Amazon CEO Andy Jassy on Agility, AI Strategy, and the Changing Role of Managers

HBR IdeaCast

Harvard Business Review

Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Communication, Marketing, Business, Business/management, Management, Business/marketing, Business/entrepreneurship, Innovation, Hbr, Strategy, Economics, Finance, Teams, Harvard

4.4 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 6 May 2025

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

It's a tough time to lead one of the biggest companies in the world - one that depends on supply chains, physical infrastructure, and top tech talent to stay competitive. But Andy Jassy, who took over as CEO of Amazon from legendary founder Jeff Bezos in 2021, manages in a way that he says helps him stay focused on what is best for their products and ultimately their customers. He explains his decision to get workers back to the office five days a week, why he is building an organization less dependent on managers, and how their artificial intelligence strategy differs from the rest.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Before we begin, we have a couple of questions.
0:04.2	What do you love about HBR IdeaCast?
0:07.0	What would make IdeaCast even better?
0:09.4	What do you want less of?
0:11.7	Tell us, head over to HBR.org slash podcast survey to share your thoughts.
0:17.6	We want to make the show even better, but we need your help to do that. So head to
0:22.2	HBR.org slash podcast survey. Thank you.
0:27.2	I'm Alison Beard, executive editor at Harvard Business Review.
0:40.9	And I'm Adi Ignatius, HBR Editor at Large.
0:43.6	And this is the HBR Ideacast, where we give you insights and inspiration to make you a better leader.
0:49.9	Now, Adi, I have been hosting this show for nearly seven years now, and you've popped in on occasion, but let me officially welcome you as a new co-host.
0:58.4	Yeah, well, thank you. I'm really excited to be part of this, and very happy to be your co-host.
1:02.5	I am thrilled that you're going to be bringing four decades of expertise and knowledge to the idea cast audience.
1:10.0	You spent the last 16 years as editor-in-chief of
1:12.7	HBO, and now, as editor-at-large, you are not only hosting the show with me, but also
1:19.1	launching a new subscription offer for the C-suite called HBR Executive. I'm very excited about that.
1:25.1	Listers will hear more from us about HBR Executive before long, but it's hard at the top.
1:30.5	We know that.
1:31.5	With new technology with political and geopolitical uncertainty, it's hard to run a company.
1:35.7	So this is a new product, suite of content for CEOs and their top teams.
1:42.0	We want to try to make it a little bit easier to do that difficult job.
1:45.9	So, look, and that's what we're trying to do with IdeaCast, too, to bring in insights and
	...

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