These 110 thoughts make Bezos comparable to Musk

A decision-making framework: Regret Minimization Framework; You must pay the price for your uniqueness, but it's worth it

If there is an entrepreneur in this era who can match Tesla's founder Musk in creativity and business achievements, it should be Amazon's founder Bezos. This article summarizes Bezos' 110 thoughts, helping us understand the success logic of this world-class entrepreneur.

In 1994, 28-year-old Jeff Bezos saw a number while surfing the internet - 2300%, which was the annual growth rate of global internet users at that time. Bezos' eyes lit up, and a strong idea emerged: to create a company that sells books online.

At that time, Bezos was a senior vice president at D.E.Shaw & Co, the most advanced and successful hedge fund trading management company on Wall Street, with enviable income and status. It was not an easy decision to choose between a comfortable life and unexpected risks. When he shared his idea with his boss, a boss who valued talent took him for a long walk in Central Park in New York and finally said, "It sounds like a great idea, but it would be even better for those who currently don't have a good job."

The boss asked him to reconsider for another 48 hours before making a final decision. After much contemplation, Bezos felt that he would not regret trying and failing, but he would regret not acting on his ideas. He ultimately chose the seemingly risky path to follow his inner passion and ideals.

The gears of Bezos' destiny began to turn anew. Three years later, the online bookstore he founded, Amazon, became the largest bookstore on the internet, followed by becoming the largest online music retailer in the United States, and the largest online retailer...

While running Amazon, Bezos demonstrated extraordinary leadership, especially by not being swayed by the company's continuous losses for 20 years, but focusing on the core business and future growth, continuously investing in technology, infrastructure, and talent. It is this strategic determination and long-term vision that have led to Amazon's current status as the world's largest e-commerce company, with over $80 billion in annual revenue from cloud services, and a market value of over a trillion dollars.

Bezos' business achievements go beyond Amazon. He also founded the space exploration company Blue Origin, acquired the long-standing American media The Washington Post, and invested in a series of cutting-edge technology companies in electric vehicles, autonomous driving, AI, and more. Given time, the business seeds planted by Bezos may create new business miracles.

Behind great companies are great leaders, and great leaders have unique thoughts and business philosophies. Today, we share with readers the life wisdom and business thinking of this business leader, hoping to inspire everyone.

About a Successful Life

I have discovered a decision-making framework: the regret minimization framework. I imagine myself at 80 years old, looking back on my life. I hope to minimize regrets as much as possible, even if I fail, I will not regret it. One thing I might regret is never trying.
I want to make a prediction: at a moment when you are 80 years old, reminiscing about the past, only you quietly telling your life story to your inner self, the most fulfilling and meaningful part of that narrative will be filled with a series of decisions you have made
As time goes by, many children and adults will come to know where their passion lies... I don't think this is so difficult. I believe the problem sometimes lies in us letting our rationality veto those passions. Therefore, we need to guard against this.
I have a piece of advice for all young people: carefully consider each of your choices. It is not talent that determines your life, but rather your every choice. Talent is of course a good thing, but you don't have to be proud of it. Only what you have worked hard to achieve is worth being proud of. Talent is a gift we receive, and for me, what is truly difficult is deciding to work hard, to make good use of my talents, and to do things that make me uncomfortable.
We all know that uniqueness (originality) is valuable, and we are taught to "be yourself." What I truly ask of you is to embrace and realistically understand how much effort it takes to maintain this uniqueness.
The world wants you to blend in, it will do everything it can to attract you, but don't let that happen. You must pay the price for your uniqueness, but it is worth it.
The universe wants you to be ordinary. In a thousand ways, it is pulling you towards being ordinary. Don't let that become a reality.
People who often do things right, listen more; people who often do things right, change their minds frequently; people who often do things right, find ways to challenge their deeply held beliefs.
Traditional wisdom is usually correct.
Many people (I am not one of them) believe that you should live in the moment. I believe what you should do is consider your future, ensure you plan for the future, and ultimately lead a satisfying life.
Think about the people you admire in life, they are likely the ones you can learn from and emulate. For me, I always try to work only with people I admire. I encourage employees in my company to do the same. Life is very short, you must do this.
How do you earn trust? I can tell you how you won't earn trust. Don't ask others to trust you, that definitely won't work. I believe there is a simple way to earn trust. This method is difficult to implement, hard to do, but simple to say. The way to earn trust is: Step one, do difficult things well; Step two, repeat doing them.
I believe that curiosity and a love for exploration are survival skills. Our ancestors who lacked curiosity and a spirit of exploration may not have survived as long as those who constantly explored the next mountain, looking for more sources of food and better climate conditions.
The fairy tale version of "be yourself" is that as long as you let your uniqueness shine, all pain will disappear. This statement is misleading.
Being yourself is worth it, but don't expect it to be easy or free, you must continually put in effort
I tell people: when the world around you changes, this change may not be in your favor; suddenly, the past tailwind turns into a headwind, and you must face it head-on, figure out what you need to do, because complaining is not the solution.
Every aspect of our society is getting better day by day. I firmly believe in this. I am an optimist. You see, the myth of the "good old days" is often a fabrication.
I believe that harmony between work and life is a good framework. I prefer to use the term "harmony" rather than "balance" because "balance" implies strict trade-offs. In fact, if I am comfortable at work, I perform better at home. If I am comfortable at home, I have more energy to invest in work - to become a better employee, a better colleague.
80% of your happiness in life depends on who you choose to be with.
Every successful entrepreneur has a firm belief, that is, believing in their own success. Even if you fail five times, ten times, or even more, do not be afraid, continue to strive after setting the right goal, this is the key to success. Without this spirit, success is impossible.
The only way to get out of a predicament is to create your own way out.
Ultimately, who we are is our own choice. Create a great story for yourself.
Pressure mainly comes from not taking action on something you can control.
Each of us has limited time, how we spend our time and how we utilize it is a powerful way of thinking about the world.
Looking at society as a whole, if you want to succeed in your career and life, what you create must outweigh what you consume. Your goal should be to create value for everyone you come into contact with. Any business or enterprise that does not create value for those it interacts with, even if it appears successful on the surface, will not last in this world. It will disappear.
Without the experience of coming out of difficult times, it means you have not truly been tested.

On Business Thinking

I firmly believe that missionaries can create better products because they care more. For a missionary, it's not just about business. Society needs business activities, and business must have meaning, but that's not the reason you do it. You do it because there are meaningful things that drive you to do so.
A good business product has at least four characteristics: customers like it; it can scale to a very large size; it has strong capital returns; it is sustainable.
The most important things are the things that do not change significantly; the most important things are stable, the foundation you will rely on in the future, you know it will definitely be there.
Many companies make this mistake: when the external environment suddenly changes, they lose confidence and start chasing the latest trends.
If your strategy is based on transient things - who your competitors are, the technologies you can use, etc., these things will change rapidly, and you will have to change your strategy quickly
Putting customers at the center, rather than competitors, brings many benefits, one of which is: if you are leading in a certain field, you will be full of motivation. If you focus entirely on competitors, it is difficult to maintain motivation after becoming the first in a certain field.
We have always wanted to be the most customer-centric company in the world. We will not change this, this is the reason for our success. But I promise we will add one thing, we will become the best employer and the safest workplace in the world.
I often remind my employees to feel afraid, to wake up every morning with fear. Not afraid of competition, but afraid of our customers. Because it is the customers that have made our company what it is today.
We have built relationships with customers, we have a great responsibility to customers. We need to know that if others provide better service to customers, customers will no longer be loyal to us.
Our mission is: to raise the level of customer expectations, thereby raising the level of all companies. If we can do this, then we are doing something truly meaningful.
What we are striving for is not to create great services for millions of customers, we are striving to create great services for each and every customer. If you think this way, the result of creating great services for each and every customer is that you will win millions of customers.
You should spend 70% of your time "building" an excellent customer experience, and 30% of your time "promoting" it.
I am often asked a question: "What changes will there be in the next ten years?" But I am rarely asked "What will remain unchanged in the next ten years?" I think the second question is more important because you need to build your strategy on things that remain unchanged. Putting all resources all in on things that remain unchanged, what an exciting principle.
If you do something and look three years into the future, there are many people competing with you; but if you can look seven years into the future, then there will be very few people competing with you. Because very few companies are willing to make such long-term plans.
Once I asked Buffett, your investment philosophy is very simple, why don't others do the same as you? Buffett said: "Because no one is willing to get rich slowly."
Having ideas is easy. Turning ideas into successful products is difficult. It takes many steps from idea to result, and it requires perseverance.
Long-term thinking is both a necessary condition for true ownership and an inevitable result of true ownership. For example, an owner is different from a tenant. I know a couple who rented out their house to tenants. As a result, the tenants nailed the Christmas tree to the hardwood floor instead of using a tree stand to prop up the tree. I think this is what they call "making do". Of course, there are always particularly bad tenants, but no owner would be so short-sighted
One of the most important business rules is: complaining is not a solution. You can only cooperate with the "existing" world, not the world you desire.
I believe that being optimistic is a necessary quality for doing anything (starting a business or other endeavors). This doesn't mean you should be blindly optimistic or unrealistic. What I mean is, you should continuously focus on eliminating risks, adjusting strategies, until you genuinely feel optimistic about your own strategy.
Many great innovators seem to operate on a different time scale from ordinary people, being extremely persistent in speed. It is this persistence in speed that allows them to convert "a month" into "a day," and "a day" into "an hour," making those revolutionary changes that almost change the world a reality.
Acting quickly is the best defense for the future. If you move closer to the future, the future will win every time.
The so-called "entrepreneurial spirit" is more of a mindset than working for oneself. Entrepreneurial spirit is resourceful and problem-solving. If you encounter those who truly excel at solving problems, take a step back and you will find that they are all independent individuals.
Maintaining the status quo (Day Two) leads to stagnation, then falling behind, followed by painful decline and ultimately death. Therefore, we must always maintain an entrepreneurial state (Day One).
Here are some basic tips for guarding Day One: obsession with customers, skepticism towards formalism, eagerness to adapt to external trends, and the ability to make quick decisions.
We live in a complex world, and if you know how to simplify things for people and reduce friction, they will appreciate what you do.
I emphasize the goal of "long-term supremacy" to establish a clearer public image for the company. Buffett once said, "You can hold a rock concert, or you can hold a ballet performance. But don't promote your rock concert with ballet." A company must clearly indicate its type and style of performance so that investors can decide whether to "buy in."
Looking back, we were called "Amazon is finished," "Amazon scam," "Amazon bomb," all in the first 3 years of our company's establishment. This is what I want to say: be willing to be misunderstood. I believe that if you want to innovate, you must be willing to be misunderstood for a long time; if you cannot accept being misunderstood, then don't do anything innovative. Often, you can only defeat competitors by taking a "non-consensus but correct" view.
If you never want to be criticized, for God's sake, don't do anything innovative.
If you are unwilling or unable to quickly accept powerful trends, the external world will push you into "Day Two." "Day Two" is stagnant, then irrelevant, followed by extreme painful decline, and ultimately death.
True innovation not only involves creating but also elevating. Creating something new is not difficult, but creating something new and better is very difficult
Maintain humility and paranoia, it will bring rewards. Ultimately, do not change your strategy just because some "audience" does not understand it.
Taking the wrong path is not that bad. We have also had products like the Fire Phone that did not perform well. There have been too many failed experiments, too many to list. But without 1000 failures, there would not be the 1001st success.
As the saying goes, "Failure is an orphan, while success has many fathers." This statement is very true, it reveals a certain essence: the completion and success of any large-scale endeavor definitely requires many "fathers."
I have made mistakes throughout my life. This is well known in the business world: I am covered in the marks of failure. But I believe that what sets us apart is how we face failure. I believe that Amazon is the best company globally in allowing for failure.

Failure and innovation are inseparable twins. As the company grows, everything needs to be scaled, including those failed tests. If the scale of failure does not increase, then what you have invented is actually insignificant.

If there is a 10% chance of getting a return of 100 times, you should bet every time. This is usually correct. But you are still likely to be wrong eight or nine times out of ten.

In business, when you occasionally step on the "home plate," you can score 1000 points. This long-tail distribution of benefits is precisely why bold investments are needed. A big winning bet can far outweigh the costs of many losses.

One of the common occurrences in large companies is the slowing down of decision-making speed. I believe one reason is that senior management within large companies begins to model all decisions, as if these decisions are heavyweight, irreversible, and will have significant consequences.

But in reality, most decisions are not like that, they are like two-way doors, if you make a wrong decision, you can go back through the door and try again. The second type of decision should be made by individuals or small groups with high judgment.

For a company, a brand is like a personal reputation. Winning a reputation is difficult, losing it is easy. You should know that you cannot decide when you will have a new identity and a new reputation. You need to search for truth from the past and history, discover something that already exists. Then "double down" and turn it into your reputation.

You can say, we disappointed a few people, but we will make more money. However, if you disappoint people, you lose your brand reputation. And for us, brand reputation is much more valuable than money.

If what you do does not generate discussion, it is difficult to generate word of mouth.
A company should do one thing: be both strong and agile. Therefore, you should be able to withstand blows, while also being able to react quickly, innovate, and quickly adopt new practices. This is the best way to defend the future

On Business Management

At Amazon, we have adhered to three concepts for 18 years. This is the reason for our success: customer obsession, invention, and long-term thinking.
Our decisions to expand our business are very cautious. Basically, we have two directions: extending backward based on customer needs (which is very important), and extending forward based on our skills.
Whenever faced with a problem that puts us in an infinite loop and makes decision-making difficult, we turn it into a direct question: "How can we do better for the customer?"
Many companies describe themselves as customer-centric, but few actually achieve this. Most large tech companies focus on competitors. They see what others are doing and quickly follow suit. In contrast, at Amazon, 90% to 95% is driven by what customers tell us they want.
How to constantly meet rising customer expectations and stay at the forefront? A single approach is not feasible, it must be a combination of multiple methods, but high standards must be an important part of it. I believe high standards can be learned.

In fact, people can easily learn and master high standards through exposure. High standards are contagious. Bringing newcomers into a high standard team, they will quickly adapt, and vice versa. If low standards prevail, they will also spread rapidly.

Use the phrase "disagree and commit", it can save a lot of time. If you are confident in a certain direction, even if there is no consensus with the other party, it is best to say: "You see, I knew we would disagree on this, but would you be willing to take a chance with me? Disagree and commit?" At this moment, no one has a precise answer, so he may agree immediately.
Data-driven decisions will win broad approval; judgment-based decisions should be questioned and often controversial. At least until put into practice and proven.

Any company that is unwilling to tolerate controversy must limit its decisions to the first type. But in our view, doing so can limit controversy, while also greatly limiting innovation and the creation of long-term value.

Whether in life or work, the best decisions I have made rely on heart, taste, intuition, and courage, analysis is not decisive.
Our investment decisions will continue to be based on maintaining a long-term market leadership position, rather than short-term profits or Wall Street reactions. If we have to choose between beautiful financial statements and maximizing the present value of future cash flows, we will choose cash flows.
For most decisions, as long as you have about 70% of the information you want, you should probably make the decision; if you wait until you have 90% of the information to make a decision, in most cases, you may be too late.
At Amazon, we don't do PowerPoint. All our meetings are conducted in the form of a "six-page memo", where you have to write out your thoughts in complete sentences and paragraphs. At this point, you must have a very clear mind
You are easily overwhelmed by the "inbox" of life, thus becoming a completely reactive person... The only solution I know is to set aside some time for yourself.

Every Tuesday and Thursday, I take the initiative. During this time, I try not to schedule any meetings. In the other three working days, I fill my schedule with meetings with various general managers of our company.

When managers encounter failure, they should continue to move forward and do bigger, more important things. Don't stop them, don't ask them to leave. If you truly want outstanding talents to innovate boldly, even if they fail, don't let them worry, don't let them think, "Actually, I just want to do safe things."
After each failure, we ask ourselves, "Do you still believe in this vision?" If we have firm confidence, it will give us strength to seek new ways.
For a large company to achieve "zero-error" innovation, it needs to have the culture of rapid growth of a small company, which is quite rare.
I like to exercise the right of veto. For example, things that the "Amazon Studios" team wants to do, I never veto; but things that the team doesn't want to do, I might agree. You should agree more, because you want to encourage risk-taking.
For large organizations, a common trap is making decisions that are "one size fits all," which damages speed and creativity.
I am rarely dragged into the work of the day. I start working in the next two to three years. Most of my leadership teams have the same arrangement.

Friends congratulate me after Amazon releases its quarterly financial report, saying, "Well done, this quarter is great." I would say, "Thank you, but this quarter's report was predicted three years ago."

The trick to being an entrepreneur is knowing when to be stubborn and when to be flexible. My rule of thumb is: be stubborn on big things, be flexible on small details.
In terms of details, we at Amazon are always flexible, but when it comes to vision issues, we are stubborn and ruthless. When we are determined to do something, we have never failed, and we will not fail in this regard.
What you should do is not to invest all the company's administrative resources, time, energy, and personnel to strive to improve operational efficiency by 1%. Instead, you should first strive to reach the scale where even improving efficiency by 1% is crucial.
If we set technology aside and leave it solely to the R&D department, our efforts in technology may not be so crucial, but we did not take that path. Technology permeates our entire team, all our processes, our decisions, and our innovative paths for each business. It is deeply integrated into everything we do
In real life, the most powerful weapon in traditional business is: location, location, location; while for us, the most important three things are: technology, technology, technology.
Once you have a grand vision, you will find that it includes hundreds of small visions. You must be able to ruthlessly prioritize, to be able to say, "No, we don't do this, we don't do that. We only focus on these three things."

About Organizing Talent

In the world, there are two types of talents: missionaries vs. mercenaries. The former truly love what they do, I am a missionary every day rather than a mercenary. Mercenaries are motivated by profit, willing to sweep away all obstacles for money and power; while missionaries have a just cause and strive to make the world a better place. The paradox here is: in the end, it is often the "missionaries" who end up making more money.
A major difference between the founders (entrepreneurs) of a company and professional managers is: founders will stick to the vision and work tirelessly for it. I believe a major danger of introducing professional managers into a company is: if something doesn't work, the first thing they do is change the vision. This approach is usually incorrect.
As a manager, if you don't have confidence in attracting excellent talent, don't dream of growing big and strong.
The ultimate success of a company lies not in the success of its products, but in the success of its people.
Any team should not exceed a size where two pizzas can't feed everyone. For major tasks, you obviously need a large team, but you need to divide the large team into smaller teams... to accomplish major tasks through many small teams - this requires a lot of effort to organize. If you can organize well, communication within these small teams will become very natural and easy.
During interviews, I ask applicants to tell me about something they have created. I tell them, it doesn't have to be an invention that has been patented, it can be a certain measurement method they created and used, or a certain business process they created. You need to select people with unique creativity.

You want to recruit people who like to create - you want to make sure they are interested in creating at all levels. You should know that sometimes you will encounter people who only like to theorize on paper, but cannot bring real progress in the real world.

Working at Amazon is not an easy task. (During interviews, I tell applicants: "You can work overtime, work diligently, or work smart, but at Amazon, you have no choice, you have to do all three.") We are striving to create something important - something valuable to our customers, something we can tell our descendants about. Creating such a thing is destined to be not easy.
Talent is our most important resource. All companies hope to hire the best talent, while Amazon is committed to helping everyone unleash their potential.
To be able to work for a long time, it is important to be with interesting people.
At Amazon, we believe that only a unique combination of talents can create unique products

About Corporate Culture

You can write down corporate culture, but you cannot create it out of thin air. You must discover and explore corporate culture in the process, through employees and events, through past successful and failed stories that have become part of the company's tradition, and over time, slowly create corporate culture.
The atmosphere in our company is relatively relaxed, which I believe helps employees to say "no" to me. It is not only about saying "no" to me, but equally important, they can also express their inner thoughts to their supervisors, vice-chairmen, and other senior executives in the company. I believe that a relaxed atmosphere brings great benefits.
Good words do not need protection, only ugly words do. Our cultural norms allow people to speak ugly words. You don't have to invite those people to your own banquet, but you should let them speak out.
Seriousness and liveliness are not contradictory, you can definitely achieve both. This is what we strive to do and our greatest achievement. We will encounter some major problems, we will unite, and we will laugh heartily.
My main job is: to work hard to help maintain the company culture - high standards of excellence in operations, creativity, and a willingness to fail, a willingness to try boldly. I am the company's "balancer" who can say "yes" to systemic "no".

6. Establishing a high standard culture is worth the effort, and there are many benefits. The most obvious benefit is that you will create better products and services for customers, and that is enough. Less obvious benefits are: people are attracted by high standards, high standards are also helpful for hiring and retaining talent. A more subtle benefit is: a high standard culture can protect all the intangible but crucial work that every company is doing.

Part of the company culture is path-dependent - these are the lessons you learn in the process.
People in our company like to create, so other creative people are attracted here, while those who do not like to create will feel uncomfortable here. Therefore, the company is constantly improving itself.
Outsiders may think that Amazon has reached the pinnacle of the world, and although they have every reason to be curious, internally in the company, we strive to avoid thinking this way.
In short, some companies have a conqueror mentality, while our company has an explorer mentality.

11. Do not be complacent. To achieve this, one way is: always maintain a beginner's mindset. Have this mindset: in this game, you are a beginner, there may be someone you don't know who is providing better service to customers than you.

In the business world, for whatever reason, one should generally not boast about their achievements