Invent & Wander – The Collected Writings of Jeff Bezos; notes from Introduction

 

Invent & Wander – The Collected Writings of Jeff Bezos; notes from Introduction

Notes from the Introduction - by Walter Isaacson

Isaacson’s 5 Observations:

1.       Focus on the long-term

a.       the ‘trifecta’ – customer interests, stake holder interests, business interest alignment takes time, resources and oversight

b.       time allows for innovations via scaled mini transformations… allows you room to fail to success

c.       be persistent and always move forward, little steps if need be

2.       Focus on your customer!!!

a.       Their needs and wants

b.       Listen to their ideas and recommendations… may lead to new markets… Amazon first started in books, but evolved into other products due to client requests

3.       Avoid PowerPoint and slide shows

a.       Pitch ideas via succinct readable narratives… no more than six pages

4.       Senior executives focus…

a.       on the big decisions; the “irrevocable” decisions.

b.       Making “a small number of high-quality decisions.”

c.       Delegate the remaining decisions

5.       “Hire the right people”

a.       They should be versatile and talented

b.       Ask yourself:

                                                               i.      Do you “admire the person”?

                                                             ii.      Will the person increase the group’s overall effectiveness?

                                                           iii.      Will this person be a stand-out, and how do they best contribute to the group?