Leadership Lessons from Jeff Bezos

What’s the Latest Development?

While Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is making headlines for his mission to recover the rocket engines that took man to the moon, we take a look at what makes him one of our era’s innovating forces. Despite the ever-shifting sands of technology, Bezos’ business strategies depend on things that do not change, such as connecting customers with goods. And those customers have formed an essential, albeit ghostly, presence: “Early on Bezos brought an empty chair into meetings so lieutenants would be forced to think about the crucial participant who wasn’t in the room: the customer.”

What’s the Big Idea?

When it comes to molding a successful business in the Internet age, Bezos knows that taking action early, and likely being misunderstood, is essential. While his new projects may send the company’s stock prices down and worry market analysts, Bezos willingly accepts new ideas with long-term payoffs. He also believes the Internet has made direct advertising much less important, so his company focuses intensely on generating word of mouth advertising, which follows naturally from customer satisfaction. 

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