Ex-Amazon VP Recalls How He Handled Top Engineers Who Had A Spat

Last Updated:March 05, 2025, 18:02 IST

Former Amazon Vice President Ethan Evans explained that such conflicts could either be signs of a toxic work environment or simply a sign of passion and motivation.

Ethan Evans has worked for 15 years at Amazon.

A former Amazon vice president recently shared an intense workplace incident where two top engineers got into a heated argument that “ended in tears.” Ethan Evans, who spent 15 years at the company, revealed in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that he had to step in and mediate the situation. Evans explained that such conflicts could either be signs of a toxic work environment or simply a sign of passion and motivation.

“At Amazon, two of my top engineers had a shouting match that ended in tears. This could be a sign of a toxic workplace or a sign of passion and motivation. Whether it becomes toxic or not all comes down to how management deals with conflict,” he wrote.

He pointed to a Harvard study that categorises workplace conflicts into four types: “The Boxing Match: Two people within a team disagree, The Solo Dissenter: Conflict surrounds one individual, Warring Factions: Two subgroups within a team disagree and The Blame Game: The whole team is in disagreement.”

According to him, the conflict between the engineers was an example of “The Boxing Match.”

Evans further mentioned that engineers “were both passionate and dedicated to the project, but their visions were different.”

“This type of passion is a great driver for a healthy team, but if the conflict were to escalate it could quickly become toxic and counterproductive,” he added.

To defuse the situation, Evans brought them into a private mediation.

“This is where one of the engineers started to cry because he was so passionate about his vision for the project,” he shared.

Rather than shutting down the argument, Evans focused on making sure both individuals felt heard.

“The important elements of managing this conflict healthily and productively were: giving space for each of the engineers to explain their vision, mediating their discussion so that they could arrive at a productive conclusion and not killing either of their passion by making them feel unheard or misunderstood,” he explained.

Evans shared that the mediation worked and they “were able to arrive at a productive path forward with both engineers feeling heard and respected.”

“They both continued to be top performers,” Evans concluded.

Take a look at the post here:

In the comment section, one user commented, “It is worth noting that there are times when it doesn’t matter what you do. You have to deal with people who will never get along and mediation is not going to solve it. Reality is always more complicated.”

Meanwhile, a person with different perspective shared, “Wrong move. Fire the one that cried. Emotions should not be shown at the work place. Only polite platitudes.”

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