Tag Archives: Jeff Bezos

Embrace Risk and Failure

Posted on by

Failure is simply a matter of an individual’s perspective and mindset.

To be successful in business and life, you must be willing to take risks and, therefore, accept failure. Jeff Bezos, founder and former CEO of Amazon, believed it’s essential to view failures and setbacks “as helpful obstacles that drive learning.”

“Whatever your goals are, don’t give up no matter how hard it gets,” he stated. Great businesses and organizations don’t exist to grow and make money. Instead, they solve societal problems, from tiny issues to giant dilemmas.

The first step to problem-solving involves defining what that problem is. The key is to get to the root of the problem. One of the best ways to discover the root cause of a problem is by utilizing the 5 Whys method. When a problem happens, could you ask why it happened five times? In theory, the last answer should get to the heart of the issue.

Bezos has long encouraged his teams at Amazon and others to take big risks and embrace failures. In 2019, Bezos told Amazon associates: “We need big failures if we’re going to move the needle — billion-dollar scale failures. And if we’re not, we’re not swinging hard enough.”

References:

  1. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/03/jeff-bezos-on-failure-dont-give-up-no-matter-how-hard-it-gets.html
  2. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/13/amazon-ceo-jeff-bezos-on-how-to-succeed-in-business.html

According to Jeff Bezos, it’s essential for an entrepreneur to “be a missionary,” you “can’t be mercenary,” meaning that you have to be mission-motivated, not money-motivated.

“Missionaries build better products and services — they always win,” said Bezos. “Mercenaries are just trying to make money, and paradoxically, the missionaries always end up making more money.”

10 Lessons to Learn from Jeff Bezos

Posted on by

“You can be grinding for four years with no results and, in the 5th year, become the biggest thing on the planet. The power of not giving up is real.” ~ Jeff Bezos

Here are 10 Incredible Lessons from Jeff Bezos:

1. Customer Obsession: “Start with the customer and work your way backward.” Bezos emphasizes the importance of focusing on customer needs and satisfaction above all else. Amazon’s vision: “To be earth’s most customer-centric company.”

2. Long-term Thinking: Bezos encourages a long-term perspective, often at the expense of short-term gains. He believes that truly great businesses are built over decades rather than years.

3. Embrace Failure: Bezos recognizes that innovation and experimentation come with the risk of failure. He encourages taking calculated risks and learning from mistakes. Amazon has benefitted from this mindset, part of its DNA and culture.

4. High Standards: Bezos insists on maintaining high standards in all aspects of the business, from products and services to hiring and decision-making. He is known for banning PowerPoints and unnecessary meetings to force a high standard of work.

5. Innovate Continuously: Amazon’s success is built on a relentless innovation process. Bezos encourages constant innovation to stay ahead of the competition and meet evolving customer needs. Pushing for “same-day deliveries” is an example of this.

6. Invent and Simplify: Bezos advises his team to invent new solutions and simplify existing processes. This fosters a culture of continuous improvement and efficiency.

7. Frugality: Bezos believes in controlling costs and avoiding unnecessary expenses to maximize efficiency and maintain a lean business model. Large corporations become more efficient over time if they relentlessly focus on staying lean.

8. Think Big: Bezos encourages ambitious, audacious thinking. He believes that thinking small limits potential and that bold ideas can lead to groundbreaking success.

9. Build a Great Team: Surround yourself with talented, passionate individuals. Bezos emphasizes the importance of hiring and retaining top-tier talent. As an entrepreneur, you need to attract people smarter than yourself to work for you.

10. Stay Agile: In a rapidly changing world, Bezos advises businesses to remain flexible and adapt to new opportunities and challenges swiftly. Amazon AWS is the prime example. It was a bold bet that few thought would pay off. Today, AWS is on its way to $100 billion in sales.

Source: Invest In Assets | Stock Market Investing  https://x.com/InvestInAssets/status/1718559795907907679

Blue Origin’s Successful Launch and Flight into Space

Posted on by

“Amazon founder Jeff Bezos aims to make space travel safe and routine”

Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com Inc. founder, made the first human space flight of the New Shepard rocket and capsule launched Tuesday morning on July 20, the 52nd anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. The New Shepard reached the edge of space and safely returned after a flight of just over 10 minutes.

The New Shepard rocket and capsule carried Mr. Bezos and three others (Mark Bezos, Wally Funk, and Oliver Daemon). The rocket and capsule are named for the belief that this blue planet is just the starting point for humankind’s future. The New Shepard capsule reached an apogee of 351,210 feet in altitude.

Flying into Space

Most space experts say that space starts at the point where orbital dynamic forces become more important than aerodynamic forces, or where the atmosphere alone is not enough to support a flying vessel at suborbital speeds.

Historically, it’s been difficult to pin that point of reaching space and earning your astronaut wings at a particular altitude. Hungarian physicist Theodore von Kármán determined the atmosphere versus space boundary to be around 50 miles up, or roughly 80 kilometers above sea level. Today, the Kármán line is set at what NOAA calls “an imaginary boundary” that’s 62 miles up, or roughly a hundred kilometers above sea level.

The Federal Aviation Administration, the U.S. Air Force, NOAA, and NASA generally use 50 miles (80 kilometers) as the boundary, with the Air Force granting astronaut wings to flyers who go higher than this mark. At the same time, NASA Mission Control places the line at 76 miles (122 kilometers).

References:

  1. https://www.wsj.com/articles/jeff-bezos-blue-origin-crew-set-for-space-debut-11626775480
  2. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/where-is-the-edge-of-space-and-what-is-the-karman-line