Jeff Bezos is a great leader. But he didn’t become the richest man in the world because he knows how to lead. Bezos got rich because he’s an excellent follower, chasing the desires and demands of his customers to a borderline-obsessive degree.
One of the foremost leadership principles at Amazon is catering everything to customers’ needs. This principles guides everything from Amazon’s shipping policy to its product development. Sometimes it seems like the company knows what its customers want before the customers themselves know, and that’s because Amazon has built its business by “working backwards.”
When the Kindle was designed, for instance, all that mattered was making the experience of the customer as good and smooth as possible. Working backwards from there, designers made sure the device was simple, easy to use, and highly portable—and the Kindle became a huge hit.
Crafted by a former vice president of Amazon and the former president of the digital media team, Working Backwards is a deep dive into how anyone can leverage the Amazon philosophy to build a better, more resilient business. Check it out now in the Instaread app.
