jeffbezos

Brad Stone joins us to discuss the making of the modern Amazon, and how it's morphed from the "flywheel company" of The Everything Store into a set of interlocking and self-reinforcing businesses that extended both wider and deeper into the global economy than anyone ever imagined. (except perhaps Jeff Bezos) Is Amazon the Standard Oil of our time, or maybe something much, much bigger? Tune in as we dive in! 

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 Topics covered:

• When and why Brad decided The Everything Store needed a sequel
• The process of writing the book and access he got at Amazon, including S-Team executives like Dave Clark
• The evolution of Amazon's core strategy from the flywheel into a set of "interlocking and self-reinforcing businesses", and how Brad landed on that as the key theme for the book
• Amazon's culture and the evolution from "Jeff-bots", and its embodiment in S-team members and company leaders beyond
• Amazon's investments in Video and why Bezos was ahead of the pack in realizing its strategic importance (including the rumored as-of-recording MGM deal)
• Amazon's secretive "Campfire" event and why Amazon does it despite its very un-Amazon price tag
• Brad's take on the future of three major Amazon business lines: Video, International and Marketplace / 3rd Party Sellers
• Amazon and Bezos's intense focus on competitors, despite the "theater" of their mantra to only focus on customers
• The Bezos "lapses of judgment" in 2018-19 and what it was like reporting on all the craziness around it
• Tracking down the "voice of Alexa" Nina Rolle, and Bezos's relationship with Elon!

Links:

• Amazon Unbound (on Amazon, natch):  https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Unbound-Invention-Global-Empire/dp/1982132612/

FALL IN LOVE WITH YOUR CLIENT. The world is full of people waiting to bring their incredible ideas to the marketplace. Many entrepreneurs first think about how great their idea is and how rich they’ll get. Before you unleash your masterpiece to the world, take a moment to think about who your product is really for. Entrepreneurs often start with marketing and building business plans. Many don’t make it as far as understanding the outcome they are trying to achieve. Start with the end. Start with the transformation and work backward. Learn to fall in love with your client, not your product. Once you know who you’re creating for and what the outcome will be, everything else will fall into place. For this Five Minute Friday, I revisited a conversation I had with Darren Hardy, one of the most successful entrepreneurs I know. He shared his thoughts on the three biggest mistakes people make in sales. Darren Hardy is a successful entrepreneur, speaker, author, and publisher of Success Magazine. Learn about sales, business and how to find an audience for your project in Episode 873.
In This Episode You Will Learn:
The three grave mistakes people make about sales (2:00)
How to simplify the sales process. (3:00)
Why you should fall in love with the results you want for your clients. (3:15)
Why you should start with the transformation. (4:25)
If you enjoyed this episode, check out the video, show notes and more at http://www.lewishowes.com/873 and follow at instagram.com/lewishowes