Inspiring quotes from Jeff Bezos as the Amazon CEO and Founder turns 56
Jeff Bezos, one of the richest men in the world, has some great things to say about customer-centricity, innovation, and the magic that lies in discovery. Here are some inspiring quotes on the Amazon CEO's birthday.
E-commerce giant Amazon, also the world's most valuable company, surpassed Apple and Google in the ranks in June last year, to be valued at $315 billion. Jeff Bezos, the Founder and CEO of the company, is a name that needs no introduction in the business world.
In 1993, Bezos quit his job at DE Shaw and was driving across the US from New York to Seattle. Writing the business plan on this drive, he started an online bookstore out of his garage on July 5, 1994. Today, as the relentless entrepreneur turns 56 today, his company's footprint is seen across multiple industries.
Amazon Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos
Jeff Bezos will be visiting India this week and is likely to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other officials, besides meeting with industry leaders. Bezos will also attend SMBhav, an event focussing on small and medium businesses in India - that is slated for January 15-16 in the capital city.
On account of his birthday, YourStory has put together some inspiring quotes from Bezos:
On customer obsession
"We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts. It’s our job every day to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little bit better."
"If you do build a great experience, customers tell each other about that. Word of mouth is very powerful."
"Obsess about customers, not competitors."
"If your customer base is ageing with you, then eventually you are going to become obsolete or irrelevant. You need to be constantly figuring out who are your new customers and what are you doing to stay forever young."
"The best customer service is if the customer doesn’t need to call you, doesn’t need to talk to you. It just works."
"If you’re competitor-focused, you have to wait until there is a competitor doing something. Being customer-focused allows you to be more pioneering."
"The most important single thing is to focus obsessively on the customer. Our goal is to be earth’s most customer-centric company."
On innovation
"We innovate by starting with the customer and working backwards. That becomes the touchstone for how we invent."
"I think frugality drives innovation just like other constraints do. One of the only ways to get out of a tight box is to invent your way out."
"What’s dangerous is not to evolve."
"Invention by its very nature is disruptive."
"I believe you have to be willing to be misunderstood if you’re going to innovate."
"Maintain a firm grasp of the obvious at all times."
"My view is there’s no bad time to innovate."
"A company shouldn’t get addicted to being shiny, because shiny doesn’t last."
(Edited by Evelyn Ratnakumar)
On discovery
"It’s not an experiment if you know it’s going to work."
"There’ll always be serendipity involved in discovery."
"If you only do things where you know the answer in advance, your company goes away."
"If you decide that you’re going to do only the things you know are going to work, you’re going to leave a lot of opportunity on the table."
"If you can’t tolerate critics, don’t do anything new or interesting."