Andy Jassy Pushes For Start-Up Mindset At Amazon: 'When You Get Larger...You Can Get Slowed Down'

Amazon.com Inc. AMZN CEO Andy Jassy reinforced his mission to return the e-commerce giant to its startup roots during remarks at the Harvard Business Review Leadership Summit on Monday, emphasizing improved collaboration from the company’s return-to-office mandate and streamlined management.

What Happened: Jassy, who succeeded Jeff Bezos as CEO in 2021, brings nearly three decades of Amazon experience, including his pivotal role in building Amazon Web Services (AWS) from a small team to a $40 billion business. His leadership has been marked by structural changes aimed at streamlining operations, such as increasing the ratio of individual contributors to managers by at least 15% — a target Amazon achieved in Q1 2025, Observer reported.

“When you get larger, there are all sorts of ways—natural ways—that you can get slowed down,” said Jassy, who joined Amazon in 1997 shortly after its IPO. He recalled AWS’s early days when “our storage service started with 13 people, our compute service had 11 people.”

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Why It Matters: A cornerstone of Jassy's strategy is Amazon's return-to-office (RTO) mandate, implemented in January. Jassy argues that in-person collaboration boosts productivity and innovation, stating, "People riff on top of each other's ideas better if they're together." However, this policy has sparked significant internal resistance, with nearly half of the affected employees considering leaving and 87% believing productivity may decline, according to Flex Index.

 These operational changes support Jassy’s broader AI strategy outlined in his recent shareholder letter, where he described AI as “a once-in-a-lifetime reinvention of everything we know.” The company has achieved its goal of increasing the ratio of individual contributors to managers by at least 15% in Q1 2025 while establishing a “bureaucracy tipline” for employees to report unnecessary processes.

With $100 billion in planned capital expenditures for 2025, Amazon is positioning for what Jassy calls a “generational opportunity” in AI. Amazon will report first-quarter earnings on May 1.

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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

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