A few years ago, I was examining the impact of technology on the insurance industry. I came to realize that the biggest risk a business faces today is not taking enough risk. Because technology continues to develop so rapidly, businesses have a hard time keeping up and too often make the mistake of not embracing change fast enough.
In researching companies that did not keep up — Kodak, Blackberry, Blockbuster, Sears — as well as those companies known for adapting quickly — Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Netflix something stood out – how they embraced risk-taking.
As I was researching Amazon, I discovered the letters Jeff Bezos wrote to what he calls shareowners starting in 1997. I realized he had hidden in plain sight his secretes to growing Amazon that any business owner can use.
The result of my research is The Bezos Letters. In the book, I deconstruct Jeff Bezos’ 21 years of personal letters to Amazon shareowners through my unique lens of risk, providing readers with a guide on the key takeaways and the 14 growth principles I believe Bezos leveraged in turning a simple online bookstore into a trillion- dollar company in just over two decades.
The 14 principles are grouped into 4 cycles:
Growth Cycle: Test
Principle 1: Encourage “Successful Failure”
Principle 2: Bet on Big Ideas
Principle 3: Practice Dynamic Invention and Innovation
Growth Cycle: Build
Principle 4: Obsess Over Customers
Principle 5: Apply Long-Term Thinking
Principle 6: Understand Your Flywheel
Growth Cycle: Accelerate
Principle 7: Generate High-Velocity Decisions
Principle 8: Make Complexity Simple
Principle 9: Accelerate Time with Technology
Principle 10: Promote Ownership
Growth Cycle: Scale
Principle 11: Maintain Your Culture
Principle 12: Focus on High Standards
Principle 13: Measure What Matters, Question What’s Measured, and Trust Your Gut
Principle 14: Believe It’s Always “Day 1”