srt146

Any time management mentions "leadership" they are trying to set up a system in which managers, by the nature of their job, are succeeding and every else is failing. No management ever adopts things like superior knowledge or ability or even competence, because obviously they would fail at it. For instance, one of Amazon's is 'hire and develop the best' which has nothing to do with any individual jobs at all. So, yes, 'leadership' buzz phrases are a warning sign. As an engineer you learn to ignore this shit. Follow the money. Can the company hire your replacement? Do they have enough money that they don't need engineers? If not, just keep doing your job and following the engineer playbook.

His example is a subtle jab at working class. He thinks people are such trash that truck driver is aspirational for them. The education benefits for blue collar workers at Amazon take years to kick in and don't cover a single year at most community colleges. Workers are frequently fired before 90 days to prevent benefits from starting. Workers would do far better to do a small education loan and start training early.

I wouldn't read into it too much. Amazon has adopted every stupid management fad and religion under the sun from six sigma to kaizen to lean to 5s to agile, etc. The idea being that if you are an expert on something totally made up you must deserve that big fat raise and promotion. I feel sorry for all the people who are going to have to go through Bezos method decision making training (black belt omega critical OT level VIII version).

You next year: "all my friends are leaving Amazon!" And the cycle repeats.