Invent and Wander: The Collected Writings of Jeff Bezos

by Jeff Bezos

In the long run, an employee staying somewhere they don’t want to be isn’t healthy for the employee or the company.

Most large organizations embrace the idea of invention but are not willing to suffer the string of failed experiments necessary to get there.

“When something bad happens you have three choices. You can either let it define you, let it destroy you, or you can let it strengthen you.”

THE WAY YOU earn trust, the way you develop a reputation is by doing hard things well over and over and over.

We all want to be on the side of civilization. It’s not exclusively only in the United States. What kind of civilization do you want? Do you want freedom? Do you want democracy? These are big principles that supersede the other kinds of questions. And so that’s where you should go back to.

The most important factor for nimbleness is decision-making speed. The second-most important factor is being willing to be experimental. You have to be willing to take risks. You have to be willing to fail, and people don’t like failure.

Innovative people will flee an organization if they can’t make decisions and take risks. You might recruit them initially, but they won’t stay long.

“The earth is finite, and if the world economy and population are to keep expanding, space is the only way to go.”