What did ex-Amazon VP Ethan Evans say were Jeff Bezos's biggest weaknesses?

Ethan Evans told My First Million that Jeff Bezos gave almost only corrective feedback, rarely praising teams no matter what results they brought. Evans also said that being right so often led Bezos to trust his own vision too much, which is how the Fire Phone shipped despite internal objections and ended in about $170 million of hardware write-offs. Bezos could also be cutting in public when frustrated.

• Evans recalled Bezos ending an hour of criticism, turning back at the door and adding a quick 'good job', apparently on a coach's advice.
• Evans cited Bezos asking a presenting team whether the A team for the project was available.
• Evans believes the anger was often Bezos's frustration with himself for letting a problem get that bad.

▸In their words

“Everyone was trying to tell him the Fire Phone was not a good product.” Ethan Evans · at 5:53 — open in the transcript →

Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on My First Million (2026-10-28). Read the whole episode summary →

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