Most engineers think the best technical work wins promotions

Then they watch someone louder get promoted, and spend a year trying to figure out why.

Ethan Evans spent 15 years at Amazon on the other side of those decisions. He joined as a Senior Manager in 2005, helped launch what became Prime Video, and left in 2020 as a VP overseeing teams of over 800 across video games, the App Store, Twitch, and Prime Gaming.

Before Amazon, he got laid off twice from VP-level roles when his "brilliant and blunt" style stopped paying off. That's why I wanted to talk to him.

𝗦𝗼 𝗜 𝘀𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗵𝗶𝗺 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗸 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵 𝗻𝗼𝗯𝗼𝗱𝘆 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻.

What we got into:

- Why visible work beats better work

- The polite fiction your manager already knows is a lie

- Where influence ends, and manipulation begins

- Umbrella vs. funnel managers, and how to tell which you are

- Why is a PIP already over by the time it starts

- The "brilliant and blunt" excuse, and the two layoffs that broke it

- Where Ethan fell short of his own advice as a VP

- The career advice he wishes he could take back

You'll also learn why "I have a personal commitment" sometimes means "I'm interviewing elsewhere," and what most people get wrong about mentors.

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