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Ethan Evans is a writer, career coach, course instructor, and retired VP at Amazon. During his 15 years at Amazon, he helped invent Prime Video, Amazon Video, the Amazon Appstore, Prime Gaming (formerly Twitch Prime), and Twitch Commerce. Prior to Amazon, Ethan spent 12 years in technical leadership roles at several East Coast startups. He writes a newsletter, Level Up, which publishes candid career advice and has a growing community of ambitious professionals to connect with. Ethan also offers a range of Leadership Development Courses via live online classes and on-demand courses. In this episode, we discuss:

\u2022 The Magic Loop framework: a five-step process to grow your career

\u2022 A handful of reasons why people get stuck in their career growth

\u2022 Advice on how to break out of a career plateau

\u2022 How to cultivate inventiveness in your work

\u2022 How to stand out in interviews

\u2022 A personal story of failing Jeff Bezos and lessons learned

\u2022 Contrarian opinions on the return-to-office movement and doing business on a handshake

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Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/taking-control-of-your-career-ethan

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Where to find Ethan Evans:

\u2022 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethanevansvp/

\u2022 Substack: https://levelupwithethanevans.substack.com/

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Where to find Lenny:

\u2022 Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

\u2022 X: https://twitter.com/lennysan

\u2022 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

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In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Ethan\u2019s background

(04:25) The Magic Loop

(08:31) The goal of the Magic Loop

(10:59) Clarifications on the framework

(12:46) Success stories

(17:22) The importance and effectiveness of the Magic Loop

(19:01) A quick summary of the steps in the Magic Loop

(21:46) What if you\u2019re not pursuing a promotion?

(23:09) How to break out of a career plateau

(28:52) How to become systematically inventive

(36:04) Interview advice and how to stand out

(40:43) A story of failing Jeff Bezos

(50:31) Lessons learned from that failure

(57:30) What Ethan would have done differently

(01:00:35) Amazon\u2019s leadership principles

(01:08:52) Contrarian corner: Returning to the office vs. staying remote

(01:10:39) Contrarian corner: Doing business on a handshake

(01:11:52) Lightning round

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Referenced:

\u2022 The Magic Loop: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-magic-loop

\u2022 SDE levels: https://www.masaischool.com/blog/understanding-sde-levels-sde-1-vs-sde-2-vs-sde-3-differences/

\u2022 What Got You Here Won\u2019t Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful: https://www.amazon.com/What-Got-Here-Wont-There/dp/1401301304

\u2022 Thomas Edison\u2019s quote: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/thomas_a_edison_109928

\u2022 Jeff Bezos: Amazon and Blue Origin | Lex Fridman Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcWqzZ3I2cY

\u2022 Unpacking Amazon\u2019s unique ways of working | Bill Carr (author of Working Backwards): https://www.lennyspodcast.com/unpacking-amazons-unique-ways-of-working-bill-carr-author-of-working-backwards/

\u2022 Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Working-Backwards-Insights-Stories-Secrets/dp/1250267595

\u2022 Jeff Wilke on X: https://twitter.com/jeffawilke

\u2022 Andy Jassy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-jassy-8b1615/

\u2022 Werner Vogels on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wernervogels/

\u2022 Amazon\u2019s Silk browser explained: https://www.androidpolice.com/amazon-silk-browser-explainer/

\u2022 Chickens and pigs: https://www.scrum.org/resources/chickens-and-pigs

\u2022 58% of tech employees experience imposter syndrome. Here\u2019s how to overcome it: https://medium.com/wearefutureworks/58-of-tech-employees-experience-imposter-syndrome-heres-how-to-overcome-it-78172d8a2258

\u2022 Jeff Bezos to exec after product totally flopped: \u2018You can\u2019t, for one minute, feel bad\u2019: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/22/jeff-bezos-why-you-cant-feel-bad-about-failure.html

\u2022 Amazon\u2019s leadership principles: https://www.amazon.jobs/content/en/our-workplace/leadership-principles

\u2022 Sam Altman on X: https://twitter.com/sama

\u2022 Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work: https://www.amazon.com/Decisive-Make-Better-Choices-Life/dp/0307956393

\u2022 Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting Out of the Box: https://www.amazon.com/Leadership-Self-Deception-Getting-Out-Box/dp/1523097809

\u2022 The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness: https://www.amazon.com/Almanack-Naval-Ravikant-Wealth-Happiness/dp/1544514212/

\u2022 Angel list: https://venture.angellist.com/naval/syndicate

\u2022 Naval Ravikant on X: https://twitter.com/naval

\u2022 1923 on Paramount+: https://www.paramountplus.com/shows/1923/

\u2022 Yellowstone on Paramount+: https://www.paramountnetwork.com/shows/yellowstone

\u2022 Chuckit! dog toys: https://www.chuckit-toys.co.uk/

\u2022 Luke 12:48: https://law.utk.edu/2016/05/10/to-whom-much-is-given-much-will-be-required

\u2022 The Challenger space shuttle disaster: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challenger_disaster

\u2022 Ethan\u2019s popular course on Maven: https://maven.com/ethan-evans/break-through-to-executive

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Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.

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Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.