Jeffrey Bezos is a leader with a vision. There are several leadership lessons that you can learn from the man who founded the e-commerce giant Amazon.
Jeff Bezos is the first person in history whose personal net worth exceeds $200bn. He founded Amazon in 1994 and the company has grown into a global online shopping giant. Since its small start as a bookseller, Amazon has diversified into a plethora of businesses with Jeff Bezos at the helm of it.
Here are the lessons that you can learn from Jeff Bezos’ leadership.
1. Amazon has thrived by putting its customers first
The King of e-commerce has always placed customers in front of profit. Amazon’s underlying idea is that if its consumers have a positive experience, they will return and spend more money, which is beneficial to the company.
As Jeff Bezos stated, “We are not competitive obsessive; we are client obsessed.”
We begin with the customer and work our way backward.
Amazon is obsessed with the client in all they do. They start with the client and “move backward from there,” whether it’s booked, Amazon Web Services, or Alexa.
2. Amazon is great in accepting failures
Surprisingly, despite its great success, one of Amazon’s greatest qualities is accepting failure. The company’s past is plagued with high-profile failures, yet those failures have actually contributed to its success.
Amazon attempted to enter the mobile phone market. Its Amazon Fire phone lost almost $170 million, and they couldn’t even sell it for 99 cents. Amazon attempted to establish its own version of Apple Pay and shut it down after six months, and who can forget its extremely high-profile failure with pets.com, but it helps because Amazon does not punish failure.
Despite the high-profile failures, the company’s expansion into sectors such as Amazon Web Services, the launch of Amazon Kindle, Amazon Prime, Alexa, Audible, IMDB, and others have more than compensated for the high-profile failures and helped it become one of the world’s most successful businesses.
3. Amazon understands the importance of vision
Bezos indicates right away in his first letter to Amazon shareholders that he will adopt a long-term approach. His company will never choose to maximize quarterly profits at the expense of long-term disadvantage.
Management techniques and internal communications are only the beginning.
In his devotion to Amazon consumers, Bezos is even willing to sacrifice short-term profit for long-term advantage:
Every organization, in theory, cares about its consumers, and some executives have a vision.
Nonetheless, Bezos ensures that his vision is more than just a plaque on the corporate office wall.
He not only walks the customer-centric walk, but he also talks the talk on every conceivable occasion.
4. Improve your thoughts and make your message simple
When Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, or Jeff Bezos introduce a new product or endeavor, it frequently sounds apparent and straightforward. However, ask any startup founder what they’re working on, and the response is frequently hazy and perplexing.
This may appear to be a trivial aspect of communication In truth, this is about strategy and thinking. Most entrepreneurs aren’t attempting to colonize Mars or create the world’s largest e-commerce platform. Most startup ventures, while ambitious, are less sophisticated.
Why can Elon Musk communicate his plan to take over Mars in simple terms, yet the average entrepreneur struggles to explain his new product? It’s because visionaries like Musk, Bezos, and Jobs meticulously planned their strategies. They understand what is required and are familiar with their target audience. They’ve simplified their difficult ideas, and they know how to position their brand.
5. Amazon remains committed
Amazon is concerned with the long term, as Bezos stated in his first shareholder letter. In that light, all decisions are made. In retrospect, now that Amazon is one of the most valuable firms in the world, it’s easy to praise that strategy. It wasn’t always like this. When you’re on top of the world, you can ignore criticism and stick to your ideals. However, Amazon, like any other corporation, must have faced numerous challenges behind the scenes.
It is difficult to maintain a long-term vision in the midst of such adversity. It needs guts, commitment, and a well-thought-out plan. This strengthens Bezos’ history of tying the first shareholder to all subsequent ones. He does this every year and may still argue that the long-term goal he laid out there is correct.
6. Never pass up an opportunity to advertise yourself
When you read these letters or watch an interview with Bezos, you will see a feature shared by many successful business leaders: a flair for casual self-promotion, regardless of the context.
Whether it’s Howard Schultz of Starbucks, Steve Jobs of Apple, or Jeff Bezos of Amazon, they always find a way to advertise their firms and get you enthused about their products.
They are not required to do so because their firms have massive marketing teams in place to handle promotion. However, none of these guys are able to resist. They never miss an opportunity to sell a new product, whether they’re writing a book, giving an interview, or, in this case, writing letters to shareholders.
7. Understand your market
According to Venture Capitalist Marc Andreessen, the most important success factor for a new business is the market.
Bezos recognizes this because he demonstrates a thorough awareness of the market, the opportunity, and what it will take to capitalize on it. He has a good understanding of the current market, as well as a good notion of where it’s going.
This is a critical ability for a corporate leader, and Bezos, to be fair, has an unfair advantage. Understanding markets was part of his job because, before launching Amazon, Bezos worked at multiple financial firms on Wall Street.
