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Former Amazon VP shares the brutal reality about promotions: Pushy people win

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When it comes to getting ahead in the office, a retired Amazon vice president has some words of wisdom: Closed mouths don’t get fed.

“There is some truth to the old saying, ‘the squeaky wheel gets the grease,'” Ethan Evans told “The Peterman Pod” in an episode released on Tuesday. “This is another harsh truth people don’t like.”

Evans said two employees could have roughly the same performance, but the one who doesn’t vocalize their needs or intentions could get lost in the shuffle of company reorgs.

“It’s not that I mean to screw you. I’m focused on saving this other person, and I know you’ll put up with it,” he said. “You can end up behind just because you’re such a nice guy.”

That doesn’t mean people should be jerks, Evans said. Rather, employees need to advocate for themselves and their careers because “pushy people get more.”

Amazon has gone through multiple rounds of layoffs so far this year. It cut 16,000 employees in January as it sought to become the “world’s largest startup,” according to an internal memo. It also made cuts to its robotic division earlier this month.

“What’s inevitable is I have some people who have been more vocal about what they want in their career than others,” Evans said. “Perhaps I’m arranging the reorg just because I know what some people want and I don’t know what others want, so I assume they’ll be fine. That’s the most benign version.”

In a follow-up statement, Evans told Business Insider that people shouldn’t rely on the “work hard and hope to be noticed” career strategy.

“It begins with simply making your career desires known. Then the next step is reasonably sharing your work, so that it gets noticed. That does not need to mean bragging. It can mean sharing a weekly status report with your boss and key stakeholders simply so that they are aware of your work,” Evans said. “The difference is, though, rather than ‘hoping to be noticed’ you are doing something about it.”

Evans has previously shared career tips with Business Insider, including how to upgrade a résumé and lessons he learned from working under CEO Jeff Bezos. He retired from Amazon in 2020.




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When my daughter was diagnosed with autism at age 2, I never imagined she’d own a business and be a reality TV star

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This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Christine Romeo, mother of “Love on the Spectrum” star Abbey Romeo. It has been edited for length and clarity.

Sometimes I look at pictures of my daughter Abbey when she was 3 or 4. She was just so, so cute. But I think — was I present for that? Did I enjoy that time, or was I too obsessed with therapies and my worries about her future?

It’s normal for anyone, especially parents, to fret about the future, but for parents of kids with disabilities, those worries can be overwhelming.

Abbey is now 27. When she was diagnosed with autism 25 years ago, I couldn’t have imagined that Abbey would be running two small businesses or appearing on reality TV. But along the way, we both learned to think outside the box, and that’s helped Abbey grow so much.

I put Abbey in a vocational program in 8th grade

Abbey went to one of the best schools for autism. She had moderate setbacks, but her curriculum was still focused on academics. She was learning what typical kids were, like tectonic plates and world history, just at a slower pace.


Abbey Romeo

Christine Romeo moved her daughter, Abbey, to a program that would teach her life skills.

Courtesy of Christine Romeo



I could see that wasn’t what she needed. It’s not helpful to learn Western Civilization if you can’t remember what you did yesterday. I would rather Abbey focus on life skills that could help her cope with her autism, like visual clues to help her access her short-term memory.

When Abbey was in eighth grade, I switched her to a vocational program that focused on job and life skills. I had to set my ego aside and do what was right for Abbey. She didn’t need a high school diploma — she needed skills to help her live her life.

I realized as a parent you don’t get to order who your child is

There were moments throughout Abbey’s schooling when I knew I had made the right decision. One time, the teacher sent me a picture of Abbey rewiring a light. I was blown away.

Another was when I came in to see Abbey weaving in the textile program. She was operating this big machine with foot pedals and a large swatch of fabric, and it was regulating her. I had to leave the room, because I was crying.

With Abbey and her brother, who’s a year younger, I realized that as a parent, you don’t always get what you order. I’m determined to help both of them be who they are and be as successful as they’re meant to be.

Entrepreneurs inspired me to not take no for an answer

Abbey excelled at weaving, and I realized selling her creations could be a job. I believe it’s important for everyone to have a sense of purpose, and Abbey had expressed that she wanted a “real job.”

I spoke with her school about creating a program to allow kids to sell their art and crafts. The teacher loved the idea, but the principal didn’t. When he said no, I thought about one of my favorite shows, Shark Tank, and how entrepreneurs don’t take no for an answer. I was determined to find a solution for Abbey, even when the system said there wasn’t one.


Abbey Romeo making a hat

Abbey Romeo runs her own hat-making business.

Courtesy of Christine Romeo



The teacher ended up coming to our home on Saturdays to teach Abbey advanced weaving. Soon, her business, Hats by Abbey, was born. She also has another business shredding people’s paperwork, which they pay for by the bag.

Using cash helped Abbey learn about money

Today, Abbey has control over her days. She often makes hats from 9 to 12, then walks the dog before her voice lesson. She has the sense of purpose that we all need.

For a while, it was difficult for Abbey to connect with the idea of money. I found it helped when she could see cash. I started putting cash in her money box, and if she wanted to order something online, she had to give me the bills.


Abbey Romeo

Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Netflix



The first thing Abbey ordered with her profits was a $160 stuffed lion. It challenged every fiber of my being to let her order that, but she had earned the money, and she got to decide how to spend it. Seeing the glee on her face when she opened the box was worth every obstacle we’ve had to jump over.

Abbey continues to grow so much. I’ve created opportunities, and she’s taken them. It’s been the most beautiful, amazing experience.




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Meta plans layoffs in its Reality Labs unit

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  • Meta plans layoffs in Reality Labs, affecting the teams behind VR headsets and Horizon Worlds.
  • The restructuring follows major financial losses and a strategic shift toward AI.
  • Reality Labs faces uncertainty as Meta leadership emphasizes 2025 as a decisive year for the unit.

Meta is preparing layoffs in its Reality Labs division, according to three people familiar with the matter who spoke with Business Insider.

The teams working on the company’s virtual reality headsets and Horizon Worlds, its VR-based social network, will be disproportionately affected, two employees said.

Roughly 10% to 15% of Reality Labs’ 15,000 employees are expected to be laid off, with the cuts set to be announced this week, The New York Times reported.

Meta declined to comment.

The move comes as Meta CTO and Reality Labs chief Andrew Bosworth has called a key division-wide meeting for Wednesday, describing it as the “most important” of the year and urging employees to show up in person, Business Insider previously reported.

Reality Labs has been a costly bet for Meta, racking up more than $70 billion in losses since 2020. It has faced repeated rounds of cuts as Meta shifts its attention — and spending — toward AI.

In a memo obtained by Business Insider last year, Bosworth called 2025 “the most critical” year of his tenure and warned the outcome would determine whether Reality Labs is remembered as visionary work or “a legendary misadventure.”

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Meta’s Reality Labs chief is calling the ‘most important’ meeting of the year and says employees should show up in person

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Meta’s Chief Technology Officer and head of Reality Labs, Andrew Bosworth, has called an all-hands meeting for January 14, describing it as the “most important” of the year.

Bosworth is also strongly recommending that Reality Labs employees attend the division’s meeting in person, two Meta employees told Business Insider.

The emphasis on in-person attendance is unusual for the division, which oversees the company’s wearables, virtual and augmented reality initiatives, and a nascent robotics unit, these employees said. Some managers have told employees to “drop what they’re doing” to attend the all-hands in person, one employee told Business Insider.

Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the meeting.

While the division has seen some success, such as its Ray-Ban smart glasses, Reality Labs has been a costly venture for Meta, incurring losses of more than $70 billion since 2020.

Last year, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg shifted the company’s strategic focus toward AI and away from the metaverse. In 2025, Meta invested $14.3 billion in Scale AI and hired its CEO, Alexandr Wang, as part of the major reset of the company’s AI efforts. Meta then embarked on a multibillion-dollar hiring spree, poaching top-tier AI researchers and engineers from rivals such as OpenAI and Google DeepMind.

Reality Labs has faced repeated rounds of cuts over the past year. In December, Business Insider reported that Meta was planning budget cuts up to 30% and considering job cuts in Reality Labs.

Last April, Meta laid off employees in Oculus Studios, its in-house gaming division, and the team behind Supernatural, the VR fitness app Meta acquired for over $400 million. Those cuts followed Meta’s broader January 2025 layoffs that eliminated nearly 4,000 roles companywide, with at least 560 affecting Reality Labs employees.

In a memo obtained by Business Insider earlier last year, Bosworth referred to 2025 as “the most critical” year in his eight-year tenure at Reality Labs.

“This year likely determines whether this entire effort will go down as the work of visionaries or a legendary misadventure,” he wrote.

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Meta delays release of new mixed reality glasses code-named ‘Phoenix’ in order to ‘get the details right’

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Meta is delaying the release of new mixed reality glasses code-named “Phoenix.”

The company planned to release the new device in the second half of 2026, but it is pushing back its timeline to the first half of 2027, Maher Saba, VP of Reality Labs Foundation, wrote in a Thursday memo to employees, which was seen by Business Insider.

In a separate memo, also viewed by Business Insider, metaverse leaders Gabriel Aul and Ryan Cairns said moving the release date back is “going to give us a lot more breathing room to get the details right.”

They added, “There’s a lot coming in hot with tight bring-up schedules and big changes to our core UX, and we won’t compromise on landing a fully polished and reliable experience.”

Meta declined to comment.

The “Phoenix” mixed reality glasses, which were previously reported on by The Information, have a goggle-like form factor and are connected to a puck to help power them, according to two employees who have seen the device and spoke anonymously as they are not authorized to talk to the press.

The two employees said the model looks similar to Apple’s mixed reality glasses Vision Pro. There was some skepticism among leaders about the puck, but they chose to keep it to help keep the glasses lighter and more comfortable, and to prevent it from overheating, they said.

Saba said in the memo that at a recent meeting with CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Reality Labs (RL) leaders received feedback on their plans for 2026, which he said “focused on making the business sustainable and taking extra time to deliver our experiences with higher quality.”

“Based on that, many teams in RL will need to adjust their plans and timelines,” he added. “Extending timelines is not an opportunity for us to add more features or take on additional work.”

Meta also plans to release a new “limited edition” wearable device code-named “Malibu 2” in 2026, according to Saba.

Meta is starting work on its next-generation Quest device, a product that Aul and Cairns wrote will be focused on immersive gaming, and represent a “large upgrade” in capabilities from its existing devices, and “significantly improve unit economics.”

In October, Meta reorganized its metaverse unit and tapped Aul, who led products for Meta Horizon, and Cairns, who was previously in charge of virtual reality hardware, to co-lead its efforts, Business Insider previously reported. The company is now considering budget cuts of up to 30% within its Reality Labs division, which could impact employees working on its virtual spaces platform, Horizon Worlds.

The company has also expanded its AI hardware push by acquiring Limitless, a startup that makes AI-powered pendant devices, the company announced Friday.

Have a tip? Contact this reporter via email at jmann@businessinsider.com or Signal at jyotimann.11. Use a personal email address and a nonwork device; here’s our guide to sharing information securely.




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Meta hires longtime Apple design leader Alan Dye to run a new Reality Labs creative studio

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Meta has hired longtime Apple design leader Alan Dye to run a new creative studio inside its Reality Labs division, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced in a series of posts on Threads on Tuesday.

“Today we’re establishing a new creative studio in Reality Labs led by Alan Dye, who has spent nearly 20 years leading design at Apple,” Zuckerberg wrote on Threads, saying the group will help define “the next generation of our products and experiences.”

Zuckerberg said the studio will bring together “design, fashion, and technology” and that Meta wants to “treat intelligence as a new design material and imagine what becomes possible when it is abundant, capable, and human-centered.”

The goal, he added, is to “elevate design within Meta” by assembling a team with “craft, creative vision, systems thinking, and deep experience building iconic products that bridge hardware and software.”

Dye will work alongside several high-profile design leaders. He will report to Meta’s chief technology officer and Reality Labs head Andrew Bosworth.

Dye is one of the most prominent figures in Apple’s modern design history. He has led Apple’s design studio since 2015 and has played a key role in shaping the company’s software and the look and feel of many of its devices, including the interfaces for products such as the Apple Watch, iPhone X, and Vision Pro headset.

Most recently, Dye was responsible for Liquid Glass, Apple’s new design across its devices that makes elements of the user interface look transparent.

His team has also worked on a slate of new smart home hardware, according to Bloomberg, which first reported his move to Meta.

Zuckerberg said that Dye will be joined by “another acclaimed design lead from Apple,” Billy Sorrentino, as well as Joshua To, who leads interface design across Reality Labs; industrial design lead Pete Bristol; and metaverse design and art teams led by Jason Rubin.

The CEO framed the move as part of Meta’s push into AI-powered devices such as smart glasses.

“We’re entering a new era where AI glasses and other devices will change how we connect with technology and each other,” Zuckerberg wrote.

While the potential is “enormous,” he said the new studio will focus on making every interaction “thoughtful, intuitive, and built to serve people.”

Earlier this year, Meta hired another Apple engineer, Ruoming Pang, to its new Superintelligence Labs organization. Pang led Apple’s AI models team.

Apple did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider. A Meta spokesperson pointed to Zuckerberg’s posts on Threads.

Have a tip? Contact Pranav Dixit via email at pranavdixit@protonmail.com or Signal at 1-408-905-9124. Use a personal email address, a nonwork WiFi network, and a nonwork device; here’s our guide to sharing information securely.




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