Welcome back to the Breakout Business English podcast. Hi everyone my name is Chris and I'm a business English coach. I've worked with over 1000 non -native English -speaking professionals from new graduates up to CEOs and government leaders to help them to improve their communication skills.
Thank you so much for listening today and today's topic is leadership.
So this is our third episode discussing Amazon's leadership principles and I think we're still only about halfway through their list. I did three on an episode a couple of weeks ago and I think I mentioned one on its own.
So if you're trying to grow as a leader or move into a leadership position for the first time, then becoming familiar with Amazon's leadership principles is a great place to start.
In today's podcast, we're going to talk about two more of these ideas and we'll hear some great vocabulary used by Amazon's CEO, Andy Jassy.
to talk about these concepts.
So feel free to take notes and think about how you can start using these ideas and the vocabulary in the work that you do.
Let's get started. Our first leadership principle today is to invent and simplify.
to invent and simplify.
Here is how Amazon describes it they say that leaders expect and require innovation and invention from their teams and always find ways to simplify.
They are externally aware, look for new ideas from everywhere and are not limited by not invented here.
As we do new things we accept that we may be misunderstood for long periods of time.
So this is the guiding principle that Amazon look for in their leaders when it comes to creating new things inside the company.
Let's take a listen to some things you might hear at work from a manager who values invention and innovation in their team.
The prototype is pretty good, but I think the next iteration has the potential to be really great.
The prototype is pretty good but I think the next iteration has the potential to be really great.
I like this idea but I don't think this is the best implementation.
I like this idea, but I don't think this is the best implementation.
Our company has always been on the cutting edge of this industry.
Our company has always been on the cutting edge of this industry.
Okay. So let's get our vocabulary conversations started today.
And our first piece of vocabulary is iteration, iteration.
In the first example we heard, The next iteration has the potential to be really great.
The next iteration has the potential to be really great.
Iteration is a noun, but I want to start with the verb form and that is to iterate to iterate to iterate is to do something multiple times you might have heard the word reiterate reiterate which basically means to say something again let me reiterate that it basically means to say something again so there we go reiterated that for you.
When we're talking about inventing new things or creating new products then iterating on something means to create new versions of it that are slightly better each time.
So as I record this I think Apple are on the iPhone 16 it's 2025 are they still on the 16 that's 16 iterations of that product each one slightly better than the last in fact I think they've had a few more than that I think we've had more than 16 models so as you heard an iteration is a new version of something or maybe a new model of something In our second example we heard the phrase cutting edge.
Cutting edge. As in our company has always been on the cutting edge of this industry.
We've always been on the cutting edge.
This phrase began its life in the late 1970s in the United States of America, before making its way over to British English in the mid 1980s.
I think in order to understand the phrase cutting edge we need to think of a technology or an industry as a knife or a blade.
If you look at a knife or hold it in your hand you'll see that there's quite a lot of metal however only a very small amount of that actually does the cutting.
A very industries are like this, especially technology based industries.
So we describe something as cutting edge if it is the most exciting or advanced or innovative part of an industry or technology.
Now there is a phrase that we use when cutting edge just isn't advanced or innovative enough.
when we need to talk about something even more cutting edge than cutting edge.
When we want to show that something is even newer and really pushes the limits of what technology can do, then we use the phrase bleeding edge, bleeding edge, yes we've got knives and blood and this is starting to be a very scary set of phrases but cutting edge is advanced technology innovative technology bleeding edge is the most advanced stuff.
So if you work on bleeding edge technology then you are probably doing research that very few people understand however the advances that you make will really push your industry forwards.
Here is a quote from Amazon's CEO Andy Jassy.
When talking about this leadership principle he says that in some cases it's been a whole cloth invention.
In some cases we've used it's been whole cloth invention if you tell me that you've invented something from whole cloth then you mean that you had no real starting point no template you didn't take inspiration from something else and then iterate on it Instead you had a completely original idea.
This comes from the world of tailoring and garment making, making clothes.
If you start with a piece of whole cloth, then you could make it into anything.
Jeans, T -shirts, curtains.
Anything at all. There's nothing to base your creation on in other words, no suggestion of an idea or direction.
So if you invent something out of whole cloth then you really have achieved something great and original.
In the second example we heard the noun implementation implementation as in I like this idea but I don't think this is the best implementation I don't think this is the best implementation implementation is a noun but again let's look at the verb the verb form of this word is to implement, implement.
If I implement something then I take a plan and I put it into action I apply a system or idea we often use the word implementation when we're going to discuss how an idea is going to work in real life.
For instance a local government might decide that increasing the price of parking is a good idea but how are we going to implement this because we need to get the implementation right.
Perhaps they increase the price in a certain part of the city first and maybe also only for people who don't live locally.
That would be a good implementation.
So you might have a good idea but when you implement it make sure you get the implementation right and if you want to implement a great system for improving your English and your communication skills then maybe we can work together.
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 you don't speak it natively then I would like to meet you.
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.
Starting on our very first call we can focus on the specific opportunities that you personally have to improve your English and communication skills and the mistakes that you make most often or cause the biggest problems with your communication.
We don't use textbooks or anything like that, we're going to work with the way that you are actually communicating and analyse that to find out what your opportunities are to really improve the way that you are communicating in English at work and right now you can use the code podcast30 at checkout to get a 30 % discount of your first booking of 30 or 45 or 60 minutes whatever you like.
Sometimes my calendar gets a little busy so if you have trouble finding a time that works for you then you can always send me a message through the contact page on the website and ask if I have any time to fit you in.
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 and helping you to achieve yours.
Okay let's move on.
The second Amazon leadership principle I want to talk to you about today is what they call learn and be curious.
Learn and be curious.
And they describe it like this, Amazon say that leaders are never done learning and always seek to improve themselves.
They are curious about new possibilities and act to explore them.
This is definitely one of my favorite ideas on the list. I spend most of my day having interesting conversations with international professionals around the world about their work and passions in different industries, so I'm very lucky to spend a lot of my time learning while I'm coaching people.
Again, checking in with Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, he tells us that this is the leadership principle that most differentiates leaders who grow their careers significantly versus those that stay stagnant.
Let's take a learning new things at work.
I spent a couple of months upskilling before i joined this team.
I spent a couple of months upskilling before i joined this team.
I think the key to professional development and is having a growth mindset.
I think the key to professional development is having a growth mindset.
I think I might try to get an MBA I just feel like my career has plateaued over the past couple of years.
I think I might try to get an MBA.
I just feel like my career has plateaued over the past couple of years.
Ok in that second example we had the phrase a growth mindset.
As in I think the key to professional development is having a growth mindset.
I think the key to professional development is having a growth mindset.
Quite simply your mindset is how you think about things and how you approach situations.
The idea of having a growth mindset is that you enter situations looking for opportunities to learn, grow and improve.
And you know that you are not perfect yet you have more to learn.
This is a really common phrase to hear during job interviews also in sentences like we're looking for someone with a growth mindset, we're looking for someone with a growth mindset.
So I should make an important point here about the word growth and the way that we use it.
Growth, G -R -O -W -T -H is a noun but it can also be used as an adjective in phrases like growth mindset.
One mistake that I hear a lot of people make is to say that they want to grow up their skills or that they have grown up a lot by working on a particular project.
In fact, I think I've discussed this phrase with two of the people I'm coaching just today.
So, what is wrong with these examples?
The problem here is that we only ever use this phrase to grow up, to talk about going from being a child to being an adult.
And that's really the only use that the phrasal verb to grow up has.
Whenever we're talking about professional growth and professional development we just need the word grow and nothing else.
We can say that we want to grow our skills or that we've grown a lot while we've been working on a particular project.
For instance there are lots of phrasal verbs where the verb on its own and the phrasal verb basically have the same meaning if I ask you to sit or to sit down these mean exactly the same thing I can say please come in sit or please come in sit down they mean the same thing and there are lots of examples like this.
However, grow up is not one of these.
If I say I've grown up a lot then I kind of mean I've stopped behaving like a child.
It's often something we hear in insults.
If your boss ever tells you to grow up this means that you're behaving like a child, you're immature and behaving in a childish way.
You never to hear someone say that you should grow up.
So one more time when we're talking about professional growth we just need that word on its own, grow.
In the third example we had the word plateaued, plateaued, as in I just feel like my career has plateaued over the past couple of years, I just feel like my has plateaued so this is the verb to plateau to plateau and the best way to think about this verb is to first think of the noun that it came from and that noun is plateau a plateau, so what is a plateau and I should say the spelling here is P -L -A -T -E -A -U slightly strange spelling, I'm pretty sure that one comes from French. Let's just double check, we'll do some live Google searching on our podcast recording.
Can we get the etymology here, find out where this came from yeah this comes from French there.
So what is a plateau?
A plateau is a flat piece of land raised high above the land around it think of it as a mountain but instead of finishing in a point or a peak a single small piece of land right at the top it finishes in a large flat area we use this as a verb to plateau when something has improved to a point and then stopped improving as if you've gone up this hill this mountain the land has kept rising very quickly and then suddenly stopped and continued very flat A lot of people feel this way about their ability to speak a second language.
They improved really quickly to begin with, they learned a lot very quickly maybe even for several years but then they stopped improving and they have simply maintained their level.
we could say that these people have hit a plateau they have hit a plateau or that they have plateaued.
Plateau -ing can be really annoying when it comes to your language skills but perhaps even more frustrating and annoying when it comes to your career and development.
In a similar way the quote I mentioned a of minutes ago when again Amazon CEO Andy Jassy described some careers as stagnant.
Stagnant refers to a physical thing.
Stagnant water is water that doesn't move it just stays in one place it's not in a river or an active interesting dynamic lake it's just a little pool sitting on its own this often means that it smells bad and doesn't look very pleasant.
Maybe you've seen a stagnant part of a river where water isn't really moving and things are growing on top and it's not very nice.
Well we can use this as an adjective to describe anything that we feel has stopped developing including of course our careers and our professional skill sets.
Next upskill is a word that started to be heard in British English during the 1980s and eventually made its way over to the USA.
We heard this in the first example I spent a couple of months upskilling before I joined this team.
I spent a couple of months up -skilling.
If someone up -skills, or if you up -skill someone, then you increase their ability to do their job.
Or, indeed, if you up -skill, you increase your own ability to do your job and you improve your own skills.
Sometimes through improving your current skills but usually by learning or being taught new skills.
There are actually a few prefixes that we can add to the beginning of the word skill to talk about how our professional abilities change.
So, adding the letters RE to the beginning gives us the verb to re -skill.
Around 20 years ago, this was another common way to talk about developing new skills.
However, upskill is now far more popular.
You will still hear both words used to talk about learning new skills however.
The subtle difference here is that upskill usually is used to talk about growing in your current career and your current field, whereas reskill suggests that you are moving toward a new career or a new industry.
We can also add the letters D and E to make de -skill.
De -skilling is when advances in technology mean that skilled workers no longer need to use their skills.
Therefore, over time these skills get lost because they are not practiced.
As automation has become increasingly common de -skilling is happening across many industries.
I think we still need to wait and see how much de -skilling is going to result from the increasing relevance and importance of artificial intelligence or AI tools for instance.
And of course yes we use this word to talk about jobs requiring less skills or lower levels of skill but we also often use this verb to talk about workers themselves and how if we don't use our skills for a long period of time then we're likely to lose them, we get de -skilled.
I spent a good amount of time in my twenties working in IT at a couple different universities in the UK, however I doubt if I could walk back into one of those jobs today.
After several years out of that industry I have definitely become de -skilled.
So don't forget that you can book a session with me to work on your English communication skills by going to the title of the podcast BreakoutBusinessEnglish .com or clicking on the link down in the show notes and use the code PODCAST30, that's podcast30 at checkout to get a 30 % discount off your booking 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.
Between episodes of the podcast you can get videos every couple of days on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.
Just search for breakout business English.
Also if there's a topic that you'd like to hear me talk about on the podcast then I would be excited to hear your ideas.
Leave me a message or comment on one of my YouTube videos and I look forward to hearing from you.
Finally if you are listening on Apple podcasts then I invite you to leave a review every review really helps me out and helps to push this podcast to new listeners and grow the show.
If you found this podcast useful and you think that there are some valuable things in here then feel free to write a couple of kind words, and I thank you for that in advance.
Also that is another great place to request a topic for a future podcast. That's it for today.
If you've made it this far, then you are one of my, my most loyal listeners who, who gets to the end of these episodes.
So thank you so much for your time and for listening, and I'll talk to you again next time.
This time next week on The Breakout Business English podcast. Thanks a lot, everyone.
Talk to you soon.
