Invent and Wander

Invent and Wander is a collection of Jeff Bezos’s writings and letters to its shareholders, in which he expresses his philosophy of life and his way of doing business, which ultimately led him to know tremendous success and write history with his two companies: Amazon and Blue Origin.

A famous saying goes like this: “Knowledge is power.” This idea sets the foundation for all successful endeavors you’ll experience. Jeff Bezos himself advocates for cross-disciplinary education as the pillar of success. The more you extend your knowledge, the more you’ll be able to spot patterns and face challenges in multiple fields.

Eventually, everything you read and all the skills you acquire will help you in one way or another. Whether you’re working in finance, biotechnology, or law, all fields become interrelated at some point. Therefore, read and study at every chance!

Now, let’s explore the Day 1 mentality. What is it? Essentially, it’s a winning mindset. Imagine you’re the new guy at a workplace. You feel that day 1 enthusiasm as you’re full of new ideas and are ready to give your best. As time passes by, you step into the mundane, and that mindset is starting to wear off, right?

Not for Bezos! He approaches every day with a Day 1 mentality and imposes this concept on all employees. Although it’s difficult, maintaining enthusiasm and creativity is critical for the tremendous success of both employees and the company. With a strong focus on the customers, Jeff Bezos keeps applying this principle even when his companies become a worldwide leader in their industries already, just as if it was day 1.

In his letters to his shareholders, Jeff Bezos always addresses a series of principles that never change. Amazon is a company based on customers’ satisfaction, and will always place great emphasis on its clients. While other businesses try to study the competition and get ahead of their peers by adopting what works best for them and surpassing that, Amazon targets all efforts and resources toward their client base. Why is that? Well, without customers, all other operations are essentially useless. Moreover, it’s harder to acquire new ones than it is to maintain a loyal and stable customer base. Marketing efforts can’t guarantee results, while a recurring buyer is likely to repeat a purchase if they are satisfied with their previous experiences, so there is no need to spend extended resources to pursue them. Another aspect where Amazon succeeded is their employees. In fact, these two categories are of great interest for any company and interrelated to a great extent. A happy customer is likely the result of a preoccupied employee. Therefore, you’ll have to take care of your staff first.…