I started reading Invent & Wander: The Collected Writings of Jeff Bezos.
So far, so good.
Here are some ideas that stuck out to me (through the first 50 pages):
- “Regret minimization framework” – optimize for less regrets. When you’re 80, what path would you wish you took? Do that.
- “Jeff Bezos is not in the internet business. He’s in the customer service business. He will be around for decades to come, well after people have forgotten all the dot-coms that are going to go bust.” –Don Logan, CEO of TIME.
- “Bezos had a rule, which was to use his heart and his intuition as well as empirical data in making a big decision.”
- “…the big winners pay for thousands of failed experiments.”
- Missionary or mercenary – some people are in it just for the money (mercenary); others are in it for a broader mission (missionary)… the irony is the missionary will make more than mercenary long term.
- Focus on the customer instead of the competitors. If you’re focused on the competitors, you may be a market-leader and slow down. If you’re focused on the customers, you’re always going to be striving to do better… because customers are always dissatisfied.
- When hiring someone, 3 important questions: 1. Will you admire this person? 2. Will this person raise the average level of effectiveness of the group? 3. Along what dimension is this person a superstar?
- Work hard, have fun, make history.
- Be committed to constant improvement.