I don't think you'll find another conversation like this on the internet I asked Ethan Evans (ex-Amazon VP) questions about common situations in corporate politics but they get increasingly darker In this episode: • How he got burned by Bezos for empire building • How to be recognized in collaborations • How to reject work that isn't impactful • Unusual firing stories with HR (e.g. human poop) • How to handle bad managers and political peers • Top book recommendation for power dynamics And much more, this episode was my longest conversation so far Where to watch: • YouTube - • Spotify - • Apple Podcasts - • Transcript - Thank you to the sponsor of this episode for supporting my work: • WorkOS: makes your app Enterprise Ready with easy to use APIs to add SSO, SCIM, RBAC, and more in just a few lines of code, check them out at Chapters: 00:00 Intro 00:42 How to receive credit for your work 19:18 Ways for quiet people to get visibility 21:32 How to be trusted for top projects 29:52 How to defend from others taking your project 36:13 How to reject bad projects 44:10 How to be first for promo 55:35 How to handle managers that dislike career growth talk 01:06:30 What if your manager is in the way 01:15:43 Did he ever have overly political reports 01:28:06 How to fire a bad manager 01:35:16 What gives you leverage 01:43:41 How to defend against peers undermining you 01:50:24 What if everyone is good at politics 01:55:11 How Jeff Bezos burned him for empire building 02:03:27 How to retain your headcount 02:07:31 Career recommendations for the current landscape 02:15:11 How to avoid negative layoff optics 02:18:39 How to develop executive presence 02:29:25 How to network in a natural way 02:33:30 How to network with powerful people 02:41:01 How to learn hidden incentives 02:44:43 What happens behind the scenes with HR 02:50:13 Did he burn people to get ahead 02:53:24 What he says to people who hate politics 02:59:03 Top book recommendations on power dynamics 03:00:45 How he would speedrun career growth today 03:06:56 Outro