Taking control of your career | Ethan Evans (Amazon)
Lenny's Podcast episode: Taking control of your career | Ethan Evans (Amazon)
Ethan Evans is a writer, career coach, course instructor, and retired VP at Amazon. In this episode of Lenny’s Podcast, they discuss the following: the Magic Loop framework (a five-step process to grow your career), a handful of reasons why people get stuck in their career growth, how to stand out in interviews, and much more.
Let me save you an hour of listening and give you the key nuggets that I found:
Ethan Evans Reveals the 'Magic Loop' for Career Growth (5:36)
“Managers help those who help them. It's just human nature.”
Ethan Evans on Leadership Levels and Career Growth (15:25)
“A huge part of career success is how much trust you have, mutual respect with your leadership.”
Ethan Evans on Choosing to Stay an Individual Contributor (21:54)
“I actually had a period of my career where I specifically did not want to get promoted. I was just wanting to keep doing this awesome IC role.”
Ethan Evans on Overcoming Career Stagnation (25:25)
“I think part of this advice you just shared, which is the classic, do the job before you have the job, makes all the sense in the world.”
Ethan Evans on Standing Out in Interviews (36:05)
“People want to work with people that want to work with them.”
Ethan Evans' Top Book Recommendations for Leadership (1:12:19)
“No one can be a better version of you. Don't try to copy me and be, oh, I'm going to be like Ethan or I'm going to be like Lenny.”
To watch the full podcast, click here.
Golden Nugget:
"Do the job before you have the job." By taking on responsibilities and demonstrating your abilities before being officially promoted or hired, you can proactively showcase your skills, build trust with leadership, and position yourself as the natural choice for advancement. This mindset not only accelerates career growth but also signals your readiness for new challenges.
Discussion Questions:
Career Growth & The Magic Loop. Ethan Evans talks about the importance of trust and mutual respect with leadership. How do you currently build trust with your managers, and what strategies do you think could help you grow your career more effectively?
Overcoming Career Stagnation. Ethan Evans advises doing the job before you have the job to overcome career stagnation. Have you ever applied this approach in your career? How do you think it could help you advance or break through any professional challenges you're facing?
Demonstrating Enthusiasm in Interviews. Ethan Evans emphasizes the importance of showcasing your passion for the role and company. How do you prepare to express your enthusiasm in interviews without coming across as overly rehearsed or insincere?
Key Expressions:
Peter out: To gradually become weaker or less intense until it completely stops or disappears.
Choke point: A critical point in a process or system where things can get delayed or blocked, causing a bottleneck.
Mental model: A way of thinking or a framework that helps you understand and interpret the world, solve problems, or make decisions.
Bull-headed: Being stubborn or refusing to change your mind, even when it might be better to be more flexible.
Skip level meeting: A meeting where an employee meets directly with their manager's manager, bypassing their immediate supervisor.