American industrialist & Amazon founder (1964- )
Part of company culture is path-dependent--it's the lessons you learn along the way.
JEFF BEZOS
Business Insider, July 16, 2015
I think. I remember the very first occupation I wanted to be -- when, I think, I was about six years old -- was an archeologist. I would like to point out this was before Indiana Jones. It's a point of pride. Then I wanted to be an astronaut. By the time I was in my high school years, I wanted to be a physicist and then by the time I got to college I wanted to be a computer programmer. That's actually what I studied in school and that's what has led me along the path I'm on.
JEFF BEZOS
Academy of Achievement interview, May 4, 2001
When we talk about earth's most customer-centric company ... we want other companies to look at Amazon and see us as the standard bearer for obsessive focus on the customer as opposed to obsessive focus on the competitor.
JEFF BEZOS
Charlie Rose interview, Jul. 28, 2010
If you absolutely can't tolerate critics, then don't do anything new or interesting.
JEFF BEZOS
bOinGbOinG, June 1, 2016
Seek revenge and you shall dig two graves, one for yourself.
JEFF BEZOS
bOinGbOinG, June 1, 2016
We have these cultural norms, and we allow people to say ugly things. We don't have to like it, we don't have to invite them to our dinner parties, but you should let them say it.
JEFF BEZOS
bOinGbOinG, June 1, 2016
I would never say no to something the team wanted to do, but I might say yes to something the team didn't want to do. You want there to be multiple ways to get to 'yes' because you want to encourage risk-taking.
JEFF BEZOS
Business Insider, July 16, 2015
Life's too short to hang out with people who aren't resourceful.
JEFF BEZOS
Business Insider, July 16, 2015
You can have the best technology, you can have the best business model, but if the storytelling isn't amazing, it won't matter. Nobody will watch.
JEFF BEZOS
Business Insider, July 16, 2015
There are two kinds of companies: those that try to charge more and those that work to charge less. We will be the second.
JEFF BEZOS
Forbes, April 23, 2012
The long term approach is rare enough that it means you're not competing against very many companies. 'Cause most companies wanna see a return on investment in, you know, one, two, three years.
JEFF BEZOS
60 Minutes, December 1, 2013
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.
JEFF BEZOS
Business Insider, July 16, 2015
We're building what's called a private cloud for them [the C.I.A.] ... because they don't want to be on the public cloud.
JEFF BEZOS
60 Minutes, December 1, 2013
One thing that I tell people is ... if you're going to do anything new or innovative, you have to be willing to be misunderstood. If you cannot afford to be misunderstood, then for goodness' sake, don't do anything new or innovative.
JEFF BEZOS
Business Insider, April 28, 2018
As companies get bigger, they have something to lose. When they do, the natural tendency is to get risk-aversive. They lose their boldness. They lose the spirit to innovate. They lose their pioneering qualities. I am bound and determined not to let that happen to Amazon.com.
JEFF BEZOS
Playboy, Feb. 2000
If you have a customer-centric culture, that cures a lot of ills. Let's say you're the leader in a particular arena, if you're competitor-focused and you're already the leader, then where does your energy come from? Whereas, if you're customer focused, and you're already the leader, customers are never satisfied.
JEFF BEZOS
GeekWire, September 17, 2013
I strongly believe that missionaries make better products. They care more. For a missionary, it's not just about the business. There has to be a business, and the business has to make sense, but that's not why you do it. You do it because you have something meaningful that motivates you.
JEFF BEZOS
Business Insider, July 16, 2015
In the old world, you devoted 30% of your time to building a great service and 70% of your time to shouting about it. In the new world, that inverts.
JEFF BEZOS
Forbes, April 23, 2012
The common question that gets asked in business is, why? That's a good question, but an equally valid question is, why not?
JEFF BEZOS
Wired, November 13, 2011
I think of the internet like this big, new, powerful technology.... We haven't learned as a civilization and a human species how to operate that yet. We as a civilization are still figuring all of that out. It gives us fantastic capabilities. The fact that I can look up almost anything on Wikipedia in five seconds is an unbelievable capability that just simply didn't exist 20 years ago. And so on and so on. But we're also finding out that these powerful tools enable some very bad things, too, like letting authoritarian governments interfere in free democratic elections in the world. This is an incredibly scary thing.
JEFF BEZOS
Business Insider, April 28, 2018