The fact that Jeff is thinking about this as Amazon gets more dominant is a really good sign. I've long urged companies to make "Create more value than you capture" their watchword, because it seems to me that building a healthy ecosystem in which everyone - employees, customers, suppliers, partners, and even competitors - can flourish is key to the positive impact that capitalism can have on society as a whole. "Capturing all the value only for the company is not cool."
In particular, I liked that one of the principles that Jeff distilled was this one: The ideal ecosystem is one where everyone flourishes, not where one company flourishes at the expense of all the others.īut I got a lot of hope from reading about Jeff's "Amazon.love memo" (Chapter 10, page 317-318), in which he analyzed why some big and powerful companies are hated, while others continue to engender love from not only their customers but their entire ecosystem. Sometimes that is true, when suppliers are inefficient or exploitive of their customers, but in other cases, squeezing all the profit out of suppliers' businesses is enormously short sighted. The book's account of Amazon's sometimes brutal interactions with companies that it wanted to acquire, like Quidsi, the company behind (page 298), and suppliers like German knife-maker Wusthof (page 300 and ff) makes clear that Amazon hasn't fully learned that lesson, and seems to believe that as long as customers benefit, it's ok to hurt suppliers. I have also worried that focus on the customer isn't enough - that companies that become as powerful as Amazon also need to understand the complete ecosystem in which they operate. But the book makes clear again and again how it really is a touchstone for Jeff. While I have always believed that focus to be sincere, I have also always worried that it would fade as the company became dominant, as is so often the case. The book also really helped me see how deep Jeff's focus on the customer is. in government) had equal clarity and determination. I wish that some other leaders I know (e.g.
And some of the changes that Jeff had to make to the company direction required enormous determination and force of will.
But I also know just how hard it is to get thousands of people moving in the same direction without ruffling any feathers. There are a lot of stories of how forceful, even abrasive, he sometimes is with subordinates - and I imagine that can be unpleasant. The book also underplays Jeff's humanity, humor, and kindness. It makes clear just how freshly he responded to the challenges of growing his business, relying on some uncompromising principles but also adapting them so that, as long-time Amazon employee Rick Dalzell described, he always engaged his decision-making around "the best truth at the time." (Chapter 9, page 267) His intense curiosity is one of the most striking things about him. One of the things the book gets across is what a great learner Jeff is. But the fact remains that Jeff is one of the most important and successful entrepreneurs of our time.)īecause of my admiration and liking for Jeff, I was a bit dismayed to see the book position me as an "adversary." While in some ways I am a competitor to Amazon, I think of myself more as a partner and friend than any kind of adversary! And while Jeff and I have occasionally butted heads, first about the 1-click patent back in 2000 (a conflict that ended up with us as friends), and later about some of Amazon's overly aggressive business tactics towards suppliers (described in chapter 10 of the book), and about the use of a proprietary DRM'd ebook format rather than open standards for the Kindle, I have always been a huge fan. (OK, since then, Elon Musk has shown signs of pulling off the same ambition. He's been the misunderstood underdog who came out on top because of vision, passion, and persistence." He's the only other tech entrepreneur I know who has transformed multiple industries, and shown the ability to work his magic not once but many times. To be sure, it is incomplete and doubtless has many inaccuracies, but it gives insight into the mind of a remarkable man and the company he has built - a company with profound influence on the present and future shape of our society.Īfter Steve Jobs died, everyone was saying "Will we ever see his like again?" I would always respond, "What do you mean? He's already here, and his name is Jeff Bezos. In fact, it increased my admiration for Jeff and what he and his team have accomplished. I didn't find that to be the case at all. I had heard scuttlebutt that the book was hostile to Amazon.
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