12 business lessons from Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos. Part 1
Transferred to Alconost .
If today we ask start-up entrepreneurs for whom they are equal, the usual names will sound: Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, some will remember Bill Gates. But, unfortunately, few will name Jeff Bezos - the founder and CEO of Amazon.
This brilliant analytical, systemic, and ridiculous entrepreneurial mind is clearly overlooked and worthy of attention. He does not have the charisma of Steve Jobs, an innovative automobile brand like Tesla, Zuckerberg's fame (to which even an entire film was dedicated) or the wealth of Bill Gates. But I think that he is worthy of a place alongside them, and perhaps even at the head of the list.
')
This man does not just run a retail store, he does much more. Bezos is involved in many other enterprises, including the Blue Origin private space project (the company is developing technologies that reduce the cost of space flights in order to make private space travel available).
We can learn a lot from this graduate of Princeton, who graduated from the university with honors. Let's talk about some theses of his business philosophy.
Bezos believes that good entrepreneurs should be both stubborn and flexible. About Amazon, Bezos says: “We are unshakable in our vision. We are flexible in details. ” The first part of the phrase is about the need to bend your line, the second is about the flexibility of tactics. Bezos adds: “If there is no stubbornness, you stop experimenting too quickly. And if there is no flexibility, you will rest your head on the wall and you will not see other solutions to the problem that you are trying to solve. ”
Being both stubborn and flexible is a challenge. Bezos warns: “To invent, you must be assertive and flexible more or less at the same time. The most difficult thing about this is to understand when you need to be when! ”
I heard that entrepreneurs are stubborn from birth. They are the very "natural leaders" who like to take responsibility and do everything in their own way. But it seems that because of this they are limited both in tactics and in vision. Being a natural leader is useful, but at the same time one of the traits of a good entrepreneur is flexibility. Ask the guy who raised the company from 0 to 69,000 employees about this. Perhaps he knows something about leadership.
Bezos believes in the effectiveness of small autonomous groups. (Perhaps, even from the time when he led a startup). He is a supporter of the “ rule of two pizzas ”, which says: the group must be so small that it can be fed with only two pizzas. Usually this is a team of 5-7 people. These are the teams that created the Gold Box, which still operates today for Amazon.
With the increase in teams there is a tendency to reduce their effectiveness. Inefficiency reduces the team's performance and leads to losses. So make sure the teams stay small and see for yourself how it works.
I really like this quote from Bezos: “If you double the number of experiments per year, you will double your ingenuity.”
Ask most managers, and they will tell you that experimentation is necessary for their business. This is how innovations appear, and their business remains competitive in the market. Car companies have concept cars; the food industry is experimenting with new products and tastes, retailers - with the placement of goods and the atmosphere of shops; the business of drug manufacturers is on the experiments; technology companies have labs like Google Labs ; and many high-performance companies, the same Google, allow their employees to experiment . Even sports teams experiment with new game techniques and / or players. Experiments happen everywhere and always.
At Amazon, willingness to experiment and invent has always been part of the culture. This is not a secondary circumstance or something like “it is necessary to do this because everyone is doing it.”
At the beginning of its operations, Amazon wanted to know whether to advertise on television. To find out, they decided to find two markets whose demographic would most closely match the target audience — Portland and Minneapolis. There was an experiment that lasted 16 months - much longer than most companies would have decided to experiment. But Bezos said that Amazon’s attitude was “extremely decisive” and that it was “a long and expensive experiment, but we really wanted to figure it out for the company once and for all”.
Despite the fact that advertising has spurred Amazon sales a little, Bezos decided that this was not enough to justify the cost of it. So, although the experiment was long, it turned out to be useful for the company's strategy.
Shipping costs stop many people who might order goods online. (The same as non-receipt of goods on the same day they ordered it.)
Today, Amazon offers free shipping for orders over $ 25, calling it Super Saver Shipping . Calculate and see that for low-margin companies, such as Amazon, this solution cannot be profitable. We'll have to raise the bar from $ 25 higher.
Calculations - against such free shipping, but buyers - for. Whose side was Bezos, do you think? On the side of buyers. An unexpected act for Bezos as a person with a technical education and absolutely expected for the client-oriented businessman, which he is.
So, Bezos launched an experiment with free delivery of orders from $ 25 dollars and eventually found out that in the short term it does not bring any benefit, but it pays off completely for a longer period by increasing customer loyalty and, accordingly, the frequency of orders.
And what if the buyer does not want to check the cost of each order and reach it to $ 25? Take Amazon Prime, count and see how it works:
In this model, even if the buyer makes only a couple of small orders a year, the calculations already confirm its feasibility. But Amazon and Bezos are betting (and hoping) that the Prime user will do dozens of orders. Unfortunately, more orders mean for Amazon and an increase in shipping costs.
But there is a positive effect for Amazon in this: having so many orders from different parts of the world, you can choose from a variety of delivery services and discuss prices . Thus, the company receives a lever with which it can keep its delivery costs at an acceptable level.
When Bezos was asked about the most significant decision he ever made, trusting his intuition, he told about Prime: “It’s like a buffet where you can eat as much as you like for $ 79: you have free delivery for two days of everything that whatever you ordered for a year. If you rely on calculations, they will always speak against such a decision. ”
Prime was launched, and today it has more than 3.5 million users . According to Bezos, success happens when the interests of the buyer and the business correspond to each other.
Another note about Prime: Amazon considers the costs associated with it as marketing costs. The company's latest report (for the third quarter) states: “Although costs associated with users of Amazon Prime and other delivery offers are not included in marketing costs, we view these offers as effective global marketing tools and intend to continue to use them indefinitely.”
Everything suggests that the experiment with Prime benefited Amazon and the company's customers.
As I said before, experiments are part of the Amazon culture. Same as the test for measurability. When someone comes up with the idea of ​​an experiment, Bezos usually says: "We can measure it." This shows that the first thing he thinks about is whether the experiment is measurable. When someone comes to you with an idea, your first question should be exactly this: “Can it be measured?” And if you can measure it, but the results show that you don’t need to start implementing the idea, this does not always mean that you don’t need to. Bezos says: “Sometimes we measure something and we see that in a short time it will seriously hit sales, but we still do it.” Yes, conceived can lead to nothing in a short time, but benefit in the long run. If it is good for consumers, this is a good sign that experimental practice must be made permanent.
Not all Amazon experiments were successful. Here are a few unsuccessful ones: A9 search , auctions, PayPhrase .
But Bezos is not confused by failure. These experiments are simply the bets that each company makes. During the conference in June 2011, when asked about the long-term perspective and achievements, Bezos replied: “When you look at something like that, just go back to the times when we started working on the Kindle almost seven years ago ... Then you just needed make a bet. And if you make enough of these rates and make them on time, none of them will put the company at risk. And if you are already betting on a company, it means that you haven’t been inventing anything for too long. ”
In another interview, commenting on the failure of the A9 search engine and other experiments, Bezos said: “If you decide to do only those things that you are sure are successful, you will miss so many opportunities. Few companies criticize companies for failing to do so. But a lot of criticism is addressed to them for what they have tried and failed to do. ”
Experimentation can be a harbinger of innovation, so make sure you constantly experiment.
I have mentioned the culture of inventions in Amazon many times, but there is one important point that I want to emphasize.
Have you ever noticed how many products and services Amazon offers? All this is a consequence of the philosophy of rapid experiments and inventions of Bezos. In this sense, Bezos is anti-Steve Jobs. Apple offers only a few products, Amazon - dozens. The full list can be seen at the bottom of the Amazon home page.
Inventions are really very important for Bezos and his team at Amazon. He often uses the words "pioneers" and "researchers" to describe his team. He is looking for people who love to invent and are always looking for ways to improve products.
Bezos and the inventor himself. Whether it's a 10,000-year-old clock (one more engineering challenge), Blue Origin aerospace company, a patented airbag for phones , a solar stove built in childhood or its efforts at Amazon — Bezos likes to invent. He appreciates and encourages this (along with resourcefulness) in his employees. He once said that one of his favorite activities was teamwork and brainstorming. Obviously, he has a passion for inventions.
To be an entrepreneur, no matter in what area, you have to love to invent and create. Whether you are Henry Ford creating the car, or the Wright brothers building the plane, or some software engineer inventing new software. It is in the genes of every great entrepreneur. The love of brainstorming, experimentation and play are fundamental characteristics of inventors and entrepreneurs.
Inventions and inventors move the world forward. One of my favorite quotes is about this: "The day when we stop inventing is the day when we condemn ourselves to life in a stagnant world, devoid of curiosity and dreams." This is said Neil deGrasse Tyson.
Bezos, his team at Amazon, and entrepreneurs around the world are eternal, curious researchers.
If you could only know one thing about Bezos, then here it is: he always thinks over the long term.
One day, when he was asked about Amazon's revenue increase, Bezos was unable to recall the exact percentage of growth, which is usually unusual for managers. When asked why he does not know this, Bezos replied: "I’m mentally a few years ahead, I have already forgotten these numbers."
Amazon has been in retail business since 1994. Remember those computers and the birth of the Internet? Bezos even then knew that people would shop online. He remembers those days as the most difficult period. He tried to raise $ 1 million to launch Amazon, but it was extremely hard. He said that he negotiated with 60 people, and 22 people gave him $ 50,000.
Why was it so difficult? People did not know what the Internet is. According to Bezos, “first of all, most of the investors asked what the Internet is.” Think about it: most people did not know what the Internet is. Bezos knew, as he knew, that people would buy goods via the Internet. Here it is - his vision and thinking over the long-term perspective - in action.
Is there anything today that we have no idea about, and has Bezos already included in our plans? About this - further.
Obviously, thinking long-term requires incredible patience. Especially if you are a director who needs to focus on his daily activities. And, if you want to create something new, you will have to remain incomprehensible for a long time.
Bezos says that "the success of companies that are engaged in what was invented before them decreases with time." That is, you need to invent and be prepared for the fact that you do not understand. Because all the detonators of foundations are inventors. And followers are not.
However, he often admits that Amazon also tried to repeat someone else’s success: A9 was the inheritance of Google, auctions were the inheritance of eBay, etc. When he was asked if Amazon was going to acquire its own offline stores, Bezos said: “Something we don’t very successful in Amazon - to offer products that repeat the success of others. I look at offline retail - there it is perfectly served. People who run physical retail stores are very good at this ... The question we will always ask ourselves before doing this is: what is the idea? Can we do something that will be different? How will it be better? We don’t just want to do something just because we can do it ... We don’t want to be replaceable. ”
He also says that long-term thinking and experimentation should be the basic components of a company: “You need a culture that welcomes small and innovative ideas, and top management that encourages them. And in order for innovative ideas to bear fruit, companies have to wait 5-7 years, but most of them do not withstand such a period. ”
Thinking over the long-term perspective without obsession with quarterly finances is:
Refusing to implement the idea at an early stage due to the fact that it can harm in the short term is a bad strategy. Some things do not pay off immediately. Focus on the long term and you’ll get better results. Short-term results are a bad indicator for long-term ones.
“If we think long-term, we can achieve something that cannot be achieved otherwise.”
Jeff bezos
So, we know that Bezos and his team at Amazon love to experiment. And if you like to experiment, you're ready to invent, and this is one of the cornerstones of Amazon. It is this readiness for experiments and inventions that creates innovation. In his remarks at the re: Invent conference in November 2012, Bezos explains the formula:
Innovation = Experiments + Readiness to invent.
Here is a quote from his speech:
“There are a few things ... that you have to do if you want to be an innovative company. First of all, I think that innovation is a point of view. You really need to select people who want to create something new and explore, because of them is a company. Being a pioneer company, a research company is not for everyone.
Some people derive their energy from the question: “What three companies will we surpass this year?” They wake up with this thought in the morning, think about it in their souls or start annual planning - yes anytime. This is the conqueror's mindset. But it focuses on competitors, not buyers. And such thinking can be successful, by the way, so I do not claim that the approach of the pioneers-researchers is the only effective way.
When you attract pioneers and researchers, you create a company of people with similar thinking who want to invent. This is what they think about when they wake up in the morning: how will we work, based on the interests of customers, to create an excellent service or product? Here it is - a key element of inventions. This is interesting and fun, by the way, and if you are such a person and like to invent, you will like changes, and you think how you can improve everything that you meet on your way. Over its 18 years of operation, Amazon has attracted many such people, and we really enjoy our work.
And now about some not so cheerful things which are extremely important for innovations and inventions. One of them is readiness for failure. You must be prepared for the fact that you will long be misunderstood. If you do something in a new way, as a rule, you will encounter a lack of understanding from those around you who are used to acting in the old manner. There will also be willing only good critics who will doubt whether this new way will really bring the best results. And, of course, there will be critics who have their own financial interest in the traditional way, which is connected to the source of their profits ... If you want to never be criticized, for God's sake, do not do anything new!
So, you are ready for misunderstanding and failure, now it is time to make experiments. A successful invention is an invention of consumer interest. In fact, it is very easy to invent new things that no one needs. If you want to get a lot of successful inventions, you first need to increase the number of experiments and begin to perceive them as a process - that is, think about how to organize your systems, people, assets, your own life and time to ensure this process to experiment more. Because not all your experiments will be successful. "
To be continued
About the translator
The article is translated in Alconost.
Alconost is engaged in the localization of applications, games and websites in 60 languages. Language translators, linguistic testing, cloud platform with API, continuous localization, 24/7 project managers, any formats of string resources.
We also make advertising and training videos - for websites selling, image, advertising, training, teasers, expliners, trailers for Google Play and the App Store.
Read more: https://alconost.com
If today we ask start-up entrepreneurs for whom they are equal, the usual names will sound: Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, some will remember Bill Gates. But, unfortunately, few will name Jeff Bezos - the founder and CEO of Amazon.
This brilliant analytical, systemic, and ridiculous entrepreneurial mind is clearly overlooked and worthy of attention. He does not have the charisma of Steve Jobs, an innovative automobile brand like Tesla, Zuckerberg's fame (to which even an entire film was dedicated) or the wealth of Bill Gates. But I think that he is worthy of a place alongside them, and perhaps even at the head of the list.
')
This man does not just run a retail store, he does much more. Bezos is involved in many other enterprises, including the Blue Origin private space project (the company is developing technologies that reduce the cost of space flights in order to make private space travel available).
We can learn a lot from this graduate of Princeton, who graduated from the university with honors. Let's talk about some theses of his business philosophy.
1. Be persistent and flexible.
Bezos believes that good entrepreneurs should be both stubborn and flexible. About Amazon, Bezos says: “We are unshakable in our vision. We are flexible in details. ” The first part of the phrase is about the need to bend your line, the second is about the flexibility of tactics. Bezos adds: “If there is no stubbornness, you stop experimenting too quickly. And if there is no flexibility, you will rest your head on the wall and you will not see other solutions to the problem that you are trying to solve. ”
Being both stubborn and flexible is a challenge. Bezos warns: “To invent, you must be assertive and flexible more or less at the same time. The most difficult thing about this is to understand when you need to be when! ”
I heard that entrepreneurs are stubborn from birth. They are the very "natural leaders" who like to take responsibility and do everything in their own way. But it seems that because of this they are limited both in tactics and in vision. Being a natural leader is useful, but at the same time one of the traits of a good entrepreneur is flexibility. Ask the guy who raised the company from 0 to 69,000 employees about this. Perhaps he knows something about leadership.
2. Follow the “two pizza rule”
Bezos believes in the effectiveness of small autonomous groups. (Perhaps, even from the time when he led a startup). He is a supporter of the “ rule of two pizzas ”, which says: the group must be so small that it can be fed with only two pizzas. Usually this is a team of 5-7 people. These are the teams that created the Gold Box, which still operates today for Amazon.
With the increase in teams there is a tendency to reduce their effectiveness. Inefficiency reduces the team's performance and leads to losses. So make sure the teams stay small and see for yourself how it works.
3. Never stop experimenting.
I really like this quote from Bezos: “If you double the number of experiments per year, you will double your ingenuity.”
Ask most managers, and they will tell you that experimentation is necessary for their business. This is how innovations appear, and their business remains competitive in the market. Car companies have concept cars; the food industry is experimenting with new products and tastes, retailers - with the placement of goods and the atmosphere of shops; the business of drug manufacturers is on the experiments; technology companies have labs like Google Labs ; and many high-performance companies, the same Google, allow their employees to experiment . Even sports teams experiment with new game techniques and / or players. Experiments happen everywhere and always.
At Amazon, willingness to experiment and invent has always been part of the culture. This is not a secondary circumstance or something like “it is necessary to do this because everyone is doing it.”
Do I need advertising on TV?
At the beginning of its operations, Amazon wanted to know whether to advertise on television. To find out, they decided to find two markets whose demographic would most closely match the target audience — Portland and Minneapolis. There was an experiment that lasted 16 months - much longer than most companies would have decided to experiment. But Bezos said that Amazon’s attitude was “extremely decisive” and that it was “a long and expensive experiment, but we really wanted to figure it out for the company once and for all”.
Despite the fact that advertising has spurred Amazon sales a little, Bezos decided that this was not enough to justify the cost of it. So, although the experiment was long, it turned out to be useful for the company's strategy.
Free shipping on orders from $ 25
Shipping costs stop many people who might order goods online. (The same as non-receipt of goods on the same day they ordered it.)
Today, Amazon offers free shipping for orders over $ 25, calling it Super Saver Shipping . Calculate and see that for low-margin companies, such as Amazon, this solution cannot be profitable. We'll have to raise the bar from $ 25 higher.
Calculations - against such free shipping, but buyers - for. Whose side was Bezos, do you think? On the side of buyers. An unexpected act for Bezos as a person with a technical education and absolutely expected for the client-oriented businessman, which he is.
So, Bezos launched an experiment with free delivery of orders from $ 25 dollars and eventually found out that in the short term it does not bring any benefit, but it pays off completely for a longer period by increasing customer loyalty and, accordingly, the frequency of orders.
Long term shipping offers
And what if the buyer does not want to check the cost of each order and reach it to $ 25? Take Amazon Prime, count and see how it works:
- The buyer pays Amazon $ 79 per year.
- The buyer receives free shipping within two days of any size available via Prime order.
- The buyer also gets unlimited access to movies and TV shows in the service of streaming video Prime Instant Video.
In this model, even if the buyer makes only a couple of small orders a year, the calculations already confirm its feasibility. But Amazon and Bezos are betting (and hoping) that the Prime user will do dozens of orders. Unfortunately, more orders mean for Amazon and an increase in shipping costs.
But there is a positive effect for Amazon in this: having so many orders from different parts of the world, you can choose from a variety of delivery services and discuss prices . Thus, the company receives a lever with which it can keep its delivery costs at an acceptable level.
When Bezos was asked about the most significant decision he ever made, trusting his intuition, he told about Prime: “It’s like a buffet where you can eat as much as you like for $ 79: you have free delivery for two days of everything that whatever you ordered for a year. If you rely on calculations, they will always speak against such a decision. ”
Prime was launched, and today it has more than 3.5 million users . According to Bezos, success happens when the interests of the buyer and the business correspond to each other.
Another note about Prime: Amazon considers the costs associated with it as marketing costs. The company's latest report (for the third quarter) states: “Although costs associated with users of Amazon Prime and other delivery offers are not included in marketing costs, we view these offers as effective global marketing tools and intend to continue to use them indefinitely.”
Everything suggests that the experiment with Prime benefited Amazon and the company's customers.
Measurability of experiments
As I said before, experiments are part of the Amazon culture. Same as the test for measurability. When someone comes up with the idea of ​​an experiment, Bezos usually says: "We can measure it." This shows that the first thing he thinks about is whether the experiment is measurable. When someone comes to you with an idea, your first question should be exactly this: “Can it be measured?” And if you can measure it, but the results show that you don’t need to start implementing the idea, this does not always mean that you don’t need to. Bezos says: “Sometimes we measure something and we see that in a short time it will seriously hit sales, but we still do it.” Yes, conceived can lead to nothing in a short time, but benefit in the long run. If it is good for consumers, this is a good sign that experimental practice must be made permanent.
Keep experimenting
Not all Amazon experiments were successful. Here are a few unsuccessful ones: A9 search , auctions, PayPhrase .
But Bezos is not confused by failure. These experiments are simply the bets that each company makes. During the conference in June 2011, when asked about the long-term perspective and achievements, Bezos replied: “When you look at something like that, just go back to the times when we started working on the Kindle almost seven years ago ... Then you just needed make a bet. And if you make enough of these rates and make them on time, none of them will put the company at risk. And if you are already betting on a company, it means that you haven’t been inventing anything for too long. ”
In another interview, commenting on the failure of the A9 search engine and other experiments, Bezos said: “If you decide to do only those things that you are sure are successful, you will miss so many opportunities. Few companies criticize companies for failing to do so. But a lot of criticism is addressed to them for what they have tried and failed to do. ”
Experimentation can be a harbinger of innovation, so make sure you constantly experiment.
4. Be ready to invent
I have mentioned the culture of inventions in Amazon many times, but there is one important point that I want to emphasize.
Have you ever noticed how many products and services Amazon offers? All this is a consequence of the philosophy of rapid experiments and inventions of Bezos. In this sense, Bezos is anti-Steve Jobs. Apple offers only a few products, Amazon - dozens. The full list can be seen at the bottom of the Amazon home page.
Inventions are really very important for Bezos and his team at Amazon. He often uses the words "pioneers" and "researchers" to describe his team. He is looking for people who love to invent and are always looking for ways to improve products.
Bezos and the inventor himself. Whether it's a 10,000-year-old clock (one more engineering challenge), Blue Origin aerospace company, a patented airbag for phones , a solar stove built in childhood or its efforts at Amazon — Bezos likes to invent. He appreciates and encourages this (along with resourcefulness) in his employees. He once said that one of his favorite activities was teamwork and brainstorming. Obviously, he has a passion for inventions.
To be an entrepreneur, no matter in what area, you have to love to invent and create. Whether you are Henry Ford creating the car, or the Wright brothers building the plane, or some software engineer inventing new software. It is in the genes of every great entrepreneur. The love of brainstorming, experimentation and play are fundamental characteristics of inventors and entrepreneurs.
Inventions and inventors move the world forward. One of my favorite quotes is about this: "The day when we stop inventing is the day when we condemn ourselves to life in a stagnant world, devoid of curiosity and dreams." This is said Neil deGrasse Tyson.
Bezos, his team at Amazon, and entrepreneurs around the world are eternal, curious researchers.
5. Think over the long term.
If you could only know one thing about Bezos, then here it is: he always thinks over the long term.
One day, when he was asked about Amazon's revenue increase, Bezos was unable to recall the exact percentage of growth, which is usually unusual for managers. When asked why he does not know this, Bezos replied: "I’m mentally a few years ahead, I have already forgotten these numbers."
Amazon has been in retail business since 1994. Remember those computers and the birth of the Internet? Bezos even then knew that people would shop online. He remembers those days as the most difficult period. He tried to raise $ 1 million to launch Amazon, but it was extremely hard. He said that he negotiated with 60 people, and 22 people gave him $ 50,000.
Why was it so difficult? People did not know what the Internet is. According to Bezos, “first of all, most of the investors asked what the Internet is.” Think about it: most people did not know what the Internet is. Bezos knew, as he knew, that people would buy goods via the Internet. Here it is - his vision and thinking over the long-term perspective - in action.
Is there anything today that we have no idea about, and has Bezos already included in our plans? About this - further.
Obviously, thinking long-term requires incredible patience. Especially if you are a director who needs to focus on his daily activities. And, if you want to create something new, you will have to remain incomprehensible for a long time.
Bezos says that "the success of companies that are engaged in what was invented before them decreases with time." That is, you need to invent and be prepared for the fact that you do not understand. Because all the detonators of foundations are inventors. And followers are not.
However, he often admits that Amazon also tried to repeat someone else’s success: A9 was the inheritance of Google, auctions were the inheritance of eBay, etc. When he was asked if Amazon was going to acquire its own offline stores, Bezos said: “Something we don’t very successful in Amazon - to offer products that repeat the success of others. I look at offline retail - there it is perfectly served. People who run physical retail stores are very good at this ... The question we will always ask ourselves before doing this is: what is the idea? Can we do something that will be different? How will it be better? We don’t just want to do something just because we can do it ... We don’t want to be replaceable. ”
He also says that long-term thinking and experimentation should be the basic components of a company: “You need a culture that welcomes small and innovative ideas, and top management that encourages them. And in order for innovative ideas to bear fruit, companies have to wait 5-7 years, but most of them do not withstand such a period. ”
Thinking over the long-term perspective without obsession with quarterly finances is:
- Good for buyers, as the Amazon example showed with free delivery of goods from $ 25. It makes no sense to focus only on quick profits, if you plan to stay on the market for a long time.
- Good for the company, because you can be much more open to innovation than you think, and focus on the long term.
Refusing to implement the idea at an early stage due to the fact that it can harm in the short term is a bad strategy. Some things do not pay off immediately. Focus on the long term and you’ll get better results. Short-term results are a bad indicator for long-term ones.
“If we think long-term, we can achieve something that cannot be achieved otherwise.”
Jeff bezos
6. Combine experimentation, inventiveness and innovation together.
So, we know that Bezos and his team at Amazon love to experiment. And if you like to experiment, you're ready to invent, and this is one of the cornerstones of Amazon. It is this readiness for experiments and inventions that creates innovation. In his remarks at the re: Invent conference in November 2012, Bezos explains the formula:
Innovation = Experiments + Readiness to invent.
Here is a quote from his speech:
“There are a few things ... that you have to do if you want to be an innovative company. First of all, I think that innovation is a point of view. You really need to select people who want to create something new and explore, because of them is a company. Being a pioneer company, a research company is not for everyone.
Some people derive their energy from the question: “What three companies will we surpass this year?” They wake up with this thought in the morning, think about it in their souls or start annual planning - yes anytime. This is the conqueror's mindset. But it focuses on competitors, not buyers. And such thinking can be successful, by the way, so I do not claim that the approach of the pioneers-researchers is the only effective way.
When you attract pioneers and researchers, you create a company of people with similar thinking who want to invent. This is what they think about when they wake up in the morning: how will we work, based on the interests of customers, to create an excellent service or product? Here it is - a key element of inventions. This is interesting and fun, by the way, and if you are such a person and like to invent, you will like changes, and you think how you can improve everything that you meet on your way. Over its 18 years of operation, Amazon has attracted many such people, and we really enjoy our work.
And now about some not so cheerful things which are extremely important for innovations and inventions. One of them is readiness for failure. You must be prepared for the fact that you will long be misunderstood. If you do something in a new way, as a rule, you will encounter a lack of understanding from those around you who are used to acting in the old manner. There will also be willing only good critics who will doubt whether this new way will really bring the best results. And, of course, there will be critics who have their own financial interest in the traditional way, which is connected to the source of their profits ... If you want to never be criticized, for God's sake, do not do anything new!
So, you are ready for misunderstanding and failure, now it is time to make experiments. A successful invention is an invention of consumer interest. In fact, it is very easy to invent new things that no one needs. If you want to get a lot of successful inventions, you first need to increase the number of experiments and begin to perceive them as a process - that is, think about how to organize your systems, people, assets, your own life and time to ensure this process to experiment more. Because not all your experiments will be successful. "
To be continued
About the translator
The article is translated in Alconost.
Alconost is engaged in the localization of applications, games and websites in 60 languages. Language translators, linguistic testing, cloud platform with API, continuous localization, 24/7 project managers, any formats of string resources.
We also make advertising and training videos - for websites selling, image, advertising, training, teasers, expliners, trailers for Google Play and the App Store.
Read more: https://alconost.com
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/170201/
All Articles