With the permission of Vladimir Grinberg, I re-post part of his excellent article, in which he summarized what Adam Siegel said at our last event.
What Amazon’s Innovation Lab Taught Me About Team-Building
“Wouldn’t it be wild if people actually worked where they truly belonged?”
Adam C. Siegel, former Head of Amazon New Initiatives, pulled us into his world at **Amazon Grand Challenge**—an experimental innovation team tasked with launching projects that could make a meaningful difference.
“Basically, Jeff gave us money to build things that would genuinely make the world better.”
It was a startup inside a tech giant, operating with autonomy and urgency. No red tape. Just one guiding rule: don’t build anything that would make the world worse. Projects like Amazon Care, Echo Frames, and Amazon Explore all came from this space.
“It was a startup within the giant, free to invent without permission.”
Mercenaries vs. Missionaries: The Philosophy That Changed Everything
The core of the talk, and one of the cleanest hiring philosophies, centered on distinguishing between mercenaries and missionaries. The charts below offer an interpreted visual summary of their primary motivators.
“Hire missionaries, not mercenaries.”
At Grand Challenge, ambiguity wasn’t a flaw in the system—it was the system. The usual hiring filters—resumes, credentials, past titles—weren't enough. What mattered was *why* someone showed up.
“We were figuring it out as we went. Ambiguity wasn’t the obstacle—it was the assignment.”
And a final hiring tip:
“Resumes don’t reveal revolutionaries.”
Adam wasn't hiring for polish—he was hiring for fire.