My stumbling - a conversation with Jeff Bezos about growth
We are 14 months into our new chapter at Century. As we completed our strategic planning session on Friday, what crossed my mind was the adage: “Growth creates complexity. Complexity kills growth.”
Fortunately, we are not the first company seeking to grow and provide leadership opportunities to our fellow teammates with the growth. I gave my good friend Jeff Bezos a ring Saturday morning before my family got up and had a conversation….
What I love most about books is it’s like having a conversation with someone I’d never get access to. So, I didn’t really talk to to Bezos in person but I’m reading the collection of his writings in the book Invent & Wander.
Jeff had a bold vision back in the 1990s. He left his cushy finance gig to start a company he initially planned to call “Cadabra” short for ”abracadabra.” (He pivoted to Amazon.com because people confused it for "Cadaver")
Every time a shift in the economy takes place there is an opportunity for the bold to make a mark because they feel the vibrations.
Some examples:
Cornelius Vanderbilt - jumped from Ferries into the railroad business
Thomas Watson Jr. - jumped from office machines into computers
Jeff Bezos - jumped from finance into the World Wide Web
I love reading about ”overnight successes“ in the early days to feel the visionaries conviction and clarity while others had doubt.
In the early days of Amazon.com, Jeff was not considered a genius. He was ridiculed by many.
Share price went from $106 down to $6 in the late 90s
Stock analysts ridiculed: “amazon.toast” and “amazon.bomb”
Bezos even got grilled on NBC Nightly News by Tom Brokaw: “Mr. Bezos, can you even spell ’profit’?” Bezos calmly responded: “Sure, P-R-O-P-H-E-T”
How did Bezos do it?
I think a lot of the answers and the seeds he planted are found in his very first shareholder letter in 1997.
TIME HORIZON: Bezos titled his first letter: “It’s All About the Long Term.” He has always viewed the time horizon of Amazon on such a larger time horizon than his peers. He considered Amazon’s business as ”Day 1” of the internet with a clear thesis of the grand trajectory of the World Wide Web.
LEGACY: “We are working to build something important… something that we can all tell our grandchildren about. Such things aren’t meant to be easy.” Legacy taps into an additional fuel tank of motivation.
DISCIPLINE: “We still have so much to learn…we must remain vigilant and maintain a sense of urgency.” Ruthless discipline is required to get to greatness. Effort like we talked about last week is part of the ingredients for any worthwhile achievement.
TALENT: “We know our success will be largely affected by our ability to attract and retain a motivated employee base…” He continues later in the letter: “Setting the bar high in our approach to hiring has been… the single most important element of Amazon.com’s success.” It comes down to the people on the bus. It's that simple. It's that hard.
GRATITUDE: “Grateful to our customers for their business and trust, to each other for our hard work and to our shareholders for their support…” A heart filled with gratitude leads to choices from a place of abundance and possibility. A company at its core is a human system interdependent on all stakeholders: customers, vendors, teammates, shareholders.
Bezos continues to be incredibly patient in his approach to business and outlook even 25 years after writing his first shareholder letter.
Bezos has recently built a ten-thousand -year clock on his Texas ranch! A century hand that advances every hundred years and a cuckoo that comes out every millennium. Bezos explains, “Its a special clock, designed to be a symbol , an icon for long-term thinking.”
Bezos is bold to think different and act different.
Onward,
Matt
PS - Bezos also shared with me that on the logo of his space company Blue Origin is this latin phrase:
Gradatim Ferociter: “Step by Step, Ferociously.”