One of Amazon’s leadership principles I’ve demonstrated in school in the past is ownership. During high school, my mental health was far from good. This led to turning in work being a struggle for me. And this was something I had to learn to own up to. It was extremely hard for me. Not only did I feel ashamed that I wasn’t getting my work done, I felt ashamed that I then had to talk to my dad and teachers about it. I had to learn to hold my hand up and say “I didn’t deliver here, and the only person responsible for that is me.” And as hard as it was to do this, it only ever gave positive outcomes. It led to discussions about why work wasn’t getting done and it allowed me to get better support for my mental health so that in the future I could get things turned in.
Another leadership principle I have demonstrated in the past is learn and be curious. As a person, I am innately curious. I love learning new things. There has never been a time in my life where I’m not asking questions. I have always been the person in classes who is asking the question everyone else wants to ask for clarification but is too shy to do so. And I’ve learned over the years that I’m not only helping myself when I do this, but everyone else too. Being curious has only ever helped me deepen my understanding and appreciation for anything I’m learning about.
The third leadership principle I’ve demonstrated in the past is have backbone; disagree and commit. This principle was ingrained in me from an early age as my dad worked at Amazon and passed this principle onto me because of that. I have gone through all of my school years with this motto in mind. It was especially helpful during high school when I took theatre tech as a class. We would have to build sets, and sometimes the teams we were on would have disagreements about what a particular set piece should look like. This principle allowed me countless times in that class to say my piece, agree or disagree with others, pick a solution regardless if it was my own or not, and commit to it. I carry this principle with me in my daily life.
A leadership principle I think would be difficult for me is think big. Being autistic, I tend to get stuck on the little details of everything. It doesn’t matter if it’s for a school project or my own personal life, it is very difficult for me to piece together all the little details in my head to see the big picture. This is something I have been actively working on for years and that I have improved about myself slowly, but I am also aware that I am far from where I should be in regards to the principle as a whole.
