Jeff Bezos 14 Winning Principles
Written by: - Steve Anderson
Amazon is the fastest company in history to reach the sale 0f 100 billion dollars. And the man behind this is Jeff Bezos. The master of risk-taker. He is now the world’s richest person who started the journey by selling the books online and he reached to the sale of 100 billion dollars (equal to the Indian defence budget per year) with more than 6 lakh employees working in a company. Here, Bezos has provided the ‘hidden plain sight’ roadmap he has used to achieve the target. It can be followed by any business owners. Bezos always writes a letter to all his shareholders about the principles and the strategies he used to grow Amazon.
Amazon has set the 14 Leadership principles which are displayed in their main headquarters. These principles inspire every employee and Amazonians working in the company. Principles are divided into 4 sections
Section1: -Testing.
· Encourage “Successful Failure’’.
Jeff Bezos is risk master and he promotes this attitude in the Amazon. Risk is always a thing that is not to be taken lightly in business and Bezos doesn’t take anything lightly. He encourages his people to take the risk and in case it doesn’t work, he teaches them to learn from it. He calls it a ‘Successful Failure.’ If an employee at Amazon tries something new and it works, that is always great. But if he tries something and it doesn’t work, then Bezos looks for the ways not only to make it work but to make it worth and learning for him and his team. He empowers the people to be bold and take risks. And he also assures that if risks don’t work, that employee or Amazonian will not be terminated from the company. Amazon has witnessed 178-million-dollar successful failure during 2001-2002.
· Bet on Big Ideas
Bezos is smart enough to take many new ideas from his employees and he never hesitates to listen to any smallest idea from any of his employee. Bezos had realized that during online shopping, the excessive shipping cost was the psychological barrier between them and the customers. Hence, he tested the idea of Amazon Prime. He made the shipping cost zero for all Amazon Prime members and he too made shipping cost zero at the prescribed purchasing limit. They tested this idea and it gave them the biggest success.
· Practice Dynamic invention and Innovation
Amazon Kindle is a great example of this one. The invention is a creation of the product and Innovation is when someone contributes to the existing product. To make both possible, you need a culture and environment. At Amazon, Invention and Innovation are ingrained into the daily culture from day1. If you try something new and it works, Amazon shares it with the entire organization and if you try something and it doesn’t work? Your failure will be celebrated then admonished. Amazon keeps on empowering everyone. They knew that Invention and Innovation require experimentation; experimentation requires failures which they celebrate as successful failure.
Section2- Build
· Obsess Over Customers
At the Amazon, customers always come first. They want happy customers. Since they knew, if they won’t keep their customer happy, a customer might move to the other online store. Every employee is trained to be much obsessed with the customers.
· Apply long-term thinking
Bezos has embedded the thought in the entire company to have long-term thinking then the short-term goals and thinking.
· Understand your Flywheel
A Flywheel is an incredibly heavy wheel that takes huge effort to push. Keep pushing and the flywheel begins its momentum. Keep pushing and eventually, it starts to turn itself and gains its own momentum. And that’s when a company goes from good to biggest. In business, think of your ‘Flywheel’ as a gear with spokes all around. Each spoke on gear keeps on adding force to spin. Identify the spokes in the business. When you will find out the spoke in your business, it will jump from good to great. The essence of the concept is that companies need to identify the direction they want to go. Then they need to find out what activities are so aligned with their goal. Building your business within the framework of your flywheel encourages companies to think long-term. Note down the parameters that are required to strengthen your business and keep working on them.
Section3- Accelerate
· Generate High-Velocity Decisions.
Two types of decisions are taken in Amazon.
Type1: - These decisions are major with big consequences and no turning back.
Type2: - These decisions are ones that can be changed or reversed.
Speed matters in a business. Bezos encourages people to take decisions quickly, by recognizing that most decisions are Type2.
Amazon clears that high-velocity decision making starts by building a culture that accepts small failures and promotes dynamic invention and innovation.
· Make complexity simple
Bezos believes that don’t keep any complexities in the services and the product. Make the services and products as simple as you can ex. Amazon Echo Alexa, Kindle, and Amazon packaging.
· Accelerate the time with the technology
Jeff Bezos believes that technology can accelerate the time in which the company can grow. Bezos knows that technology will keep on improving which will help the business to accelerate faster.
· Promote the ownership
This is been extensively promoted in the Amazon. Bezos wants every employee to think like owners. Instead of promoting to take the ownership of work, Amazon tells the employee to think like an owner of the company. This is the key mindset developed in the Amazon as none of the owner says, ‘‘That’s not my job.’’
Section4- Scale
· Maintain the culture.
It is challenging for most of the companies. Culture is maintained by practising the leadership principles set by Bezos ex. Customer Obsession; Ownership; Invent and simplify; Learn and Be Curious; Hire and Develop the best; Think Big; Keep the high standards; Be Frugal; Earn a Trust; Deliver the Results.
· Focus on High- Standards
Bezos always believes in the high standards. He encourages his team to set- up the new records and standards and compete with them. Bezos believes in the term “Work Hard, Have Fun, Make History.’’
· Measure What Matters, Question What’s Measured, And Trust Your Gut.
Amazon is a data-driven company. Each decision is made on the data. But when your instincts don’t match the data, take the data again and make the decisions on your gut.
· Believe It’s Always Day 1: - Bezos and his employees always believe that each day is their day1 at work.
©
Kaushik
Note:- The purpose of the book review is just to promote the book reading.
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