How JEFF BEZOS Would Build An SMMA (7 Secrets)

Summary

In this insightful video, the speaker shares the profound impact of Jeff Bezos's shareholder letters on their entrepreneurial journey. After investing in Amazon for years, they discovered the power of long-term thinking, customer obsession, and the importance of building a high-performance culture. The speaker distills seven key lessons from Bezos's approach, including the significance of making type 2 decisions efficiently and the 'flywheel effect' for business growth. The video also highlights the common traits of successful individuals, such as passionate curiosity and a childlike sense of wonder, inspiring viewers to adopt these mindsets for their own ventures.

Takeaways

• 🕰️ Takeaway 1: Long-Term Thinking - Jeff Bezos emphasizes the importance of focusing on a five to seven-year time horizon for business decisions, which sets Amazon apart from competitors.
• 🔮 Takeaway 2: Predicting the Future - Bezos's foresight in predicting business trends and adapting to changes has been instrumental in Amazon's success.
• 💡 Takeaway 3: Customer Obsession - A consistent theme in Bezos's letters is an intense focus on customers' needs and wants, which has driven Amazon's growth and customer satisfaction.
• 🌱 Takeaway 4: Planting Seeds - Amazon's approach involves planting seeds for the future, nurturing them over time, and being patient with the growth process.
• 🤝 Takeaway 5: Anti-Entropy Hiring - Bezos advocates for hiring practices that improve the company over time, ensuring each new hire raises the bar for the team.
• 🚪 Takeaway 6: Type 1 and Type 2 Decisions - Bezos distinguishes between irreversible decisions and those that can be reversed, advocating for swift action on the latter.
• 🛠️ Takeaway 7: The Flywheel Effect - Amazon's growth is attributed to focusing on key areas that, when improved, enhance the entire business ecosystem.
• 💡 Takeaway 8: Four Big Ideas - Consistent long-term thinking, customer obsession, operational excellence, and a passion for invention are the pillars of Amazon's success.
• 🎨 Takeaway 9: Arts and Sciences - Successful individuals often connect the arts with the sciences, valuing creativity and innovation in their endeavors.
• 🌌 Takeaway 10: Reality Distortion Field - Highly successful people have an expanded view of what is possible, often defying conventional wisdom and limitations.
• 🧒 Takeaway 11: Childlike Wonder - Maintaining a sense of wonder and adventure is a common trait among the ultra-successful, keeping them curious and open to exploration.

Q & A

What is the main theme of Jeff Bezos's shareholder letters from 1997 to 2019?

The main theme is the focus on long-term thinking, customer obsession, and the importance of innovation and operational excellence for the success of Amazon.

Why did Jeff Bezos emphasize long-term thinking in his first letter to shareholders in 1997?

Bezos believed that by extending the time horizon to seven years, Amazon could out-compete others as few companies were willing to plan that far ahead, allowing them to plant seeds for future growth.

What is the significance of the 500-foot tall clock that Jeff Bezos invested in?

The clock, designed to count to ten thousand years, symbolizes Bezos's commitment to long-term thinking and serves as a physical representation of patience and foresight.

How does Jeff Bezos define 'customer obsession' and why is it important?

Bezos sees customer obsession as a core value that drives the company to constantly improve and innovate to serve customers better. It is important because it aligns the company's goals with customer satisfaction, leading to long-term success.

What is the concept of 'anti-entropy hiring' mentioned in the script?

Anti-entropy hiring is a strategy where each new hire is expected to be better than the last in the same position, ensuring the company's quality and culture improve over time, thus fighting against the natural increase in complexity as the company grows.

What are 'Type 1' and 'Type 2' decisions as described by Jeff Bezos?

Type 1 decisions are irreversible and require great care, while Type 2 decisions are reversible and can be changed if necessary. Bezos advises to not overthink Type 2 decisions, allowing for faster and more efficient scaling of the company.

Can you explain the 'flywheel effect' in business as mentioned in the script?

The flywheel effect refers to the idea that improving one key aspect of a business can lead to overall improvement in the entire operation. It's about identifying the main driver that can accelerate the business's growth when enhanced.

What are the four big ideas Jeff Bezos believes have contributed to Amazon's success?

The four big ideas are consistent long-term thinking, a unique obsession over customers, a passion for invention, and operational excellence.

What common traits did Walter Isaacson identify in ultra-successful individuals like Jeff Bezos?

The common traits include passionate curiosity, connecting the arts to the sciences, having a reality distortion field (belief in the possible), and maintaining a childlike sense of wonder and adventure.

How does the concept of 'reality distortion field' relate to successful people according to Walter Isaacson?

The 'reality distortion field' refers to the ability of successful individuals to perceive what is possible differently from the average person. They have an unwavering belief in their vision, even when others see it as impossible, which drives them to achieve extraordinary things.

What advice does the script provide for entrepreneurs on making decisions?

The script advises entrepreneurs to distinguish between Type 1 and Type 2 decisions, to make Type 2 decisions more efficiently, and to focus on long-term thinking and customer obsession to drive their businesses forward.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Embracing Long-Term Thinking: Jeff Bezos' Vision

The speaker reflects on the profound impact of Jeff Bezos' shareholder letters, emphasizing the importance of long-term thinking for success in entrepreneurship. The first lesson from Bezos' 1997 letter is the focus on the 'long term,' advocating for a 5-7 year time horizon to outpace competitors. The speaker shares insights on how this mindset fosters patience and strategic planning, allowing for the planting of seeds that will grow into a successful business over time. Bezos' approach to the future and his methodical, forward-thinking strategy are highlighted as key takeaways for aspiring entrepreneurs.

05:00

🛍️ Customer Obsession: The Core of Amazon's Success

The second paragraph delves into Jeff Bezos' relentless focus on customer obsession, a philosophy consistently expressed throughout his shareholder letters. The speaker illustrates how prioritizing customer satisfaction has not only bolstered Amazon's reputation but has also been a driving force behind its financial success. The summary underscores the idea that being customer-centric is a guiding principle that has contributed to Amazon's unparalleled customer satisfaction scores and its status as a market leader.

10:01

🚀 Building a High-Performance Culture: Anti-Entropy Hiring

In the third paragraph, the speaker discusses the concept of building a high-performance culture through 'anti-entropy hiring,' a strategy inspired by Jeff Bezos. This involves assessing new hires based on their potential to elevate the company's standards and contribute positively to the team's collective productivity. The speaker highlights the significance of Bezos' approach to hiring, which includes asking whether a candidate is admired, has the potential to become a superstar, and will improve the team's overall performance.

15:03

🔍 Distinguishing Between Type 1 and Type 2 Decisions

The fourth paragraph examines Jeff Bezos' classification of decisions into Type 1 and Type 2, with Type 1 being irreversible and Type 2 being reversible. The speaker explains how most decisions are Type 2 and should be made more efficiently, without the hesitation often associated with Type 1 decisions. The summary stresses the importance of making quick, decisive actions, especially when the decision is reversible, to enable rapid scaling and adaptation in business.

20:05

🔄 The Flywheel Effect: Momentum Through Focused Improvement

The fifth paragraph explores the 'flywheel effect,' a concept popularized by Jim Collins and embraced by Jeff Bezos. The speaker describes how focusing on a single economic unit or metric can accelerate the growth of the entire business. The summary details how Amazon leveraged third-party sellers to enhance customer experience, prices, and shipping times, creating a virtuous cycle of improvement that benefited all aspects of their operations.

🌟 The Four Pillars of Amazon's Success

In the sixth paragraph, the speaker outlines the four key ideas that Jeff Bezos believes have been instrumental in Amazon's success: long-term thinking, customer obsession, operational excellence, and a passion for invention. The summary explains how these principles have guided Amazon's growth and innovation, creating a culture that consistently strives for improvement and excellence in all aspects of the business.

✨ Traits of the Ultra Successful: Curiosity, Connection, and Wonder

The final paragraph shifts focus to the common traits of ultra-successful individuals as identified by Walter Isaacson. The speaker summarizes the four traits: passionate curiosity, the ability to connect arts with sciences, a reality distortion field that allows them to perceive possibilities beyond the ordinary, and a childlike sense of wonder and adventure. The summary reflects on the importance of maintaining curiosity and a sense of adventure throughout life to fuel success and innovation.

Keywords

💡Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship refers to the process of designing, launching, and running a new business, which typically involves taking on financial risks in order to create and develop a business concept. In the video's context, it is the journey the speaker embarked on four and a half years ago, learning from Jeff Bezos's letters and applying those lessons to their own entrepreneurial endeavors.

💡Long-term Thinking

Long-term thinking is the practice of making decisions and planning with a focus on the future rather than the immediate short term. It is a central theme in the video, as the speaker highlights Jeff Bezos's emphasis on this approach, which involves setting a five to seven-year time horizon for Amazon's growth and development.

💡Customer Obsession

Customer obsession is a business philosophy that prioritizes the needs and desires of customers above all else. The speaker points out that Jeff Bezos consistently mentioned this concept in his letters, indicating that Amazon's success is largely attributed to its relentless focus on customer satisfaction and meeting their needs.

💡Anti-entropy Hiring

Anti-entropy hiring is a hiring strategy that seeks to increase the overall quality and performance of a company by only bringing on board individuals who are better than the last person hired for the same position. The concept is mentioned in the script as a tactic used by Jeff Bezos to maintain a high-performance culture at Amazon.

💡Type 1 and Type 2 Decisions

Type 1 and Type 2 decisions refer to two categories of decisions made within an organization. Type 1 decisions are irreversible and significant, while Type 2 decisions are reversible and less critical. The speaker discusses how understanding this distinction can lead to more efficient decision-making processes.

💡Flywheel Effect

The flywheel effect is a concept that describes a system in which continuous incremental improvements in one area can lead to significant overall progress. The speaker explains that Jeff Bezos used this effect to focus on one key area—third-party sellers—that would improve the entire customer experience and business model of Amazon.

💡Operational Excellence

Operational excellence is the pursuit of high quality and efficiency in business operations. It is one of the four key ideas Jeff Bezos attributes to Amazon's success, as mentioned in the video, and it reflects the company's commitment to maintaining high standards in its logistics and supply chain management.

💡Reality Distortion Field

A reality distortion field is a term used to describe the ability of some individuals to alter perceptions of what is possible, often leading to the achievement of seemingly impossible goals. The speaker cites this concept from the book 'Invent and Wander' by Walter Isaacson, noting that successful people like Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos possess this trait.

💡Passionate Curiosity

Passionate curiosity is an intense desire to learn and explore new things. It is one of the four common traits of ultra-successful people identified by Walter Isaacson in the book 'Invent and Wander'. The speaker relates this trait to the way Jeff Bezos and other successful individuals approach their businesses and innovations.

💡Inventiveness

Inventiveness is the ability to create new ideas, methods, or products. The speaker notes that Jeff Bezos fostered a culture of inventiveness at Amazon, which is part of the reason for the company's continuous innovation and success in various fields, such as the creation of AWS and Audible.

💡Childlike Sense of Wonder and Adventure

A childlike sense of wonder and adventure is the quality of maintaining a sense of awe and excitement about the world, akin to how children view their surroundings. The speaker mentions this as one of the traits of successful individuals, as it drives them to continuously explore and innovate without losing their innate curiosity.

Highlights

Jeff Bezos emphasized the importance of long-term thinking, stating that focusing on a five to seven-year time horizon can provide a competitive advantage.

Bezos's first letter in 1997 titled 'It's All About the Long Term' set the foundation for Amazon's approach to business strategy.

The concept of 'customer obsession' is a recurring theme in Bezos's shareholder letters, highlighting the significance of prioritizing customer needs above all else.

Bezos's 2001 letter coined the phrase 'customer franchise' as Amazon's most valuable asset, underscoring the link between customer satisfaction and shareholder value.

The idea of 'anti-entropy hiring' was introduced, focusing on hiring individuals who are better than the last person in the same position to maintain a high-performance culture.

Bezos's approach to decision-making categorizes decisions into Type 1 (irreversible) and Type 2 (reversible), advocating for swift action on reversible decisions.

The 'flywheel effect' is a concept popularized by Jim Collins and utilized by Bezos, where improving one aspect of the business can accelerate overall growth.

Bezos identified four key ideas contributing to Amazon's success: long-term thinking, customer obsession, a passion for invention, and operational excellence.

Walter Isaacson, author of 'Invent and Wander', notes four common traits among ultra-successful individuals: passionate curiosity, connecting arts and sciences, reality distortion fields, and a childlike sense of wonder.

The importance of maintaining a childlike sense of wonder and adventure to fuel exploration and innovation is highlighted as a key trait of successful individuals.

Bezos's investment in the '10,000-year clock' symbolizes his dedication to long-term thinking and patience.

The transcript discusses the value of focusing on what will not change in the next 10 years, rather than what will change, as a strategic approach to future-proofing business.

The concept of 'shiny object syndrome' is discouraged in favor of a consistent focus on serving customers excellently over the long term.

Bezos's shareholder letters reveal a consistent message of the importance of innovation and invention in staying ahead of competitors and serving customers better.

The transcript emphasizes the need for operational excellence in scaling a business, as demonstrated by Amazon's ability to manage massive growth in orders and logistics.

The importance of timing in invention is discussed, with successful inventions being those that are introduced at the right time when the market is ready.

The transcript concludes with a call to action for viewers to apply these lessons to their own businesses and lives, encouraging a mindset shift towards long-term success and innovation.

Transcripts

when I first started in entrepreneurship

four and a half years ago I had heard

these stories of these almost mysterious

letters written by the then richest man

in the world Jeff Bezos now six and a

half million dollars later generated

online I have to say one of the things

that I wish I did way sooner was read

these letters I just finished reading

every single one of Jeff bezos's Secret

Letters to shareholders from 1997 to

2019 and it was incredible I mean I

literally got chills reading these

letters and reading what Jeff Bezos did

because he he predicted the future and

tapping into his mind there were so many

valuable lessons that I wish I had known

way sooner so today I want to share with

you the top seven lessons that I learned

reading every single one of Jeff bezos's

Secret Letters to shareholders

at number one probably the single

biggest lesson that I took away from

this book comes from Jeff bezos's first

letter written in 1997 so 26 years ago

he wrote this the letter was titled it's

all about the long term and in this

letter Jeff Bezos breaks down his

futuristic view of the world and what he

believes it will take for Amazon to be

at the top of this world and what it

will take for them to become a

successful company so Jeff has this

amazing quote that I actually read

online before I ever read these letters

where he says if everything you do needs

to work on a three to five year time

Horizon then you're competing against a

ton of people but if you're willing to

raise that time Horizon to seven years

you're competing against a fraction of

those people because very few companies

are willing to do that at Amazon we like

things to work in five to seven year

time Horizons we're willing to plant

seeds watch them grow and we're very

very stubborn see this is both simple

and and sophisticated most people are

not willing to pursue something for a

long enough time to actually see the

fruits of it not only that but as the

measurement of success grows and as

people go from zero to one million to 5

million to 10 million to 100 million I

think you see a similar thing play out

which is the people who got to one

million are willing to focus on

something and go all in on something for

one million dollars worth of time the

people who get to 10 million are willing

to focus on that thing for 10 million

dollars worth of time and I believe that

scale plays out all the way to a billion

100 billion and that's why Jeff was so

successful he thought so long term there

was no investing in airbnbs there was no

Amazon Drop Shipping automated stores

there was no shiny object there was only

how do we make Amazon as successful as

possible how do we make it serve its

customers as excellently as possible for

the next foreseeable future five to

seven years was the time frame he used

so that's the first thing that really

stuck out to me how can you think longer

about what you are trying to do rather

than chasing what is natural in us which

is immediate gratification because it

makes us feel safe how can we push back

past that mindset and think in five to

seven years people ask Jeff all the time

what do you think is going to change in

the next decade and what Jeff said is

what people don't ever ask enough is

what do you think won't change in the

next 10 years and he says I submit to

you that question is far more important

than the previous so that's what I'm

thinking about right now I'm thinking

long term what is going to be around

seven years from now and what do I need

to do to build the best company in seven

years not in seven months that is a huge

mental shift another funny story here

actually is Jeff invested 42 million

dollars into a clock it is a 500 foot

tall clock that is going in the side of

a mountain he spent 42 million dollars

on this thing and it counts to ten

thousand years so this clock is going

from zero to ten thousand years and he

invested 40 million dollars which is

more money than most of us will ever

make in our lifetimes he invested that

into this clock because he wanted it to

be a symbol of patience and long-term

thinking that is how unusually

passionate he is about the long term the

second big takeaway that I had from

reading these letters was something that

Jeff Bezos has become very well known

for which is customer Obsession reading

this book he mentions customer Obsession

at least a few times in every single

letter all the way from 1997 to 2019

he's writing about how obsessed he is

about customers and what the customers

want bezos's 2001 letter to shareholders

which I'm actually reading right now

this is an amazing book by the way it's

called invent and wonder it has every

letter that he ever wrote and has all of

his collected teachings that he spoke as

well in this book the 2001 letter is

called the customer franchise is our

most valuable asset he summarizes the

following letter in 2002 with this he

says in short what is good for the

customer is good for shareholders and

not enough entrepreneurs myself included

think like that now I have really

shifted my thinking to be customer

obsessed but it took me too long what

will be the best for the customers

because if you can just always answer a

question and if you can always make a

decision with is this better for our

customers then you have an easy North

Star and ironically the more that you do

that the better and more consistently

that you ask is this better for our

customers the better it will be for your

bank account because what is good for

customers is good for shareholders

Amazon has recorded the highest customer

satisfaction scores of any company ever

so I think it is safe to say that Jeff

Bezos who set out to build Amazon and

make it the most customer-centric

company on Earth that was his goal I

believe it is fair to say that he

achieved that and that is probably the

thing that I respect the most about him

he built a company that serves people

incredibly well because he was obsessed

over them it's not even that he's

necessarily some customer genius it's

that he cared enough I mean he is a

customer genius the guy's a genius a lot

of things relating and pertaining to

business but it's that he cared enough

to actually make it a prior Authority

and ingrain it in the culture of Amazon

I think that is so incredibly important

the third lesson that I learned from

these letters and this is one of my

tactical lessons that I've actually

applied at our companies as we've scaled

from zero to multi-million dollar a year

run rate and this is the idea of

building a high performance culture and

very specifically it's something that I

call anti-entropy hiring which I heard

Sam Evans who stole this from from Bezos

I heard Sam explain this in a YouTube

video years ago and it always stuck with

me he said when you hire somebody and

you're wondering is this person going to

make the company better or worse he says

you want to ask yourself is this person

better than the last person we hired in

this position is this person better than

the last person so if you're hiring a

salesperson is this sales rep better

than the last sales rep that we hired in

this role in this division of the

company Jeff would go to his managers

and he would ask his managers when they

are hiring somebody who would ask them

three questions he said first do you

admire this person you're thinking about

bringing into our team that's a really

powerful question on its own he said

said second on what scale is this person

likely to become a superstar so what

superstar potential do they have and

then third last but not least will they

make the collective productivity of the

unit better or will they bring it down

so essentially will they make the team

they're going into better or worse and

these three questions I think are some

of the most powerful questions you can

ask yourself before bringing on somebody

into your team or into your company do

you admire them what is their likelihood

of being a superstar and will they make

the company ultimately as a collective

unit better really make it worse so

that's anti-entropy hiring anti-entropy

for those who don't know entropy is the

second law of Thermodynamics which

states that for every unit you add into

a closed system the more complexity that

that system incurs right so I'm in this

room right now if you added 10 people

into this room and be a way more complex

room than just if I'm in here myself

companies are the same way in the

beginning there's just one person

there's a lot of difficulty but there's

not a ton of complexity as far as the

scale of the organization goes but once

you're at a thousand people one once

you're at 10 000 people how do you

maintain that culture how do you

maintain that quality how do you

maintain that standard that was set by

somebody like Jeff Bezos to make sure

that you know Jeff Jimenez or whoever

you're hiring like how do you make sure

that person can match the quality of

Jeff Bezos the way you do that is by

asking yourself is this person better

than the last person we hired in the

same position and if you can do that you

can have a company that will scale

anti-entropically and that is so so

powerful so I've stolen this from Jeff

and Sam and I've used it at our company

and I'm very very grateful that I did

because it helped me save so much money

on so many potential bad hires the

fourth takeaway I had from Jeff is that

there are type 1 and type 2 decisions he

says type 1 decisions are decisions that

are a one-way door you walk through that

door there is no coming back these are

the decisions that you need to be

extremely cautious and careful of and

that you need to really spend some time

thinking about he says the problem is

the majority of decisions that we make

are type 2 decisions these are decisions

that are reversed possible you can make

the decision today and you can be fine

tomorrow if you change your mind it may

not be ideal but they're reversible they

are not life or death he says the

problem is that most people make type 2

decisions as if they're type 1 decisions

meaning they're very inefficient they're

very slow to make the decisions whether

it's firing somebody they're too slow to

do it whether it's leaving whatever

they're doing right now and starting a

business in the first place they're too

slow to do it they don't make those type

2 reversible decisions effectively and

efficiently enough and that's why they

don't scale as quickly as a company like

Amazon or just any fast-growing company

they're not willing to make the hard

decisions in a quick enough decisive

enough manner to be able to scale

effectively this is something that I've

struggled with a lot as I've gotten

better as an entrepreneur I've made my

decisions more and more efficiently and

I've started to kind of create a bias

for Action which is look I might not

know what I need to do here but I know

this decision is reversible so I just

need to do something I see a lot of

people who are in college on the fence

about becoming an entrepreneur and

though go four years debating whether or

not they should drop out only to never

do it and regretting and wishing they

had to start that business here's the

beautiful thing dropping out of college

is a type 2 decision if you drop out you

give your business idea six months 12

months you can go back to college it's a

reversible decision so this distinction

between type 1 decisions and type 2

decisions has been very very important

for me to understand and hearing Jeff

talk about it has been very very

powerful so lesson number five is

something called the flywheel effect now

this is something that was popularized

by Jim Collins the author of that book

good to great but something that Jeff

Bezos really capitalized on and started

to make a little bit more famous and

well known in the industry the flywheel

effect is this idea that for every unit

you add into one area of the business or

every unit you improve the entire

business becomes better and if you can

focus on improving that one unit the

whole machine will run faster for Amazon

their economic unit wasn't prices wasn't

shipping times even their economic unit

was third party Sellers and so Jeff

Bezos knew the more third-party sellers

they could attract to the platform the

better prices they could offer customers

the better quality because of supply and

demand the better shipping times the

better variety the better options the

better customer experience the more

sellers they could add the better

customer experience so this flywheel

effect is something that these great

companies use to understand what is the

one economic unit that we need to focus

on in order to make the whole machine

run faster for somebody like Alex

hermosi and acquisition.com you might

ask yourself what's the economic unit

surely it's portfolio growth month over

month or its number of applicants we get

on our website or whatever it is right

but I would I would go as far to say

that I think the economic unit for a

company like acquisition.com just to use

an example I think their number one

economic unit is Alex's YouTube

subscribers and I think if they focus on

just getting more and more subscribers

they will get more and more applicants

thus they will get more and more

portfolio Revenue so an idea there is

basically the more videos that Alex

makes the more money that

acquisition.com makes so if you can

focus on that one economic unit it makes

it makes your focus extremely clear and

extremely simple if I post better videos

more videos I will get more subscribers

which means I will get more clients from

my business thus I will make more money

now the thing about that is it can't

just be what's a leading indicator

there's a difference between a leading

indicator and a flywheel indicator the

reason why I think subscribers for Alex

hermosi could fit the flywheel effect is

because the more subscribers they get

the more applicants they get thus the

more businesses they get in their

portfolio the more businesses they get

in their portfolio the more data they

have the more data they have the more

effective they can be as consultants to

the companies in their portfolio so the

more businesses they get the more

variety of data and insights they have

which makes them better and better

Consultants so then their question

becomes well how do we get more and more

portfolio companies and that would go

right back to getting more and more

subscribers and making more and more

content and better and better content on

YouTube and Instagram and Tick Tock and

all that stuff so that's the flywheel

effect what is the one unit and Metric

that you can focus on that makes the

whole machine run faster focus on that

one metric obsessively and watch your

entire business grow and scale as a

byproduct of that so take away number

six these are the four big ideas that

Jeff Bezos mentions and one of his later

shareholder letters he says these are

the four ideas that have built I've

always asked myself like what is

somebody like Jeff Bezos think about

what allows him to build a company like

that well these are the four main things

that Jeff thinks about that he has

attributed to the growth and the success

of Amazon number one is something we've

talked about he says it is consistent

unwavering long-term thinking number two

he says a unique obsession over

customers instead of competitors that

distinction is very important what do

most companies focus on they focus on

what X Y and Z competitors charge you

know what they're offering or what

they're doing but instead if you take

that energy because we only have a

finite amount of energy so if you take

that energy and you focus it on the

customer and say instead of what will

make us beat our competitors what will

make us better serve our customers it's

a very very valuable thing to do so

long-term thinking customer Obsession

number three he says is a passion for

invention they have a passionate culture

they have an inventive culture at Amazon

they've started so many companies under

this main umbrella of Amazon that have

gone on to be extreme successes such as

AWS such as audible such as well that

they actually acquired audible but they

have this inventive culture and they're

always thinking about what do we need to

do to stay ahead of the curve and beat

our competitors when we are in a world

in a landscape like we are in 2023 where

everything is changing so quickly with

AI with content with all of these

different forms of Leverage and all

these different ways to distribute

products and services things are

changing so quickly right things are

changing so quickly you see this is why

companies like Blockbuster get wiped out

to use a cliche example things are

changing so quickly and if you don't

have a culture of people that is

inventive in their nature and that is

passionate about create creating and

improving and inventing then you will

fall behind to the company that does so

that's a big takeaway I had from Amazon

at my companies I really need to make

sure that we are ingraining

inventiveness into the culture to make

sure the entire team is constantly

thinking about what what can we do to

make this place better for our customers

right it's not shiny object syndrome

inventiveness it's not what new product

can we do what new what new service can

we do that is a component for Amazon but

it's more focused on what can we do to

better serve our customers and if new

products and services fall into that

category then it makes sense then they

take it on but for a lot of

entrepreneurs this advice could be risky

because you're doing 10K a month and you

think you need to do something new to

get to 100K a month I don't think it's

time for you to be inventing yet so I

want to say this advice with a with a

grain of salt it might be time for you

to start innovating and improving what

you're already doing but not necessarily

inventing so be careful with that word

and focus on timely inventions that is

one of the things he talks about is our

inventions that worked they worked

because we invented them at the right

time our inventions that didn't work

they didn't work because not necessarily

they were bad inventions but the

marketplace wasn't ready for it yet or

somebody had already taken over this

vertical that we were going after so

time your inventions well the fourth

thing the fourth big idea is operational

excellence so in all of their operations

he wanted Amazon to be excellent in the

way that they operated and you can see

this in the way that they were able to

sustain such incredible growth and to

handle going from zero orders to

billions and billions of orders a month

I mean that is incredible scale the

logistics in the supply chain behind

that I can't even fathom but they had

this ingrained in their culture this

idea of operational excellence and I

think that is just as much personal as

it is professional and systematic I

think that goes back to finding people

that are excellent by nature and then

giving them the direction of focus to

focus their Excellence on operations to

support the scale of the company so

those were the four thing things that

Jeff Bezos used to summarize the success

of Amazon long-term thinking customer

Obsession operational excellence and a

passion for invention focus on those

four things Implement them into your

company and I think you will see a lot

of good come from it takeaway number

seven is something that I had reading

this book invent and wonder not so much

from studying Jeff's letters but

actually studying something the author

said in the preface of the book this is

the same author Walter Isaacson who

wrote about Steve Jobs who wrote about

Einstein who wrote about Pablo Picasso

who wrote about the most successful

people in history in their respected

Endeavors Walter says that there are

four common traits that he has noticed

amongst the ultra successful people that

he studied and I found these these

fascinating I mean they changed my

perspective on life he says the first

one is to be passionately curious I want

to read you something that Walter

actually wrote In This Book he's talking

about Leonardo da Vinci he says take

Leonardo in his delight-filled notebooks

we see his mind dancing across all

fields of nature with the Curiosity that

is exuberant and playful he asks and

tries to answer hundreds of charming

random questions why is the sky blue

what does the tongue of a woodpecker

look like do a bird's wings move faster

when flapping up or flapping down how is

the pattern of swirling water similar to

that of curling hair I mean just these

bizarre questions but he's so curious

about how everything works why does it

work the way it does I think when we

look at somebody like Elon Musk the

second richest man in the world but

arguably the most successful based on

his net worth escalation in the last few

years we look at him and we say he's a

genius we say he's extraordinarily smart

but we don't say he's extraordinarily

curious and I think that is at the

backbone of building something like

Tesla building something like SpaceX I

think you have to be passionately

curious and so it's really stuck with me

to start thinking deeper about why

things are the way they are Walter says

a second key and common trait is to

connect the Arts to The Sciences of life

I found this fascinating as well wow I

just got chills reading this I forgot

about this he says whenever Steve Jobs

launched a new product such as the iPod

or the iPhone his presentation ended

with street signs that showed an

intersection of liberal Art Street and

Technology street it's in Apple's DNA

that technology is alone not enough we

believe that it's technology married

with the humanities that yields us the

results that makes our hearts sing wow

that's incredible and it shows when he

when he combined beautiful calligraphy

into the Macintosh that's one of the

things that made the Macintosh so unique

and special at its time was the

beautiful font that was created through

the calligraphy that he added into it

from the calligraphy courses that he

took at that Community College that he

went to and that's a really fascinating

thing another thing Walter quotes in

this book he quotes Einstein thinking

over the theory of relativity and how

Einstein would pull out a violin and

start playing Mozart to help him think

through the problem he was combined

finding the Arts and the sciences and I

think there's something really really

special in that the third thing and this

might be the most important the third

common trait is another thing they use

to describe Steve Jobs which was he had

a reality Distortion field he had a

reality Distortion field and just side

note guys if you want me to make a video

like this on Steve Jobs somebody else

I've spent a lot of time looking into

comment that below I would love to keep

making more videos like this I I think

they're extremely valuable and they can

save you guys a ton of time on having to

not do all this research your own but

just take the biggest synopsis and

takeaways from somebody who's

practically applying them to their

business but that is the third thing and

I think the most important he says

people like Steve Jobs people like

Einstein people like Jeff Bezos they

have reality Distortion Fields meaning

when an average person might think is

impossible somebody like Steve or Jeff

they can't even comprehend why it's

impossible they have a distortion from

what average people think is possible

and achievable and what they think is

possible and achievable those two things

are distorted right this idea of reality

Distortion as I'm reading the book again

it actually comes from Star Trek and

it's something where the aliens would

create an entirely new planet just by

using sheer mental force and if there's

something about that parallel to

successful people that I find so

fascinating which is these people take

on tasks like Landing a rocket ship on

Mars and things that I I would

personally think that's impossible like

I'm not even gonna think about that I

would never even have that idea and they

think what do we need to do to make it

happen and no is not an answer for them

it's just like this is possible we just

need to figure it out think about

another human being born of the same

Flesh and Bones that you and I are born

of using sheer mental Force to land a

rocket ship on another planet hundreds

of thousands of miles away or tens of

thousands of miles away and then think

about another human being born of the

same Flesh and Bones that doesn't think

it's possible to make ten thousand

dollars a month you don't think making

ten thousand dollars a month is possible

and yet we have human beings on this

planet that are building rocket ships

from scratch to land them on planets

that that are tens of thousands of miles

away think about the reality Distortion

think about the difference in thinking

from the person who doesn't even believe

that 10K a month is possible to the

person that is building a rocket ship to

land on Mars it's not that one thing is

possible and the other is impossible

it's that the person approaching it

believes that is the difference that's

why when it comes to self-development

when it comes to business I believe the

most important ingredient is belief and

that is shown and backed up by this idea

of the most successful people that

Walter studied having reality Distortion

fields on what they believe is possible

and the last trait to finish off this

video is a childlike sense of wonder and

Adventure I found this one pretty

interesting kind of similar to

passionate curiosity but here's the

distinction at a certain point the

adventurousness that we have as human

beings it gets beaten out of us you take

the same 40 year old that has become

vegetative and just stagnant and they've

stopped Exploring Life and they've

stopped investigating and looking at

life as an adventure that same 40 year

old when they were five six seven years

old I guarantee you they were running

around their neighborhood going on bikes

trying to figure out where is this where

is that trying to figure out how these

things work that same person has had

their curiosity and their

adventurousness beaten out of them by

society and that's something Walter

talks about he says the most successful

people he studied they've retained that

adventurousness they never cease to stop

and he tells the story of Einstein who

wrote a letter to one of his friends

Walter uses this as an example he says

we might Savor the beauty of a blue sky

but we no longer bother to wonder why it

is that color Leonardo did so did

Einstein who wrote to another friend you

and I never ceased to stand like Curious

children before the great mystery into

which we were born we should be careful

to never outgrow our Wonder Years or to

let our children do so that is one of

the things that I took with me the most

I do a lot of weird I walk around

Barefoot I do a lot of like weird

meditations and like I just do a lot of

weird things and I'm grateful for that

I'm grateful that I haven't stopped

exploring This Thing Called Life this

great mystery that you and I were born

into and I hope that that never gets

taken out of me by Society because it

might possibly be the most important

thing for us is to never stop exploring

to never stop investigating this thing

called life so with that being said

those were the seven takeaways that I

had from Jeff bezos's Secret Letters to

shareholders that he's been writing

since 1997 and I hope that you got some

value from this I hope that this is

enhanced the way you think in some way

shape or form if you did I want to keep

making more and more videos like this I

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watching more business lessons takeaways

and Adventures in the next video as

always much love I will see you in the

next one peace