7 Lessons I Learned From Jeff Bezos

Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, did an interview with 60 Minutes about where Amazon is heading. There were a lot of fascinating things revealed in the interview such as a highly advanced assembly line, all of the constants that Amazon is trying to break, and the drones that will be shipping products to your house in a few years. This 60 Minutes interview was one of the best ones I have seen in a while. Jeff Bezos explained how Amazon has been able to do what is has done, and the future of Amazon as well. Here are the 7 key takeaways from the interview:

1. Everyone starts from the bottom. Jeff Bezos drove to the post office himself in order to deliver the first product. Amazon used to be an online bookstore, and in the beginning, Jeff dreamed to have enough money to buy a forklift. Now there are forklifts all over Amazon’s buildings.
2. You need to innovate in order to survive for a longer period of time. Amazon has brought forth a lot of change. They have already changed how books are sold. However, Amazon will also be changing how movies get produced and how we buy our groceries. Amazon already delivers groceries to customers in Seattle and LA. Without innovation, companies get toppled faster.
3. Have a vision. Drones won’t be coming anytime soon, but within 5 years, Jeff Bezos plans to have drones bringing all products under 5 pounds directly to customers. Just to give you an idea of how much time this would save, 83% of Amazon products weigh less than 5 pounds.
4. Be organized. Amazon’s assembly lines are incredible. All of the products get organized based on zip codes which makes distributing them very easy.
5. Keep on growing. Amazon has millions of customers, but even with all of these customers, Amazon keeps on growing. Amazon is using some of the money to build more warehouses which will allow them to ship products to their customers faster. One warehouse is being built in New Jersey for those of you nearby.
6. Know what the customers want. Jeff Bezos knows that his customers want affordable prices and quick delivery. That’s why he is using the money from Amazon to build warehouses and make drones. That’s why the prices of Amazon’s Kindles are intentionally lowered to prevent a profit. Kindles only make a profit when users buy paid apps on their Kindles.
7. Show some humor. Jeff Bezos showed a lot of humor during the interview. His humor made the interview engaging.