We encourage innovation at Amazon. What does innovation mean to you?
Jeff Bezos said, "To invent, you have to experiment, and if you know in advance that it's going to work, it's not an experiment. Failure and invention are inseparable twins. That resourcefulness of trying new things, figuring things out, it pays off in everything." Amazon frequently references innovation. 'Invent and Simplify' is one of their leadership principles, touching on leaders needing to expect and require innovation and invention from their teams. Amazon believes that being innovative includes an awareness of new ideas and never being limited by the 'we don't do that here' mentality. Share how you embody this mindset to display yourself as a strong fit for the company.
"In my previous role, I was fortunate enough to introduce my company to the idea of a gold-level service which added service options to our general customer service. Our customer base responded positively, and we kept the program running for a few years. To me, innovation is creating new products and services that are useful to customers and also help my company stand out further in their space."
"I fully agree with Amazon that innovation means being someone who thrives on change and remains nimble in their work. Innovation can mean creating a new and powerful idea, and it can also mean simplifying an existing one."
"Innovation is making a macro scale improvement to the way something was previously done. Conversely, kaizen is making small improvements that can collectively produce large results. For something to be innovative, it takes an original approach that has never been tried or done before."
Community answers are written by other candidates practicing this set. Reading how others frame the same question is one of the fastest ways to sharpen your own.
Anonymous Answer
Innovation means to invent new ideas or new products. Innovation makes either our work or daily routine easier.
Rachelle's Feedback
Could you expand on these thoughts a bit further? Amazon places a lot of importance on 'invent and simplify,' so I suggest using more of their language when delivering your interview answers. For instance, you could incorporate thoughts from this clip taken from the Amazon careers site: "Invent and Simplify Leaders expect and require innovation and invention from their teams and always find ways to simplify. They are externally aware, look for new ideas from everywhere, and are not limited by "not invented here." As we do new things, we accept that we may be misunderstood for long periods of time."
Anonymous Answer
Innovation is about making sure you're always looking for better, always looking to improve things, either that would be through inventing something new and generating new ideas, or through changing your processes and making improvements so they always look faster, cheaper, and better in some way.
Amanda's Feedback
I can see your intention in this response. However, you can improve it by focusing on the impact of improving processes, workflows, or ideas for the customer or for your team members. See the revised response provided.
Innovation is all about making improvements to processes, workflows, products, or services that help people work more efficiently, meet an emerging customer need, enhance the customer experience, or positively impact the work environment.
Anonymous Answer
In one of my previous roles, I was fortunate enough to introduce my company to the idea of virtual showrooms, but they did not find my idea very attractive so I continued my way with a company that was open to such innovative ideas. After the pandemic, like most sectors in the world, digitalization has rapidly gained importance in the textile industry, and the company I used to work for heard that we sold products with the collections we prepared in digital environments, without customers visiting us and my previous senior called to learn more about it. At that time, I confirmed how important innovation is and how right my decision was by running after it. As you can see I even changed my work for innovation so it does mean a lot to me.
Amanda's Feedback
You've shared a strong example that shows how you innovated in a previous role, but you can make this response more impactful by talking about why innovation is important to you. Does innovation mean solving problems strategically or using techniques to save time or money? Consider also talking about how innovation helps a company or employee stay competitive or grow.
Anonymous Answer
Innovation means questioning the status quo and inventing better ways to achieve a goal. My favorite innovations are those that simplify the customer experience and remove friction. For example, several years ago I discovered Amazon EC2 instances, with their intuitive wizards to set up a virtual computer on the cloud. That solved my problem of occasional requirements for more powerful hardware, without requiring me to be an engineer.
Marcie's Feedback
You provide an excellent definition of innovation, and the interviewer will be happy to hear that you like to innovate with the customer and their experience in mind. While the discovery of Amazon EC2 instances made things easier for you, is it possible to cite an example of a time when you yourself were innovative or thought outside the box?
Anonymous Answer
Innovation means a few things. It could mean creating something new - FOAK like I did at ______ when we combined MBSE with MODSIM composites for a large A&D OEM - which was a totally think big project. Or it could be taking an existing project and simplifying it like moving from PDF to project planning so it is easily editable.
Marcie's Feedback
Be careful using lots of acronyms and jargon in your answers - you might confuse the interviewer. Otherwise, you've provided some good definitions of innovation and backed them up with examples - great! Just make sure to clearly explain your examples and pick ones that show your innovative thinking. Nice job!
Anonymous Answer
To me, innovation is finding a new way of doing things rather than relying upon what has worked in the past. It is not simply following an age-old process, but questioning whether that process can be done better. Jeff Bezos, found of Amazon, is adamant that Amazon must remain a Day 1 company. Day 1 companies are always looking for ways to look around corners and anticipate what the customer requires to have an even better experience tomorrow than they did today. To do this requires a mindset that doesn't settle for good enough, but for what might be possible. As soon as you settle for good enough, your company has become Day 2 and is on its way out - maybe not tomorrow but eventually.
To keep fresh and engaged, requires an innovative mindset that looks for new ways to delight and satisfy the customer.
Marcie's Feedback
Awesome! It's clear that you fully understand what it means to be innovative. Plus, mentioning the company's founder and how Amazon always strives to be innovative is very effective because it shows you're knowledgeable about the company and truly understand its mindset. Fantastic answer!
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