The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon
Brad Stone · ★★★★★ · 384 pages · 2013
I wanted to read about what makes Amazon tick and Stone mentioned the following:
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Arguments are favored. The loudest ones win. No lets make and be friends, more brutal. My favorite Jeffism, stuff that Jeff Bezos says to his employees who don't give him his exact needs, is "Why are you wasting my life?"
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There is no work/life balance. You are basically there to achieve your best or you don't belong.
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Things are extremely frugal to maximize savings for the customers and also create their particular identity.
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The Art of War is made into a science when dealing with competitors that they want to sell to them cheaply or suppliers they want to get better deals from. "Lure them with bait, strike them with chaos" takes on a new meaning with Amazon.
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The underlying values of Amazon has not changed at Amazon since its founding. It is still focused on customers and making things cheap.
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There are always alternate ways to think about and approach a problem. Even if it means outspending your competitors or making them bleed while they compete with you.
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The customer comes first, company second, everyone else can bite the dust.
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Have small teams which have actionable goals which go and approach a problem. The entire company is nimble. But also lead by a sense of fear.
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Instead of presentations which do not foster critical thinking have a 6 page essay which describes what a product is supposed to do and why it should be implemented so that you can do some critical thinking on it. If it is a new product them also include a faux press release page so you know how the customer will perceive the product. Essentially, start from the customer and work backwards.
Overall a good read on the last 20 years of one of the modern tech behemoths. Also a good way to understand what makes it tick and run.