You work harder than half your team. You deliver results. But somehow, the person who talks a good game in meetings just got promoted ahead of you. Here's the truth: hard work doesn't get you promoted. Visibility, advocacy, and understanding the game do. Ethan Evans is a retired Amazon VP who spent over 15 years building billion dollar businesses inside one of the most demanding companies on earth. He went from getting fired twice early in his career to running Prime Video, Twitch sponsorships, the Amazon Appstore, and a t-shirt printing business that now does over a billion dollars a year. He worked directly with Jeff Bezos, survived public failures, learned how to navigate corporate politics without losing his soul, and retired early to teach others how to do the same. In this episode, you'll learn: * The magic loop: how to turn your boss into your biggest advocate by making them successful first * Why invisible performers lose to visible performers every time and how a weekly status report changes everything * The exact script to ask for a raise that gets results without threatening to quit * Good boss versus bad boss: why consistency beats likability and how to tell the difference in an interview * How to give difficult feedback that actually lands: professionally firm, personally warm * The career killers nobody talks about Jeff Bezos's philosophy: strategically patient, tactically impatient, and why Amazon banned PowerPoint for six page narratives ___________ (00:00:00) Introduction: Why Half Your Talent Wins and You Don't (00:00:56) Corporate Politics: The Game You Didn't Know You Were Playing (00:08:28) The Magic Loop: Turn Your Boss Into Your Biggest Advocate (00:27:20) Invisible vs Visible Performers: Why Hard Work Isn't Enough (00:16:30) How to Actually Ask for a Raise and Get It (00:06:13) Good Boss vs Bad Boss: Consistency Over Likability (00:42:42) Giving Difficult Feedback: Professionally Firm, Personally Warm (00:51:28) Career Killers: Betrayal, Gossip, and Breaking Trust (01:04:51) Jeff Bezos: Strategically Patient, Tactically Impatient (01:11:05) The Six-Page Narrative: Why Amazon Banned PowerPoint (01:18:06) Building Billion-Dollar Businesses: Prime Video to T-Shirt Printing (00:58:22) Burnout Is About Vision Loss, Not Hard Work (01:24:48) Hiring A Players: The Reference Check Hack Nobody Uses (01:32:28) Final Advice: Know What You Want and Make the Deal ___________ MORE FROM BIGDEAL 🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@podcastbigdeal [https://www.youtube.com/@podcastbigdeal] 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bigdeal.podcast [https://www.instagram.com/bigdeal.podcast] 📽️ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@big.deal.pod [https://www.tiktok.com/@big.deal.pod] MORE FROM CODIE SANCHEZ 🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@codiesanchezct [https://www.youtube.com/@codiesanchezct] 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/codiesanchez [https://www.instagram.com/codiesanchez] 📽️ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@realcodiesanchez [https://www.tiktok.com/@realcodiesanchez] OTHER THINGS WE DO 🌐 Our community: https://contrarianthinking.typeform.com/to/WBztXXID [https://contrarianthinking.typeform.com/to/WBztXXID] 📰 Free newsletter: https://contrarianthinking.biz/3XWLlZp [https://contrarianthinking.biz/3XWLlZp] 📚 Biz buying course: https://contrarianthinking.biz/3NhjGgN [https://contrarianthinking.biz/3NhjGgN] 🏠 Resibrands: https://resibrands.com/ [https://resibrands.com/] 💰 CT Capital: https://contrarianthinking.biz/4eRyGOk [https://contrarianthinking.biz/4eRyGOk] 🏦 Main St Hold Co: https://contrarianthinking.biz/3YfGa8u [https://contrarianthinking.biz/3YfGa8u] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]