Amazon’s Innovation Secret from their VP: Look to Failure for Your Success

Season 9 Episode 51

Guest: Beryl Tomay

One of the biggest keys to success is failure.

It seems counterintuitive, but the reality is we ALL make mistakes. Highly successful leaders embrace stumbles and fumbles, and learn from them.

As Beryl Tomay points out, that’s especially true at Amazon. Their innovation culture is so highly effective because Amazon learns from each step, good or bad, and builds from it. Indeed, some of Amazon’s most successful products wouldn’t have seen the light of day if not for what was learned from products that didn’t make the cut!

Beryl started as an intern and rose through the ranks to be Amazon’s Vice President of Last Mile Delivery and Technology. Here’s what she and Maureen cover in this episode:

1. The tools in Amazon’s innovation culture that breed success – including mentors, resiliency, and perpetual learning;

2. The drive to (and importance of) planting seeds for the future; and

3. How a love for Radiohead facilitated Beryl’s career path that led to Amazon!

Other episodes you’ll enjoy:

– Delivering the Future: Amazon’s Innovation Culture with David Carbon, John Love, Dr. Vin Gupta, & Tye Brady

– Mastering Skills that Empower Innovation with Jeff DeGraff

– Humans in the Loop: AI’s New Business Models with Suchi Srinivasan