Meet Amazon’s 38-year old supply chain guru, helping CEO Andy Jassy navigate tariff chaos with a giant fleet of planes, trucks, and robots

When the Covid Epidem has lifted Amazon operations – and the whole world in 2020 – MADAN was assigned a decisive side task: to learn how to get hundreds of thousands of masks from abroad for Amazon warehouse workers, and to help obtain the Earth’s Earth’s vaccine program.

At that time, Madan was a quick deputy in Amazon in the early thirties-one of the youngest hundreds of hundreds with the same title within the technology giant. But he still has any specific experience in what was assigned to him, especially amid a level of chaos he had not experienced before.

But as the Amazon colleagues learned, Madan has proven that he is a quick learner brilliantly. He discovered that.

This is one of the main features that explain the reason for the upcoming CEO of Amazon and Jassy to MADAN recently to MADAN recently to the company’s first vice president, and to the 11th level of the roaming level within the technology giant. It is also possible, according to a source, Gasi, who is personally busy, continues to register with MADAN in 2022 when the CEO of consumers around the world left Dave Clark Amazon – a surprising step that left many direct reports of Clark. (The source, like others mentioned in this article, is known luckBut he asked not to be identified for fear of revenge to speak frankly about Amazon’s internal actions).

Today, working as an official in the Amazon supply chain and supervising a global base for employees north of one million warehouse employees and logistics, Madan is once again required to organize the system amid chaos, as Whipsaw of the China Dance Dance threatened in China, Rail Amazon, with the movement of goods around the world. In addition to employees, MADAN finally supervises a fleet of tens of thousands of trucks, about 100 cargo aircraft, and 2000 warehouses in more than twenty countries-equipment with more than 750,000 promise robots. And when the shipments of “everything” from sneakers, sofas or sunlight are at risk, they are eventually a problem of solving them.

But in an interview with him recently luckMadan stressed that – and his teams – he was mainly trained for this day, thanks to the previous challenges of operating the company’s vast warehous network during the successive waves of the epidemic, the subsequent supply chain and shipping clips. Yes, chaos tariff requires repeated communication between the teams under the jurisdiction of Madan, but the supply chain leader feels that his division has now been built to preserve potential crises such as crises in the past two months.

“The past five years, as a team, helped us build a lot of flexibility in how we work,” told Madan luck In an interview, “We also pushed to invest in building more flexibility in our logistics network to deal with a little more inherent discipline that we see happening frequently.”

Madan was referring to the new truck and storage transport services launched by Amazon in recent years. One of them is Amazon Warehouse and distributing – or AWD – which allows Amazon vendors and sellers to store large amounts of stocks in the Amazon warehouses allocated for a fee, distribution of the technology giant and then distribute smaller goods for goods to different loyalty centers while meeting the demand for customers. (The service was a welcome alternative to some merchants who sell Amazon and do not want to manage their own warehouses or employ a third -party logistical company to run one for them. But AWD was also fire from some sellers who felt pressed to use it to avoid the new Amazon fees that they have to pay, just to choose through how to ride it during the last holiday season).

Madan said that both new truck transport and storage services were useful for Amazon, as the company helped some sellers and sellers with more stockpiles to the United States before some of the new customs tariffs arrived.

Engineer with a talent to see about the corners

Madan grew up in Hyderabad, India, before joining the secondary school in New Delhi, and finally moved to the United States to attend the University of Texas in Austin. Nevertheless, at one time, as he becomes a doctor, then later flirting with the idea of ​​the investment bank profession, MADAN joined Amazon as a software engineer in 2008 after graduating with certificates in computer science and economics. By 22 years, he was promoted to the manager, and will soon continue to manage large technology institutions for new “Last Mile” connectivity companies from Amazon-Samazon Flex, which are implemented by the daily party workers, and in the end the new DSP service network, consisting of small and medium-sized delivery companies often delegated exclusively to connect Amazon.

“[W]”I had the opportunity after the opportunity to seize more, and to be able to extend myself,” Madan said that this was not that I was twenty -two years old when I entered the administration for the first time. Nothing of this. Everything was about what I was able to do. “

One of Madan’s former colleagues said that he has emerged among his peers for his ability to delve into detail, while also expanding his view to understand more comprehensive strategies and commercial effects – a distinctive feature of many successful Amazon leaders.

The source said: “It was impressive for me that someone had a basic engineering background that was able to search for financial analysis, but he also looks at the corners and has a very important feeling of the existence of the competitive scene.”

By 2017, it will be used for a desirable role known as a technical advisor or “shadow” – in practice, for Amazon operations all over the supply chain around the world, Dave Clark. Many former executives who spoke with them luck He referred to this role as a turning point for Medan. During the era of Clark, Maddan became a “monitor and deep thinker” more than himself speaking to the explicit pronunciation, according to the former Vice President of Amazon, who interacted regularly with Madan during that time.

“A completely different executive director has emerged,” said another former leader, after a year learning during the era of Clark.

The former Amazon said: “Every second he absorbed the guidance and leadership of Dave.”

While Madan did not release the role of “shadow” for one year more important than others in his development as a leader in Amazon, he told him luck This provides a “more focused” period of time “where you can get more diverse views to inform you and give you an opportunity to interact with a more diverse group than really powerful individuals.”

Over the past six years, Madan has gained more responsibility. In 2019, he was raised to the Vice President – a major executive role in Amazon while more might be the middle management in other companies. After that, in late 2022, Andy Jaci, CEO of Amazon Madan, added to “S-Team”, which consists of 29 senior Amazon leaders, who meet with the CEO often weekly to consult everything from decisive launch and urgent crises to discuss the long-term strategy and progress in the long run.

Earlier this year, Madan was upgraded again to the first vice president – one of only 18 in the company. When it was announced internally, Madan said that he told his team that it was a recognition of all their customer service and improving work, whether by improving delivery speeds or expanding the company’s scope to customers who live in more rural areas.

Madan, who wears a shirt for buttons, encountered as elegant but guarding him, in a video interview with luck.

If there is an area where some of the former senior colleagues hope to improve Madan, this is EQ or “emotional intelligence”. While former colleagues testify that Madan was far from a loose cannon or screaming as a manager, they sometimes recalled him struggling to communicate with employees on a personal level. In one case in late 2010, after his “shadow” role, a new delivery team took over early in the new year. The team, according to a former executive director, was often launched from the successful holiday season, and Madan could have arisen with its own new direct reports, at least in recognition of this success. Instead, he went in the other direction, as he mobilized them with a group of failures that he believed was responsible for.

This is not necessarily uncommon at Amazon – says GMYY to TOP leaders because of the intelligence more than EQ, says the previous perceptions. After that, when they start overseeing a difference of thousands or hundreds of thousands, the development of EQ is more localized.

For Madan himself, the CEO said he was still learning in many areas, “and I think this will be true for a very long time.”

But he added, “I hope almost every dimension [that] I am at least a little better than I was when I started here. “

As a global trade war continues, he must have a lot of opportunities to show his progress.

Are you a current employee in Amazon who have ideas on this topic or advice to share it? Call Jason Del Rey in jason.delrey@fortune.com, jasonrey@protonMail.comOr through a signal of messaging and WhatsApp applications in 917-655-4267. You can also contact it On LinkedIn Or in Delrey on x, Jdelrey On topics, on Bluezki.

This story was originally shown on Fortune.com

Don’t miss more hot News like this! Click here to discover the latest in Business news!

2025-05-20 12:17:00