We are our choices. Build yourself a great story.
Jeff BezosRead
My own view is that every company requires a long-term view.
Interpretation
Companies should focus on long-term goals and strategies for sustained success.
Jeff Bezos emphasizes the importance of having a long-term perspective in business. He believes that for a company to thrive and grow, it must prioritize long-term objectives over short-term gains, which can lead to better decision-making and strategic planning. This long-term view encourages companies to invest in their future and consider sustainable practices that may not yield immediate profits but are essential for long-lasting success.
In practice
During a business seminar, a speaker quoted Bezos to emphasize the importance of sustainable growth strategies.
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.
Be influenced by nothing but your clients' interests. Tell them the truth.
Look after the customer and the business will take care of itself
Obvious prospects for physical growth in a business do not translate into obvious profits for investors.
Social media requires that business leaders start thinking like small-town shop owners. This means taking the long view and avoiding short-term benchmarks to gauge progress. It means allowing the personality, heart and soul of the people who run all levels of the business to show.
So many businesses get worried about looking like they might make a mistake, they become afraid to take any risk. Companies are set up so that people judge each other on failure. I am not going to get fired if we have a bad year. Or a bad five years. I donβt have to worry about making things look good if theyβre not. I can actually set up the company to create value.
In business, if you realize you've made a bad decision, you change it.
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