Amazon’s founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos, went to his maternal grandfather’s ranch in Texas every summer from when he was four until age sixteen. On the ranch, he adopted a hardworking and problem-solving attitude: “If something is broken, let’s fix it. To get something new done you have to be stubborn and focused, to the point that others might find unreasonable.” Having many of the responsibilities of a ranch-hand, Bezos was asked to get his hands dirty in order to be self sufficient, a quality of the rural life that left an imprint on him for life.
Bezos and his wife journied from New York to Seattle to found an online book retailer just as the Internet was becoming popular. Though at first Bezos had few customers, and even fewer accommodations for his business, after being featured on Yahoo’s What’s Cool? page, Bezos’ usership skyrocketed. The few employees he had worked endless hours filling orders without packing labels or even tables. As the company continued to expand, Bezos’ focus on customer service grew as well. The customer service department housed individuals responding to emails constantly with a large pressure on speed and not allowing backlogs of unread emails from customers.
Furthermore, Bezos has some practices that are not common among CEOs of his age. Strongly anti-groupthink, Bezos has denounced “communication” and instead insists that no teams among his workers be bigger than could be fed by two pizzas—the “two pizza team” rule. Bezos uses further strategies to motivate his workers to develop the company into the innovative market leader that it is today. With patents such as the 1-Click ordering and the future perk of being able to return gifts before they are even shipped, Amazon is continuing to grow and expand in novel and profitable ways at the command of Jeff Bezos.
[1] Streitfeld, David. “Sales Are Colossal, Shares Are Soaring. All Amazon Is Missing Is a Profit.” The New York Times 21 Oct. 2013. NYTimes.com. Web. 19 Mar. 2014.
[2] Streitfeld, David. “Amazon’s Revenue Soars, but No Profit Is in Sight.” The New York Times 24 Oct. 2013. NYTimes.com. Web. 19 Mar. 2014.
[3] Brandt, Richard L. “Birth of a Salesman— Behind the rise of Jeff Bezos and Amazon: Richard L. Brandt on the founder’s Texas roots, the site’s chaotic early days, why negative reviews are allowed and his increasing use of personal data.” Wall Street Journal 15 Oct. 2011. online.wsj.com. Web. 19 Mar. 2014.
[4] Jackson, Eric. “6 Things Jeff Bezos Knew Back in 1997 That Made Amazon a Gorilla.” Forbes 16 Oct. 2011. forbes.com. Web. 19 Mar. 2014.
Bezos and his wife journied from New York to Seattle to found an online book retailer just as the Internet was becoming popular. Though at first Bezos had few customers, and even fewer accommodations for his business, after being featured on Yahoo’s What’s Cool? page, Bezos’ usership skyrocketed. The few employees he had worked endless hours filling orders without packing labels or even tables. As the company continued to expand, Bezos’ focus on customer service grew as well. The customer service department housed individuals responding to emails constantly with a large pressure on speed and not allowing backlogs of unread emails from customers.
Furthermore, Bezos has some practices that are not common among CEOs of his age. Strongly anti-groupthink, Bezos has denounced “communication” and instead insists that no teams among his workers be bigger than could be fed by two pizzas—the “two pizza team” rule. Bezos uses further strategies to motivate his workers to develop the company into the innovative market leader that it is today. With patents such as the 1-Click ordering and the future perk of being able to return gifts before they are even shipped, Amazon is continuing to grow and expand in novel and profitable ways at the command of Jeff Bezos.
[1] Streitfeld, David. “Sales Are Colossal, Shares Are Soaring. All Amazon Is Missing Is a Profit.” The New York Times 21 Oct. 2013. NYTimes.com. Web. 19 Mar. 2014.
[2] Streitfeld, David. “Amazon’s Revenue Soars, but No Profit Is in Sight.” The New York Times 24 Oct. 2013. NYTimes.com. Web. 19 Mar. 2014.
[3] Brandt, Richard L. “Birth of a Salesman— Behind the rise of Jeff Bezos and Amazon: Richard L. Brandt on the founder’s Texas roots, the site’s chaotic early days, why negative reviews are allowed and his increasing use of personal data.” Wall Street Journal 15 Oct. 2011. online.wsj.com. Web. 19 Mar. 2014.
[4] Jackson, Eric. “6 Things Jeff Bezos Knew Back in 1997 That Made Amazon a Gorilla.” Forbes 16 Oct. 2011. forbes.com. Web. 19 Mar. 2014.