The tl;dr is that 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 and 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡 are two different things." - straight to the point. Growth is something which is owned by individuals - you own your own career (aka growth) and must be supported by your manager/company.

What often is missing is recognition and incentive to grow within a level without the necessary target of a future promotion. This creates then a promotion culture in which individual and managers alike are incentivized to promotion as 1st class citizen. Growth should be 1st class citizen while promotion is a possible effect.

“By design, the innovation funnel leads to survival of the safest ideas.”

Yes been there and seen that. Not only in Germany where we are unfortunate very famous for that 😉.

Two thoughts on that:

1. Spending more time in ideation and evaluation can make a huge different. Mechanisms like Amazon’s working backwards can bring a lot of understanding already in those early phases of the funnel. Managing risks. Tom, +1 on the power of diverse teams!

✨ “It has never been a better time to be excited about the future.”

🔍 I missed this interview back in October last year when Jeff Bezos compared today’s AI boom to the internet bubble of the 2000s at Italian Tech Week 2025 [1]. He warned of hype but insisted AI is “real” and will transform every industry. In the interview, he explained why industrial bubbles can benefit society and predicted that AI will raise both productivity and quality worldwide.

But the most important thing I’ve learned is that trying to create for an algorithm ultimately takes away from creating for actual people." - absolutely agree.

Also, once you stopped creating for your people, your content is valueless. You might still make some “impressions” and maybe some money, but you die with the platform which becomes useless to most over time.

So, I would argue a better long term strategy is to build your audience around true content and then see which platform suits best at any point in time.

I find this very insightful.

I remember my early days at my current company. Coming from roles with relative high degree of freedom but embedded in “ask for approval” culture, it was hard for me to understand that I can do most of the things just based on my own judgement. No approval needed.

Another tool we use at Amazon to assist in making high-quality, high velocity decisions is a mental model we call one-way and two-way doors. A one-way door decision is one that has significant and often irrevocable consequences—building a fulfillment or data center is an example of a decision that requires a lot of capital expenditure, planning, resources, and thus requires deep and careful analysis. A two-way door decision, on the other hand, is one that has limited and reversible consequences: A/B testing a feature on a site detail page or a mobile app is a basic but elegant example of a reversible decision.

This is a great start into the week. Creates some fast smiles and than some more serious afterthoughts.

I absolutely agree that working backwards from real customer needs must be guiding product design. Not featuritis or Buzzword Compliance. No smart for the smart product label.

I also love technology which ease my life. I don’t mind a smart environment. The thing is - and I’m addressing my fellow technologists here - we need to make sure that we design those systems in reliable fashion.

Totally agree with Manuel‘s view. Indeed AI adoption, not unlikely to other tech transformations, is mostly a people& process thing and way less a technical challenge.

One addendum to the important point that AI adaption can not be just a top down decision, but employees need to be part of the journey:

This is where leadership can shine. Being the guide, onboard employees to the journey, give them space to learn, right tools in their hands, address fears and guide employees on the journey.

🏄 “You can’t stop the waves from coming, but you can learn to surf.” - Jon Kabat-Zinn

💡 This is a very universal and powerful quote. Even more so, how Stephanie thinks about applying it to the disruption of the publishing business is facing by AI Agents.

“Meet the customers where they are” - is indeed the driving force. Working backwards from the customers is a powerful mechansim to get your priorities right.