LEADERSHIP TIPS from Amazon - Business English lesson

In this episode Business English coach Chris explores Amazon’s leadership tips to help international professionals improve their speaking and communication skills in English. Whether you’re a manager, team leader, or aspiring professional, you’ll learn how to talk about leadership, ownership, and customer obsession, and confidence and in a natural and native sounding way.

We break down key business vocabulary and phrasal verbs like touch on, in the loop, and hold up to scrutiny. You’ll hear real-world examples of native English expressions used in the workplace, so you can speak more naturally at work, whether you're in IT support, HR, or customer service.

If you're a non-native English speaker looking to improve your professional English, this episode is full of practical advice, natural phrases, and mindset tips to help you sound more confident and capable at work. Whether you’re preparing for interviews, meetings, or leadership roles, this podcast is your guide to effective, fluent English communication.

Also, if you're preparing for the IELTS, TOEFL, or Cambridge English tests then you should find a lot of useful vocabulary in here too!

This podcast is all about helping you to communicate better, in English, at work. I work with international English speakers from around the world who use English, at work, as a second or third language and I hope that I can bring some of the ideas, vocabulary, and grammar, from those sessions, to you in this podcast.

Don’t forget that my full time job is helping international professionals who use English at work to improve their communication skills. So, if you need English to do your job but don’t speak it natively then maybe we can work together to help you to achieve your language goals. 

🔗 Book a 1-to-1 coaching session at www.breakoutbusinessenglish.com
📱 Follow on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube for more tips: @BreakoutBusinessEnglish

Transcript

Welcome to the breakout business English podcast. Where I help you to communicate better at work, in English. Hi everyone, my name is Chris and I am a Business English coach. Thank you so much for listening and for your time today. And today's topic is leadership. Specifically, We're going to be exploring... Three of Amazon's leadership. Principles. That's the... Big, famous. Tech company Amazon. And they're principles, their ideas, their Guiding Theory for Leadership. In last week's episode, we touched on Amazon's leadership principles. I mentioned the idea that leaders in Amazon are expected to have a bias for action. That is to say that they prefer to make quick decisions. They prefer to try things out and see if they work, rather than spend a lot of time thinking about their choices. I mentioned that there were 13 Amazon Leadership Principles in last week's episode, and yeah, I have to admit, I got that one wrong. There are 16. Today? I want to take a look at. Three of the most interesting ideas from this list. And three ideas that I think can be applied to any role in order to improve anyone's performance and mindset at work. These 16 ideas, yes, 16 ideas are all really useful in any industry.So although we're doing three today, if you like this kind of format and you like going through these principles, then let me know and I can continue this into further episodes. Let's start, however, with a quick piece of vocabulary. Right at the beginning of this podcast, only a few seconds ago, I used the phrasal verb to touch on. To touch on. I said that we touched on Amazon's leadership principles. Do you know what I meant by this? To touch on something. Is to briefly mention it. To talk about something, but not to go into detail. We might say that I... Mentioned it In passing. That's your first piece of vocabulary for today. And with that said... Let's get started. Our first tip from this list is about ownership. And Amazon describe it like this: They say that leaders are owners. They think long-term. And don't sacrifice long-term value for short term. Results. They act on behalf of the entire company, beyond just their own team. They never say, That's not my job.So, what do you think? Does this sound like something that your managers encourage you to do? I know that when I started working in IT in my mid-twenties, we were encouraged to take ownership over problems that we were assigned to fix. Don't just finish a piece of work and assume that everything will go well from there. Catch you later. Make sure that everything is working well. If you need to delegate it to a colleague, then ask them how it's going. Let's take a look at some natural and native examples of people taking ownership of issues at work. I know it's not in my scope, but I'm happy to chip in. I know it's not in my scope, but I'm happy to chip in. I really want to see this through to fruition.So, I'll check in with you next week. I really want to see this through to fruition.So I'll check in with you next week. I handed this off to Dave, but I asked him to keep me in the loop. I handed this off to Dave, but I asked him to keep me in the loop. Let's start today with the word "Fruition". Fruition. You heard this in the second example. See this through to fruition. See this through to fruition. The fruition of something is the completion. Of a plan or a project. If you've been training for a marathon for the past year, then maybe the fruition of your plan will be finally crossing that finish line. You might notice that the word 'fruition' which we spell. F. I U R. I-T-I. I O N. Includes the word 'fruit'. Fruit. There are lots of phrases in English that use the word 'fruit' to talk about results and the product of your work. We can ask, for instance, if a meeting was fruitful. If you had a fruitful meeting. Or maybe we could ask if you think a sales call is going to bear fruit today. Is it going to bear fruit? Which means that you will, well, if it's a sales call, you'll successfully sell something.So, if something comes to fruition, then we mean that it has finally finished and produced a result. In the third example, we heard the phrase 'in the loop'. In The Loop. I said. I asked him to keep me in the loop. I asked him to keep me. In The Loop. A loop. L-O-O-P. Is another name for a shape that bends around and crosses itself again.Like the two loops that are formed when you tie your shoelaces. When we use this in a figurative and less literal way, We mean that we want someone to keep us informed about a particular issue. I might tell you, for instance, that one of our colleagues is not in the loop. Meaning that they don't know what's happening. There's the phrase to loop someone in. To loop someone in. This is less common, but it means to inform someone about problems, the most recent changes with the situation.So. If you are. In the loop. And someone else is out of the loop, then I might ask you to loop them in. Could you loop that person in before our next meeting? Meaning Can you give them the most up-to-date information? There is actually a really funny political movie about the relationship between the British and American governments called In The Loop. If you're looking for something to make you laugh. In the Loop is a great movie, but some of the dialogue might be a little challenging because it uses a lot of informal vocabulary and slang. The characters are not very polite most of the time. It is a great movie, though. Before we move on from the idea of taking ownership over issues, I should remind you that if you want to take ownership of your communication skills, then maybe we can work together. The Amazon leadership skills we're talking about today often come up in the English language and communication coaching sessions that I offer. My full-time job is helping international professionals who use English at work to improve their communication skills. This is a combination of grammar and vocabulary help, together with insightful and interesting discussions around leadership or whatever topics you want to improve your ability to communicate about. If you need English to do your job, but don't speak it natively, then maybe we can work together to help you to achieve your language goals. If you'd like to book some time to meet with me through one-to-one video calls, just you and me, then you can go to breakoutbusinessenglish.com. That's the title of the podcast, BreakoutBusinessEnglish.com and find out more. I sometimes have offers and discounts on class packages and entering your email address on the website is the best way to be the first to find out when those limited time deals are available. I've worked with over 1,000 non-native English-speaking professionals, from new graduates up to CEOs and government leaders, to help them achieve their goals, and I look forward to meeting you. Let's take a look now at another leadership principle. And here we're going to talk about the first one on the list, and that is customer obsession. Customer Obsession. Let's hear how Amazon's CEO Andy Jassy describes it. He says, leaders start with the customer and work backwards. They work vigorously to earn and keep trust. Although leaders pay attention to competitors, they obsess. Over. Customers.So I should mention that you don't always need to be in a sales role to be thinking about customers. Maybe you feel like the only people you serve. At other employees in your company. In that case, you can definitely talk about internal customers. Maybe you work in IT support. Or in the HR department of your company. And you spend all of your time trying to help other members of the staff do their jobs. In that case, you can definitely talk about internal customers. Internal customers. Let's take a listen to some natural and native ways to talk about putting your customers first. I always try to put myself in our customers' shoes when I'm planning things out. I always try to put myself in our customers shoes when I'm planning things out. I know that it seems like a good idea to us, but try to see it through the customer's eyes. I know that it seems like a good idea to us, but try to see it through the customer's eyes. If we roll out a product that's half baked, then it'll definitely come back to haunt us. If we roll out a product that's half baked, then it'll definitely come back to haunt us. Okay, let's start with that last example. We had a couple of really fun phrases in there. We heard half-baked and come back to haunt us.So, let's start with that first one. If I ask you if you enjoy baking, then What am I talking about?Well, I'm talking about making cakes and pastries. If you go into a bakery, then maybe you're buying bread or a nice dessert.So. If something is half baked, then you can imagine that it doesn't taste very good. Maybe the texture is not quite right. If we apply this to professional communication, then we get the idea that a plan or a theory, maybe an idea, has not been carefully considered. Maybe it's impractical or even a little stupid. Definitely not something that we want to be accused of at work. In that same example, we had the phrase, come back to haunt us. Come back to haunt us. "Hont" is a really specific verb that we really only associate with one noun, and that noun is "ghosts". Ghosts haunt people.So, just like someone from the past haunting you in the present, causing problems and generally being pretty scary. If something comes back to haunt you, then a decision that you made in the past starts to cause you problems in the present. I know that I made some pretty bad financial decisions in my early 20s. They definitely came back to haunt me a few years later. Fortunately, I've sorted all of that out now, though. I'm sure they won't come back to haunt me again. Next, let's take two phrases together. In the examples, I said that we should see things through the customer's eyes. See things through the customer's eyes and put yourself in the customer's shoes. You should put yourself in the customer's shoes. These are both idioms. That mean to try to understand something from someone's perspective. In fact, There are a lot of similar phrases that talk about how you look at something. We can talk about your point of view. Your standpoint, literally where you're standing when you look at something, your perspective. Your viewpoint, or to look at something from a certain angle. All of these phrases talk about the way that you think about something and your specific personal, opinions. When I'm deciding every week what I should talk about on this podcast. I try to put myself in your shoes. I try to think about what topics you might want to hear about. I try to see this podcast through your eyes, we could say. And if there's a topic that you'd specifically like to hear me discuss, then please let me know. The best way to do that is in a review. If you're listening on Apple Podcasts, then you can leave a review and write a note in there about a topic that you'd like to hear me talk about. Reviews help other people to know that there is valuable information and useful stuff in this podcast. And they helped the show to spread to new people, which ultimately It helps me to continue making new episodes every week.So. If you'd like to leave a review, then I thank you in advance for being a supporter. One of the leadership principles I find myself discussing most with the people I coach is the idea that leaders are right a lot. Amazon put it this way: They say leaders are right a lot. They have strong judgment and good instincts. They seek diverse perspectives and work to disconfirm their beliefs. There's a word in there that we need to talk about straight away, and this is to disconfirm. To disconfirm. This is a less common word. It's actually quite rare. I very rarely hear it in the real world. But quite simply, it means to try to prove that you are wrong. To try and prove yourself wrong in this case. If we think about the scientific method, the way that good science is done. Researchers don't usually try to prove that they are right. Instead, they do everything that they can to prove that they are wrong. And this is what tech giant Amazon wants its managers and staff to do. Let's listen now. To some natural and native sounding examples of how you could try to disconfirm your ideas. In a meeting. I'm convinced this is the right way to do this, but if anyone thinks I'm going about this wrong, then please let me know. I'm convinced this is the right way to do this. But if anyone thinks I'm going about this wrong, then please let me know. I've been working on this idea all week. But I'm not sure it holds up to scrutiny. What do you think? I've been working on this idea all week. But I'm not sure it holds up to scrutiny. What do you think? I need you to tell me where I'm going wrong here. I can't see any problems with this idea, but if there are any holes in it, then we need to find them. I need you to tell me where I'm going wrong here. I can't see any problems with this idea, but if there are any holes in it, then we need to find them. How you go about something is how you do something. Another word for this might be your approach to something. In the first example sentence, we heard: "If anyone thinks I'm going about this wrong." if anyone thinks I'm going about this wrong. If I'm particularly impressed by the fact that you were able to fix a problem, then I might ask you, how did you go about fixing that? How did you go about fixing that? This means that I'm interested in how you did that. I'm interested in how you achieved that goal. If I want to suggest a different way of doing something, then I might say, that's not how I'd go about it. All Maybe if I'm talking about the past, I would have gone about it differently. I would have gone about it differently. In the second example, We heard the phrasal verb to hold up. You hold up. If a theory... Or an idea. Holds up. Then this means that even after it's been closely examined, it's still true. And still works. In the second example, you heard, I'm not sure if this holds up to scrutiny. I'm not sure if this holds up to scrutiny. That last word, scrutiny, is a really fun one to say. I'm a big fan of words that are fun to say. Usually German gets all the fun to say words, but this is a fun to say English word. I remember when I was studying at university. Our university union had a Committee for Scrutiny. A Committee for Scrutiny. Their job was to carefully consider all of the decisions made by the leadership team. And to ask them questions about these decisions, to make sure that the university union was being run in the best way. We can use this word as an adjective. To describe people who pay close attention to details and are very careful with their work. We say that these people are very scrupulous people. They're very scrupulous people. However, this is generally considered very formal, so not very often heard in general conversations. Scrutiny. I still really like that word.So I think the main piece of vocabulary that I want to talk about in our third example is 'whole'. Used in this context, of course, usually We're talking about holes in the ground or maybe holes in your clothes after you've had them for too many years. In the example though, we had If there are any holes in it, then we need to find them. If there are any holes in it, then we need to find them. Just like a hole in the ground can be a problem, especially if you fall into it. A hole in a plan or theory or idea is a flaw. Or a problem. If you identify one hole in a plan, then maybe it can be fixed. However, If a plan is really bad, then you might want to describe it as full of holes. A bad plan could be full of holes. This is quite informal however.So I probably wouldn't put it in a formal report or piece of writing. However, saying it to your colleagues during a meeting would be a great way to use it. And if the way that you are currently improving your English is full of holes, then maybe I can help. My full-time job is helping international professionals who use English as a second language at work to improve their communication skills.So, if you need English to do your job, but don't speak it natively, then maybe we can work together to help you to achieve your language goals. If you'd like to book some time to meet with me through one-to-one video calls, just you and me, then you can go to BreakoutBusinessEnglish.com. That's the title of the podcast, BreakoutBusinessEnglish.com and find out more. And of course, that link will be in the show notes wherever you're watching this or in the description if you're listening on YouTube. I sometimes have offers and discounts on packages of meetings, so you can pay for 5 or 10 or 20 at once and get a big discount. And entering your email address on the website is the best way to be the first to find out when those limited time deals are available. I have worked with over 1,000 non-native English-speaking professionals from new graduates up to C-suite leaders, COOs, CEOs. C-E-O's? C-E-O's, C-F-O's, C-T-O's. Every other C something O that you can think of. And even government leaders. To help them achieve their goals. And I look forward to meeting you. That's everything for today. Don't forget that between episodes of the podcast, you can get videos every couple of days on Instagram, TikTok, and for longer videos over on YouTube. Just search for Breakout Business English. If there's a topic that you'd like to hear me talk about. Then? I'd be excited to hear your ideas for podcast episodes. Leave me a message or a comment on one of my YouTube videos or as I mentioned earlier in a review on Apple Podcasts and I look forward to hearing from you. That is it for today. Thank you so much for listening as always. And thank you for your time. It really is valuable. And I really do appreciate you coming back every week. And I'll talk to you next time on the Breakout Business English podcast. Thanks a lot, everyone. Talk to you soon.