Tag: Amazon

Before You Win Bigger, You Have to Be Willing To Fail Bigger: A Lesson From Amazon And The Fire Phone

Matthew Ball shared this Bezos quote from a few years ago: “If you think [Fire Phone] is a big failure, we’re working on much bigger failures right now — and I am not kidding. Some of them are going to make the Fire Phone look like a tiny little blip.” Bezos was giving a warning … Continue reading Before You Win Bigger, You Have to Be Willing To Fail Bigger: A Lesson From Amazon And The Fire Phone →

Serve The Someones (Because We Can’t Serve Everyone)

We the people wanted more stuff at lower prices. Anything and all of it. And the internet provided. We didn’t get flying skateboards, but we certainly did get infinite shelf space. For the low, low price of a few Blockbuster late fees a month, Netflix has more content than you can watch in your lifetime … Continue reading Serve The Someones (Because We Can’t Serve Everyone) →

What Won’t Change Is More Important Than What Will

We’re all obsessed with how uncertain the world is and how fast everything is changing. If we’re not careful, our focus can easily get dragged out of place. We can’t build businesses on chaos, but we can build them on the things that will stay the same. Don’t take it from me, Jeff Bezos said, … Continue reading What Won’t Change Is More Important Than What Will →

Organize the Organization with OKRs

In his book Measure What Matters, John Doerr talks at length about how Intel was the most efficiently run company he’d ever seen. During the time he was there, Andy Grove was in charge and heavily influenced his thinking. When Doerr ultimately left for venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins, he took Grove’s principles with him - most successfully applying … Continue reading Organize the Organization with OKRs →

“It’s Really Inappropriate to Jog Around a Graveyard, Flaunting Your Life…” (Thoughts on “Fleabag”)

The show Fleabag articulates interpretation, misinterpretation, and projection absolutely viscerally. This quote scratches the surface on the absurd humor that colors the show so well: It’s really inappropriate to jog around a graveyard, flaunting your life... There’s whoever we are doing something for, and then there are the bystanders, innocent or otherwise. We interpret, misinterpret, … Continue reading “It’s Really Inappropriate to Jog Around a Graveyard, Flaunting Your Life…” (Thoughts on “Fleabag”) →

White Glove Service is Already Dead

What if instead of white glove service, we gave garden glove service? That's right - dirty, sweaty, stained-up garden glove service? What if we weren’t the white glove wearing butlers or high-end order takers or whoever it is that wears white gloves anyway, but instead the earth tilling, crop growing, actively involved partners in our … Continue reading White Glove Service is Already Dead →

Know Your Flywheel

Jim Collins just released, Turning the Flywheel: A Monograph to Good to Great, and it is focused entirely on his now-famous concept of the flywheel. For the uninitiated, a flywheel is a mechanical device that stores rotational energy. If you’re not an engineer, just picture the classic playground merry-go-round. In order to get it turning - and therefore storing … Continue reading Know Your Flywheel →