Retired Amazon VP: How Corporate Politics Work And How To Win | Ethan Evans
Retired Amazon VP: How Corporate Politics Work And How To Win | Ethan Evans  
Podcast: The Peterman Pod
Published On: Mon Mar 30 2026
Description: Ethan Evans is a former VP at Amazon has seen pretty much every possible type of corporate politics. Now that he's retired, he could share everything he'd seen including stories about empire building, hidden politics, reorgs, senior promos and dealing with bad managers.🔸 The keyboard I'm building: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ryanlpeterman/compose-simple-ergonomics-beautifully-done𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:• YouTube: https://youtu.be/6WaeGfLnRvc• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/amazon-vp-reveals-everything-hes𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:00:00 - Intro2:33 - Empire Building31:54 - Stealing scope44:03 - Managing out via reorgs51:01 - Bad managers and mutiny01:01:43 - Political messaging01:11:48 - Handling politically skilled operators01:20:01 - Orgs trying to steal scope01:30:26 - Handling difficult people from other orgs01:36:19 - Handling weak managers01:46:30 - Backchanneling01:52:04 - Influence without authority01:58:04 - Sexual harassment 02:00:49 - Skip overruling firing02:05:39 - How to fire managers02:11:31 - Leverage when people are getting fired02:24:01 - How to grow past senior eng02:43:01 - How to avoid politics02:48:15 - Advice for younger self02:49:51 - Outro𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗘𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻:• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethanevansvp/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/EthanEvansVP• Newsletter: https://levelupwithethanevans.substack.com/• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-BAdkBGjOIlccGLZ3jbLiA𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻:• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman