February 2025

Lately, the word everlastingly has been stuck in my mind—almost like a mantra. It reminds me to push past obstacles and stay focused on the work that truly matters. I first heard it from William Ruckelshaus, a widely respected public servant who spent over 20 years in federal and state government. He once said, “You must EVERLASTINGLY stay at it, or things begin to slide,” referring to his relentless efforts to protect natural resources. His words have stuck with me, a powerful reminder of the persistence needed to create lasting impact. At Amazon, we picked a few global needs that require everlastingly grit and commitment including educational opportunity, food security, disaster relief, and affordable housing. Further inspired by Ruckelshaus’ career to foster collaboration to get important work done together, I’m sharing some updates and food for thought.?

LEADERSHIP

Do not be a “complexifier.” Several years ago, an Amazon leader told me, “Sometimes you can be a complexifier.” Ouch. The feedback stung. Yet, leadership involves seeking out and acting on feedback. Upon some deep reflection, I realized my couple of decades of work in the social sector trained me to try to solve the whole complex problem at one time.? I recently shared this story as a keynote at the Global Washington Goal Makers Conference. The audience audibly gasped. After the session, several people approached me to share that their impact may be minimized by trying to solve too many complex factors at one time. The intent behind trying to solve the whole problem is noble. Yet, I’m grateful for Amazon’s culture and how it has evolved my leadership. My team identifies big complex problems, sets ambitious goals, and works hard to find the first simple solution that can be executed quickly at a small scale. This enables us to quickly gain concrete insights, evolve, and do better each day.

WHAT’S NEW

Amazon just opened our first Disaster Relief Hub in Latin America! It’s located in Mexico, and will help enhance disaster response times across the country. Each hub pre-positions vital items that can be delivered safely and quickly to impacted communities–within 72 hours of a relief partner’s request–following natural disasters, using our unique operational expertise, global logistics network, and innovative technologies. The Disaster Relief Hub is close to Mexico City and transportation networks, and is stocked with supplies needed in the aftermath of earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, landslides, tornadoes, and other disaster events, including:

• Flood mitigation equipment such as shovels, mops, buckets, and storage containers.
• Cleanup and repair materials, including contractor bags and trash cans.
• Hygiene and personal care supplies crucial for those impacted as they return to their communities.
• Other emergency supplies like tarps, water filtration systems, and flashlights.

The hub will support our existing community partners in their critical work - including the Mexican Food Bank Network (BAMX), the Mexican Red Cross, the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration (IOM), and World Central Kitchen . Learn more here:

https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/community/amazon-disaster-relief-programs-hubs-portal

Calling all sports fans! ?You can now check out Amazon’s brand new Career Tour – Prime Video Sports: Behind the Streams! Like all our tours, it’s a virtual field trip for students interested in exploring careers of the future. Amazon Future Engineer collaborated with Prime Video Sports for this new 45-minute tour, where students can learn how computer science, AI, and teams of Amazonians work together to stream sports to millions of fans around the world. The tour goes behind-the-scenes of Thursday Night Football, and it’s expected to impact more than 200,000 students in 2025! Check it out here: https://www.amazonfutureengineer.com/sportstour

And Code.org , with our help, just launched an exciting new curriculum to help students learn about artificial intelligence. Exploring Generative AI is designed for grades 8-12 and teaches them about AI literacy – how it works, how it’s created, and the ethical implications surrounding the technology. Students can also complete hands-on projects, like building chatbots. Ultimately, the curriculum speaks to the future and enables the next generation to better understand, demystify and create guidance around AI use. Check out the curriculum here: https://code.org/curriculum/generative-ai

IN THE NEWS

Simply put, everyone deserves to have enough to eat. But delivering on food security is complicated. It’s why we created the Community Delivery program, where we partner with food banks and other community organizations to delivery groceries to people in need. We’ve delivered more than 2 million meals in Puget Sound alone, and some of our work was featured in this recent story by Seattle’s ABC station.

https://komonews.com/news/local/funding-amazon-state-budget-governor-bob-ferguson-food-life-line-director-global-community-impact-united-way-washington-state-king-county-grocery-pickups

?

VOLUNTEERING

Because walking our talk is important, my leadership team regularly volunteers together. Last month, we hauled and sorted a lot of food at The Felix Project in London. Ever seen such a big bag of carrots?

?

?

READING

I am a voracious reader and podcast digester. My favorite genres are historical fiction, biographies, and poetry.? I recently finished and recommend Trust by Hernan Diaz. He tells the same story about the Roaring 1920s three times, three different ways, and it provides valuable lessons about unreliable narration and its consequences. My longest running magazine subscription is The Sun Magazine (given my genres – you’ll see why). I especially recommend the Reader’s Write column – ordinary people penning remarkable stories with a one-word prompt. ?And back to my starting theme, the single book I’ve gifted to the most people is Leading from Within: Poetry that Sustains the Courage to Lead compiled by Megan Schriber and Sam Intrator.

?

FINAL THOUGHT

A monthly newsletter is a new thing for me.? Do you find it helpful? Thanks for reading this far and LMK!