That subtle feeling that your job just isn’t inspiring you anymore may be trying to tell you something. According to Colleen Aubrey, Amazon Web Services’ senior vice president of applied AI solutions, that feeling could mean it’s time to make a change.
Aubrey knows what it takes to stay challenged and fulfilled. After more than two decades at Amazon where she built the company’s advertising business and now serves on its exclusive S-Team she has experienced constant reinvention. “Pretty much every six months, something significant changes,” she said, describing Amazon’s culture of continuous evolution. “We have a new product idea; there’s a new problem to go after; there’s a new customer to get to understand.” That perpetual motion, she explained, is why she’s stayed at Amazon so long it keeps the work exciting.
For professionals wondering whether they’re in the right place or ready for a new chapter, Aubrey says there are three fundamental questions to ask. These, she believes, can help anyone gauge whether their role is still helping them grow or holding them back.
The first sign it might be time to move on is the wrong boss. Aubrey says it all starts with leadership. “Are you working for a leader that you respect, that you’re inspired by, that you’re learning from and vice versa?” she asked. Great managers, she added, are more than supervisors; they’re enablers who provide resources, make tough decisions, and advocate for their teams. When that relationship isn’t built on mutual trust and respect, dissatisfaction tends to follow. “Sometimes people end up with a manager who isn’t the right match, even if they’re trying their best,” she said. “You can choose to live through it and be dissatisfied. I think that’s challenging.”
The second key factor is the right team. Over her two decades at Amazon, Aubrey has worked with teams of all shapes and sizes, and she believes the people around you play a crucial role in your engagement and development. “Are they challenging you, or is it a creative and innovative environment that works for you?” she said. The best teams, in her view, foster learning, innovation, and mutual support. Amazon’s famous “two-pizza team” concept meaning a team should be small enough to be fed by two pizzas reflects that philosophy. Ideally, those six-to-eight-person groups own their projects from start to finish, which encourages accountability and innovation.
If you’re not learning from your teammates or you feel stifled instead of inspired, it might be time to rethink your environment. A supportive, idea-driven team can reignite motivation, while the wrong one can make even exciting work feel stagnant.
Finally, Aubrey says you need to evaluate the right part of the business. She emphasizes the importance of knowing what kind of challenges and growth environment excite you. “It’s important to think through what is the type of product and business and problem that you like solving,” she said. Some people thrive in established divisions with predictable systems, while others prefer the chaos and creativity of new ventures.
She gave the example of a colleague who loved working in Amazon’s retail division a complex, fast-paced area focused on optimizing costs and supply chains. For him, that constant problem-solving was the reward. Aubrey, by contrast, is drawn to what she calls “X-factor growth”: building something new from the ground up. “I like the blank sheet of paper,” she said. That passion for experimentation has fueled her career, helping her stay energized even after two decades in one of the world’s most demanding companies.
For professionals everywhere, Aubrey’s framework offers a clear roadmap for reflection. If your boss doesn’t inspire you, your team doesn’t push you to grow, or your current part of the business no longer excites you, those are signs it might be time to look elsewhere. Change, she says, isn’t something to fear it’s the very thing that can make work meaningful again.
Her advice distills into a simple truth: when you’re in the right environment, work feels invigorating, not exhausting. And when that balance fades, the best move might be to listen to that inner voice urging you toward something new.
