There is one very important destinction to make here. Exceeding expectations =/= focuding on your promotion. The first thing is about focusing on your job and getting things done, improving things. The latter is about making the right connections and playing political games. At one point this means that people focusing on their job are being played by those focusing on their promotion. And tthe job-focused people become a threat as well once reality hits and performance does matter.

And if focusing on your promotion is your job according to Amazon, well than there famed leadership principles, Customer Obsession being the first that comes to mind, are just words on some document you have to use for political purposes. What that means for Amazon as a company is everyones guess.