Earns Trust: The Quiet Edge in the Amazon Interview Room

You Can Always Improve the Outcome

Let me tell you a story.

It’s a Tuesday, and you’re standing outside a glass-walled conference room in South Lake Union. You’ve memorized your STARs, polished your resume, and even prepped for that zinger where they ask you how you’d invent on behalf of the customer with zero budget and a ticking clock.

But let me tell you what the most critical question is—one we don’t always say out loud:

“Do I trust you?”

At Amazon, I served as a Bar Raiser. That’s not just a ceremonial title—it’s a responsibility. A covenant, really. We’re the stewards of the hiring process, entrusted with upholding the standards that built a company from a garage-sized bookshop into an institution that moves markets and measures delivery windows in hours, not days.

And among the vaunted Leadership Principles—those laminated icons on meeting room walls and new hire docs—there’s one that sat like bedrock beneath the rest:

Earns Trust

Now, you might think that means “Don’t lie.” And yes, you’d be right. But you’d also be missing the point.