One of Amazon's Leadership Principles is, 'Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit.' Tell me about a time when you disagreed with a manager, professor, or leader.
Amazon Brand Specialists are accountable to a variety of individuals. Although you may not always be on the same page with your leaders 100% of the time, the interviewer wants to know that you handle any disagreements with the utmost respect and professionalism. Getting along well with others puts you in a favorable position because it shows your desire to collaborate and highlights your ability to problem solve and produce excellent results, despite a challenging situation.
Amazon's 13th Leadership Principle is 'Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit.' This principle states, 'Leaders are obligated to respectfully challenge decisions when they disagree, even when doing so is uncomfortable or exhausting. Leaders have conviction and are tenacious. They do not compromise for the sake of social cohesion. Once a decision is determined, they commit wholly.'
In your current position, you may have a great relationship with the people you report to. However, there will be times where you don't see eye to eye. Think of a conflict or disagreement you had with your manager, and you responded well, stated your stance very clearly, and perhaps even persuaded the manager to approach the situation from your perspective.
This answer requires storytelling. Amazon asks that when you answer behavioral interview questions, you try to follow the STAR answer method. STAR is an acronym for Situation, Task, Action, Result.
- Situation: Provide the contextual information the interviewer needs to know to make sense of your story.
- Task: Continuing to set the stage, give the interviewer an idea of your role and responsibilities in this story.
- Action: Next, offer a detailed description of the steps you took in this story.
- Result: Last, talk about the specific, measurable outcomes that resulted from your actions.
If you have work experience, it's best to provide an example from your professional life. If you are new to your career, consider an example from your post-secondary education, a team sport, volunteer commitment, or a club-based activity.
"(Situation) While completing my Marketing internship at Company XYZ, the Senior Marketing Manager suggested that the company did not need to invest more time into growing an email distribution list for a specific product feature we were rolling out. (Task) As a recent marketing graduate with a solid understanding of email marketing, I disagreed with her because I felt email marketing was an excellent choice for a low-cost, high-reward marketing effort. I felt accountable to speak up; however, I knew that I needed to state my case compellingly since I was the Intern and not a permanent or seasoned member of the marketing team. (Action) Privately, I approached the Marketing Manager with my thoughts and supporting data from our CRM. I also highlighted positive results from previous email campaigns that Company XYZ had rolled out. I clearly summarized why an email marketing campaign could benefit the company considering limited time and resources constraints. By removing emotion from the equation and focusing on data, I presented my viewpoint in a way that was difficult to dispute. (Result) Ultimately, the Marketing Manager gave our team the green light for launching an email campaign, and it was a great success. We built and segmented an email list of over 3,000 contacts, and the conversion rate ended up being 22% higher than I had originally forecasted in my proposal. I showed my ability to have a backbone, disagree, and commit. Although it was uncomfortable at first, I respectfully challenged the decision of my leader and stuck with my opinion while carefully supporting my stance. If I am chosen for the Brand Specialist role, I will continue to emulate the Leadership Principle of 'Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit.' I will not conform for the sake of social cohesion when I feel a decision is being made that is not to Amazon or its' customers' greatest benefit."
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