The Andy Jassy culture reset has become one of the most significant leadership moves in Amazon’s recent history. When Jassy took over as CEO, he inherited a company with massive scale but a culture under pressure. What followed was a bold transformation linking people, processes and performance in a new way. A case study on how leadership, culture and talent alignment fuelled Amazon’s transformation and what it means for your hiring strategy.
Why culture became the strategic frontier
Amazon’s explosive scale brought innovation and market dominance, but it also introduced complexity that diluted the organisation’s speed and clarity. This is where the Andy Jassy culture reset began. Jassy recognised that culture, not product or strategy, had become Amazon’s biggest constraint. Decision making slowed, agility decreased and the company drifted away from the urgency of its Day 1 mindset.
As Jassy wrote to employees, “Invention, speed, ownership, that is who we are. But as we grow, culture is not a birth right. You have to work at it all the time.” Source: About Amazon
At JOH Partners we see the same challenge across high growth organisations. Complexity weakens culture, which then weakens performance. Our Corporate Insights assessment suite was built to help companies maintain cultural strength as they scale, reinforcing leadership alignment and informed hiring decisions.
The bold moves that changed the game
Jassy’s approach to the Amazon talent strategy and culture reset was decisive. He flattened management layers, increased the ratio of individual contributors to managers and launched a “bureaucracy mailbox” where employees could flag inefficient processes. Hundreds of internal processes were redesigned as a result.
He also implemented a five day return to office requirement beginning January 2025, not as a financial move but as a cultural one. “It is about culture,” he explained, emphasising collaboration and ownership. Source: GeekWire
The transformation worked. Profit per employee increased more than fivefold and Amazon’s stock outperformed major technology benchmarks. Source: Business Insider
For talent leaders these moves highlight a critical point. Capability is not enough. Culture, behaviour and alignment matter just as much. This principle underpins our Corporate Insights assessment suite, which evaluates cultural fit, behavioural patterns and culture-first hiring indicators.
The impact on talent, hiring and culture
As the Andy Jassy culture reset progressed, Amazon shifted from assessing whether candidates could do the job to whether they would thrive in the environment. The hiring brand evolved, internal mobility strengthened and leadership expectations became clearer.
Jassy reinforced a startup mindset at scale, encouraging teams to work with agility, ownership and speed. Source: Business Insider
We see this dynamic frequently in our client work. When an organisation cannot articulate its culture, top candidates quickly disengage. In one engagement a scale up lost multiple senior candidates in a week because cultural clarity was missing. Our assessment suite solves exactly this problem by helping organisations understand the “how” behind performance and behaviour.
What this means for organisations today
The lessons from Amazon’s transformation are relevant for organisations of all sizes. Culture is not optional. It is a strategic asset that drives performance. If leaders focus only on capability and overlook alignment, they risk mis hiring and reduced retention.
The following patterns emerged clearly from the Andy Jassy culture reset.
- Flattened structure increases ownership and accelerates decisions.
- Culture-first hiring creates stronger alignment and retention.
- Structural clarity strengthens leadership effectiveness.
- Tying talent strategy to culture improves hiring brand and competitiveness.
Our Corporate Insights suite supports these principles by helping organisations define culture, measure alignment and integrate cultural intelligence into talent decisions.
How your hiring and assessment strategy should respond
To apply the lessons from Amazon’s cultural transformation, organisations should consider the following steps.
- Define your cultural markers. What behaviours demonstrate ownership and long term thinking in your organisation
- Assess beyond the interview. Use tools that measure behavioural tendencies, cultural alignment and peer input. Our Corporate Insights suite combines all three.
- Embed alignment into decision making. Amazon integrated culture into pay and promotion. Organisations can do the same for hiring, reviews and leadership development.
These steps enable a shift from reactive hiring to strategic talent advantage.
Closing take away: leadership, culture and the next wave
The Andy Jassy culture reset offers a powerful lesson. Leadership, culture and talent strategy must evolve together. Leaders identify the opportunity. Culture sustains the momentum. Talent ensures the transformation endures.
If your organisation is scaling or undergoing change, the question is not only whether you can hire the best people. It is whether you can hire people who amplify your culture while driving performance.
At JOH Partners we believe the next competitive advantage will belong to organisations that hire people who align, perform and belong.
