We are our choices. Build yourself a great story.
Jeff BezosRead
My view is there's no bad time to innovate.
Interpretation
Innovation should happen at all times, not just when it seems convenient.
Jeff Bezos emphasizes the importance of continuous innovation in business and life. He suggests that there are no inappropriate times for creativity and change, highlighting that seizing every opportunity to innovate can lead to greater success and improvement.
In practice
In a business seminar discussing the importance of adapting to market changes.
We are our choices. Build yourself a great story.
Work hard, have fun and make history.
If you're not stubborn, you'll give up on experiments too soon. And if you're not flexible, you'll pound your head against the wall and you won't see a different solution to a problem you're trying to solve.
But there's so much kludge, so much terrible stuff, we are at the 1908 Hurley washing machine stage with the Internet. That's where we are. We don't get our hair caught in it, but that's the level of primitiveness of where we are. We're in 1908.
Because, you know, resilience - if you think of it in terms of the Gold Rush, then you'd be pretty depressed right now because the last nugget of gold would be gone. But the good thing is, with innovation, there isn't a last nugget. Every new thing creates two new questions and two new opportunities.
When you are eighty years old, and in a quiet moment of reflection narrating for only yourself the most personal version of your life story, the telling that will be most compact and meaningful will be the series of choices you have made. In the end, we are our choices.
Innovation comes ultimately from a diversity of perspectives. So when you combine ideas from different industries or different cultures, that's when you have the best sense of developing groundbreaking ideas.
Do you know what my favorite renewable fuel is? An ecosystem for innovation.
I believe innovation is the most powerful force for change in the world. People who are pessimistic about the future tend to extrapolate from the present in a straight line. But innovation fundamentally shifts the trajectory of development.
What makes the United States great, the reason people wanted to live in the United States, move here still, is because of our ability to innovate.
Competition is one of the most important drivers of innovation because you have to stay in the race. You have to think of something new, and if you don't, well, of course you should leave the market.
Optimism is an essential ingredient of innovation. How else can the individual welcome change over security, adventure over staying in safe places?
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