As part of the Kellogg Leader Speaker Series, Dean Francesca Cornelli recently hosted Peter Krawiec ’00 MBA, the senior vice president of worldwide corporate and business development at Amazon. Their wide-ranging chat covered everything from the anatomy of team play to the challenges of ambiguity in a data-driven world.
In Amazon’s earliest days, you reported to Jeff Blackburn and later directly to founder and CEO Jeff Bezos. What was that like?
It was kind of mind-blowing because I didn’t really understand what it means to think big until I spent a lot of time with Jeff Bezos. Fast forward, and now I report to the most innovative, hardest-working person in the company, CEO Andy Jassy. They both pushed me in ways that I couldn’t even imagine, and my worldview is so different and continues to grow.
Many corporate scenarios, especially in a company’s growth stage, lack clearcut answers. How do you deal with ambiguity?
There’s no right answer; there’s only a better answer. We are data-obsessed at Amazon, but there’s only so much data, and at some point, you just have to make a decision. Then you have to go execute against that decision and find out whether you were right and course-correct along the way as you continue to learn and the world changes.
You came to Kellogg after leaving a high-pressure job in investment banking. How did your education pave the way for a career pivot?
Roxanne Hori, who led the Kellogg Career Management Center, really changed my life. After a summer at HP, I told her that I missed the pace and dynamic nature of the deal world but I also wanted to focus on innovation and product and company building. She challenged me and asked me if I’d heard of the Kauffman Fellows program. I said, “Yeah, but they pick fewer than 10 fellows each year.” She pushed me and said, “Why can’t you be one of them?” And she helped me navigate that.
How should professionals think about earning trust to then gain greater ownership in their careers?
When you work with senior leaders, they’ll see how capable you are and how you can help them deliver results. Over time, you will earn a reputation for being right a lot, and the more right you are, the more ownership you will earn and your scope will expand.
My top three
Audible
This was one of our earliest acquisitions. It allows me to continue to learn and expand my mind outside of work, and that’s important to me. Not only do I learn, but I am entertained. I’m currently listening to “Outlive” by Peter Attia.
Rivian
I love my R1T electric pickup truck. As a Rivian Board member, I knew it was important to deeply engage with Rivian’s products.
Whole Foods Market
There is a Whole Foods Market a 5-minute walk from Amazon’s Seattle HQ. It’s surreal to eat lunch there multiple times a week after acquiring it.