Years ago when I worked at Amazon.com in Seattle, I asked a colleague what Jeff Bezos was like. He replied, "Crazy. But crazy like a fox." As I have watched Bezos's career both from the inside and outside over the years, I have realized what an apt description that was. Richard L. Brandt's brief biography of Bezos, One Click, confirms this view.
Brandt charts Bezos's rise from computer nerd to world-changing entrepreneur. Bezos's success can be credited to his forward-looking insights and his "crazy like a fox" business sense. Brandt explains, among other things, why Bezos decided to allow negative product reviews, correctly guessing that earned trust would outweigh possible lost sales; why Amazon zealously guards some patents while freely sharing others; and why Bezos called becoming profitable the "dumbest" thing they could do in 1997.
Brandt ascribes Bezos's and Amazon's success to four deceptively simple principles. One, obsess over customers. Second, invent, and reinvent, tenaciously, until your get it right. Third, focus on the long term. Fourth, remember "it's always day one"--there are always new challenges ahead, new ideas to explore, and new directions to turn.
Brandt's One Click is a good example of the business books I like to read: part biography, part wisdom, distilling the essentials quickly, without too much business school jargon. Worthwhile read.
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