holds.” Inside Retail: Tell me about your career journey? Shermaine Chan: I joined Amazon Singapore about two years ago. This was my very first job after I graduated from university. At 25 years old, I am one of the youngest area managers in our two fulfilment centres (FC) in Singapore.  I run a team of 16 inbound department associates whose work is to unload and unpack pallets and boxes which we receive from local and overseas sellers and manufacturers.  My team will check and scan each item to ensure it is registered as in stock in our FC and will stow the items into inventory racks, so these can be picked, packed and shipped by other teams when ordered by customers.  Our two FCs house hundreds of thousands of product units for sale on Amazon.sg, including small-to-medium items like health, household and personal care products, consumer electronics, books, clothing, and pantry supplies as well as larger items like flat-screen TVs, cartons of soft drink or nappies. IR:  How did you get into this industry? SC: I studied chemical engineering in university for four years but I quickly realised that it was not something I wanted to pursue in the long term.  When I started looking for my first job after graduating, I decided to look out for opportunities in other fields, being particularly drawn by multinationals because of the scale of their operations and the diverse learning opportunities.  The area manager job at Amazon was open to fresh graduates at the time and it got my attention because it was about logistics – a sector completely new to me.  I knew it was a job that would require people’s leadership skills, and I felt that it would bring me out of my comfort zone being born an introvert.  I knew I would need to manage people more experienced than me while getting familiar with a completely new process-oriented industry and I saw that as an exciting challenge.  IR: What does a typical day look like for you?  SC: My typical day starts with spending time pre-planning for the day’s shift and the task assignment for the associates on my team.  Every associate is on a different shift pattern and our workforce varies every day. Then I have a start-of-shift meeting with my team, where we confirm the manpower for the day, and that allows me to finalise my plan, in particular the volume of items that we will be able to process on the day.  There will be a flow meeting, where I communicate my plan for the day with my team leads so we are all on the same page. Throughout the day, I monitor the shift based on real-time information provided by our systems allowing me to make immediate corrective decisions if needed.  For example, in stowing, high space utilisation can impact the productivity of our associates so I will need to redeploy associates in other areas. Throughout the day, I also have one-on-ones with my associates. The frequency of these conversations varies according to the people involved, or the situations they are facing, these could be weekly or monthly sessions.  A big part of my role is to remove barriers for my team – for example, if a particular task is not suitable for an associate, and ensure that everything is smooth and safe for them. IR: What are some of the challenges you’ve faced in your career and how have you dealt with them?  SC: The start-of-shift meetings were tough for me when I started in this role because I had to speak to more experienced team members about topics that were entirely new to me – but not to them – such as workplace safety and quality policies, performance metrics while also addressing any issues they had with their task.  I prepared a lot and learned also from my peers and I think I was quite good at putting up a calm front! It gradually got easier as I kept learning and practising.  IR: What are some of your career highlights so far?  SC: I would say that every major shopping event like Prime Day is a highlight for me. There is a lot of pressure during peak periods because the volume of inbound products to process at the FC is higher than usual and needs to be done in a short amount of time.  Inbound is crucial because it is the start of the overall operations process – allowing other teams to pick, pack and ship products ordered by customers. If something goes wrong at inbound, it can quickly have ripple effects on all our operations.  IR: What do you love about your job?  SC: What I love in my job is that I am empowered to try new things and come up with new ideas that will improve our operations and ultimately our customers’ experience. I’m able to initiate, complete projects and directly see the results they produce.  For example, we used to have drawer bins for inbound books but these were not configured for books, so books couldn’t stand upright in the bins and sometimes this resulted in them being damaged.  So, I worked with procurement, workplace safety, and engineering teams to redeploy underutilised bookshelves from another Amazon site, and identified an area in the fulfilment centre where we could install one whole lane of these shelves. This new form of storage helped with productivity, and also better preserved the quality of the books. IR: What advice would you give to someone who wants to move up the corporate ladder? SC: Career growth is an ongoing discussion, it is something that you need to carefully prepare over time. This is why I always make the most of my regular 1:1 meetings with my manager. In addition to work updates, I try to prepare questions or topics that will be linked to my career goals, so that my manager can give me relevant advice and support me through this process. I want to grow at Amazon by gaining experience in Amazon’s various business lines and this needs preparation.  IR: What are some of the key leadership lessons you’ve picked up over the course of your career?  SC: This role allows me to think and act quickly. Amazon has a Leadership Principle that touches on this, called Bias for Action. This basically means that many decisions and actions are reversible and do not need extensive study, so taking calculated risks is okay, especially if that gives you the advantage of speed. If I deem that something needs urgent action, I can actually go ahead with a decision without the direct approval of my managers, because they trust us to do the right thing. I can always update them and get their feedback later on, and there will still be space to course-correct or change our minds.  IR: Do you have any hobbies that help you switch off and stay balanced? SC: I started bouldering around the time I started working at Amazon. Bouldering is like rock-climbing, but with shorter walls, and we don’t use harnesses. That’s one hobby that keeps my mind off work.  I can really fully enjoy myself when I’m doing that because it requires 100 per cent focus. It’s an intense full-body workout that requires visual pre-planning to determine which climbing route to take using finger, arm and leg strength to follow a line. It’s technical and fun. I do that at least once a week.