Without a doubt, Bezos has been one of the greatest entrepreneurs of all time, and there are a myriad of lessons we can learn from nearly every single one of his business decisions. I read a book discussing the snowball Amazon has created called ‘The Flywheel’, and honestly my respect for Bezos’ intelligence greatly increased after reading it. Obviously very few of us will ever run an enterprise that touches nearly every aspect of billions of people’s lives, nevertheless we can still learn from Amazon, and I present what I believe are his two greatest.
Foresight and focus
When Amazon was started, people only ever saw a bookstore that happened to be online. Bezos saw something else however, he saw the beginnings of a conglomerate that would one day revolutionise not only retail but the world. His ability to see this is something we have to respect, regardless of what you think of Amazon currently. More importantly than his vision was the focus that allowed it to become a reality. Many people have a vision, but it never lasts long enough to be brought to fruition, and Bezos was able to avoid this by never taking his eyes off the ultimate prize. When you have vision and focus, nearly every single decision you make following it helps your long term success, a powerful force.
Create a flywheel
The optimal business makes the customers dependent on them, and Amazon has perfected this craft. They have got a finger in nearly every single pie you can name, and the thing that ties them all together is Prime membership. Every single following addition to the Amazon ecosystem has an immediate head start over competition as they increase convenience and decrease prices at the same time. One little subscription has done this, and when you hear people say they can’t live without it, then you know their business model is winning big time.
While there can’t be a thousand Amazons, we can all try and emulate Bezos in even the slightest way, as even a thousandth of his success would be incredible for anybody.