TL;DR: The Everything Store by Brad Stone
What is amazing to me is that he is bound only by the laws of physics. He can’t change those. Everything else he views as open to discussion.
This is part of my series on summaries of my book list.
On PowerPoint
“PowerPoint is a very imprecise communication mechanism. It is fantastically easy to hide between bullet points. You are never forced to express your thoughts completely.” — Jeff Holden, Amazon.
Bezos had his staff write 6-page narratives instead of using crutches like Excel and PowerPoint. Whenever a new feature was proposed, the product head was forced to think about what the press release would say and work backwards.
If someone couldn’t articulate to the public what the feature is, it’s probably not well thought out.
On Competition
When Amazon wanted to get into the jewelry game, they learned from their mistakes from their botched toy seasons. Amazon was good at logistics, but terrible at picking the actual SKUs that people would like.
“That was something we did quite well. If you don’t know anything about the business, launch it through the Marketplace, bring retailers in, watch what they do and what they sell, understand it, and then get into it.” — Randy Miller, Amazon
On Truth
“Jeff does a couple of things better than anyone I’ve ever worked for. He embraces the truth. A lot of people talk about the truth, but they don’t engage their decision-making around the best truth at the time. The second thing is that he is not tethered by conventional thinking. What is amazing to me is that he is bound only by the laws of physics. He can’t change those. Everything else he views as open to discussion.” — Rick Dalzell, Amazon
On Efficiency
Bezos had a rule for group meetings. Team size would be limited to however many people two pizzas would feed.
On Customer Service
To Bezos, customers came first.
In every team meeting, he left a seat open, representing the customer, which reminded everybody about the missing voice in the room.
Everybody is free to email Bezos directly at Jeff@amazon.com. Emails that had customer complaints, even if it was one issue for one person, got forwarded to the relevant department head immediately.
Email marketing was a huge initiative for Amazon. Resurrecting abandoned carts minutes or hours after a customer leaves the site saved hundreds of millions of dollars a year.
A customer was browsing personal hygiene items, but didn’t add to her cart or purchase. Minutes later, an email went out. Embarrassed, the customer emailed Jeff. He was so livid about this experience, that he threatened to shut down the entire program, potentially sacrificing a large chunk of revenue.
Have Backbone: Disagree and Commit
Leaders are obligated to respectfully challenge decisions when they disagree, even when doing so is uncomfortable or exhausting. Leaders have conviction and are tenacious. They do not compromise for the sake of social cohesion. Once a decision is determined, they commit wholly.
Jeff’s Reading List
The Remains of the Day — Kazuo Ishiguro
Sam Walton: Made in America — Sam Walton
Memos from the Chairman — Alan Greenberg
The Mythical Man-Month — Frederick P. Brooks Jr.
Built to Last: Successul Habits of Visionary Companies — Jim Collins, Jerry I. Porras
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…and Others Don’t — Jim Collins
Creation: Life and How to Make It — Steve Grand
The Innovator’s Dilemma: The Revolutionary Book That Will Change the Way You Do Business — Clayton Christensen
The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement — Eliyahu Goldratt, Jeff Cox
Lean Thinking: Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation — James P. Womack, Daniel T. Jones
Data-Driven Marketing: The 15 Metrics Everyone in Marketing Should Know — Mark Jeffery
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable — Nassim Nicholas Taleb
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