Jan 19, 2024
Building the Amazon Everything Store
– Business Lessons from Jeff Bezos
- AZ TRT S05 EP02 (217) 1-14-2024
Things We Learned This Week:
- Customer Focus - Focus on internal product vs external & competition
- Decision Making – 70% Rule
- Think Long Term - withstand the pressure of $
- Meetings & 2 Pizza Rule for meetings size
- Manager Mindset - Focus on Outputs
- Disruption - Embrace Change & Experiment
- Regret Minimization - See your life at 70
Notes:
Lessons 1: Customer Focus / Obsession
Focus on internal product vs external & competition
Fear the customer as they are the ones that give you money. The competition does not give you money. If the product is good enough and easy to use, the customers will keep buying it.
Always Day 1 – do not get complacent, that’s what happen on Day 2, then death
Lesson 2: Decision Making – 70% Rule
If you have 70% of the info, you can decide. If you wait for 90% of the info, then you are too slow in business.
3 Good Decisions per day vs 100, inspired by consultant Peter Drucker, be effective
Lesson 3: Think Long Term
Think in terms of decades, not the next quarter. You need to able to experiment with process until you get it right. It took years (& lost $ revenue) to build the supply chain Amazon has that dominates the business landscape.
Amazon also lost $ on AWS, the Kindle, Prime for a while before turing a sustaining profit. Resist the pressure of investors looking for quick profit.
Lesson 4: Meetings & the 2 Pizza Rule
The meetings size should be no bigger than how people can be fed with 2 pizzas. If bigger than that, too many people in the meeting and chaos happens.
Avoid power-points, as they are a summary of info and can be confusing.
Take a moment to start the meeting with everyone reviewing a detailed memo of what the meeting will be about. Clarity to make the meeting count.
Lesson 5: Manager Mindset
Think in terms of outputs. If you work 3 hours (smart) but get your objective done, it is a good day.
The Worker Mindset is to think in terms of effort (work hard) for 8 hours. It is based on how much you work vs production.
Lesson 6: Disruption – Embrace Change
Be willing to disrupt divisions in your own business to make progress and create new better products.
Amazon moved forward with the Kindle E Reader, despite the fact it would hurt their hardcover book selling division.
Lesson 7: Regret Minimization
What do you want your career (life) to look like at 70? Make decisions today based on following work passions. If it does not work out, then shift to the next thing.
Bonus – Bezos 3 Book Recs for his Executives – From FS Blog
Link: Book Recommendations
Jeff Bezos Had His Top Execs Read These Three Books
In an interview that aired on CNBC1, Jeff Bezos shared some of the details about books that he’s shared with Amazon’s top executives. These books, it turns out, are frameworks for shaping the future of the company.
Here they are:
1. The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker
2. The Innovator’s Solution by Clayton Christensen (Interestingly, the only business book Steve Jobs ever liked was The Innovator’s Dilemma, by the same author.)
3. The Goal by Eliyahu Goldratt
Bezos is not the only one to nudge execs to read. Tim Cook, CEO at Apple, gives copies of Competing Against Time: How Time-Based Competition is Reshaping Global Markets to his colleagues.
Reference Info on Amazon / Jeff Bezos:
Lessons Learned – “The Everything Store” by Brad Stone
Link: HERE
10 Things I Learned Reading Brad Stone’s The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon
FS Blog: HERE
3 Effective Meeting Rules Of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos
Link: HERE
The Secret Business lessons from Amazon's Jeff Bezos
Video Link YT: HERE
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