andy-ready”.
What challenges do Jassy have before him?
Andy Jassy, who will be taking over from Bezos, has a worth of roughly $500 million, as per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. According to the Bloomberg report, Jassy has learnt to take the long view from the outgoing CEO Jeff Bezos. His new role comes amid Amazon facing European inquiries into its usage of stellar data, proposed US legislation that would force the firm to split its logistics wing from its retail website, and a District of Columbia antitrust lawsuit that alleges that the company raised prices on customers.
After Jassy takes over, his focus will not only be on adding more loyal Amazon Prime members and to augment the AWS’s share of technology expenditure, but also on how he leads the company through all the inquiries and antitrust lawsuit.
How Jassy has responded to issues beyond the Amazon walls?
Last December, at an Amazon’s cloud conference, Jassy said that Amazon would do its part in addressing systemic racism in the USA. His statement had come several months after a black Amazon employee sued the company over claims of gender and racial discrimination, Bloomberg reported.
“The reality is for the last several hundred years, the way we treated Black people in this country is disgraceful and something that has to change,” he told during the virtual meet, Bloomberg reported.
At the event, Jassy spoke about the murder of three Black Americans, and the society in general after his acknowledgement of the ongoing coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, the report further stated.
Recommended Topics