Episode · The Peterman Pod · 2026-03-30
Ryan Peterman & Ethan Evans: books mentioned on The Peterman Pod (Mar 2026)
Retired Amazon VP: How Corporate Politics Work And How To Win | Ethan Evans
Ethan Evans is a former VP at Amazon has seen pretty much every possible type of corporate politics. Now that he's retired, he could share everything he'd seen including stories about empire building, hidden politics, reorgs, senior promos and dealing with bad managers.
Ethan Evans recommended Leadership and Self-Deception by The Arbinger Institute and What Got You Here Won't Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith and others, and discussed So Good They Can't Ignore You by Cal Newport.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Leadership and Self-Deception
Recommended“I read a book I really love. I can share the book. It's called Leadership and Self-Deception. Uh and it's written by some research institute called The Arbinger Institute. But what makes this book so interesting and what it taught me is don't see the other person as an obstacle to what you want.”
Where to get it
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So Good They Can't Ignore You
Discussed“There's a famous book you I'm sure you know it uh by Cal Newport called So Good They Can't Ignore You. And what I find ironic about this is it's all this stuff about how to be such a good worker you can't be ignored. Except this is a guy who has the social skills to both teach at Princeton”
Where to get it
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What Got You Here Won't Get You There
Recommended“And uh there's a classic book on this. It's by a guy named Marshall Goldsmith. It's What Got You Here Won't Get You There. It literally shows a ladder with a gap in it. Like what got you this far isn't going to get you up there. Um that's kind of the classic book, but if you need specific advice”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (2) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
Passing Extreme Ownership
“Uh don't be a victim. You have agency. Uh if you prefer, you know, you can look at ownership, the book Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink, whatever. There's many ways to look at it, but in the end, you have to be willing to take control of your life.”
Passing So Good They Can't Ignore You
“So, you have to literally live up to Cal Newport in So Good They Can't Ignore You.”