Few people at amazon will disagree with a superior based on a vague feeling. I, as a business intelligence engineer, had no excuse to disagree without substantial proof or evidence backing my disagreement. That never mattered. If you disagree with someone a level higher than you, you need to not only have perfect evidence, but also the backing of several people at that same higher level or higher.
For example, one time I disagreed with my director, who spent his entire career navigating by the seat of his pants. I was generally considered an expert in the subject, after having written several whitepapers that had become canonical reference amongst higher level leaders. That didn't matter, he never conceded the point and he treated me like shit until his boss told him he was wrong (which was after I transfered to a different org). This demonstrates this problem on two levels: he wouldn't tolerate any disagreement from me right up until the point where he realized that he was the one with the unapproved opinion.
I saw some people get bitten by it myself. Actually, all the leadership principles break down completely in day to day life at the company. They're broad enough that you can basically use them to justify anything you want, and the company is structured with the same military style pyramid as every other big company, so it's not like there's any recourse available to you if you see people above you engaging in counterproductive shenanigans.
But whatever, the stock shares I kept when I left keep going up, so I'm all right
