GoKawiilKey Takeaways Amazon CEO Andy Jassy says Gen Z workers have to “start at the bottom,” take on unglamorous work and prove they are reliable, meticulous and tireless before bigger opportunities arise.
Over nearly three decades at Amazon, Jassy has seen that standout performers are “learning machines” who constantly seek new skills.
Drawing on his own experience, Jassy says his early career was about experimenting and figuring out what he didn’t want to do, not nailing a perfect plan.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, 58, says that Gen Z won’t get their dream jobs on day one. His latest advice to the generation of young workers is to “pay your dues” to be successful.
“You have to be willing to start at the bottom,” Jassy said earlier this year on Capital Group’s Power of Advice podcast. “You have to do whatever people ask you to do, within reason.”
Jassy told the podcast that young workers have to build a foundation and earn a reputation for being dependable, meticulous and hard-working. He said the people who rise through the ranks are the ones willing to do the unglamorous work without flinching, while those who avoid hard work tend to stall.
Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon. Photo: Andrej Sokolow/dpa (Photo by Andrej Sokolow/picture alliance via Getty Images)
Over nearly 30 years at Amazon, watching the company scale from a few hundred staffers to a 1.5 million employee giant, Jassy has seen one pattern again and again: the top performers are the ones fixed on learning and reinventing themselves, not simply repeating whatever worked last time.
“You just have to be a learning machine,” Jassy told the podcast.
Jassy never planned to make it to the C-suite
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