More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
while it’s true that shareholder value stems from growth in profit, Amazon believes that long-term growth is best produced by putting the customer first.
“Our culture is four things: customer obsession instead of competitor obsession; willingness to think long term, with a longer investment horizon than most of our peers; eagerness to invent, which of course goes hand in hand with failure; and then, finally, taking professional pride in operational excellence.”
Jeff and his leadership team crafted a set of 14 Leadership Principles, as well as a broad set of explicit, practical methodologies, that constantly reinforce its cultural goals.
separable teams run by leaders with a singular focus that optimizes for speed of delivery and innovation;
the use of written narratives instead of slide decks to ensure that deep understanding of complex issues drives well-informed decisions;
working backwards from the desired customer experience.
Leaders start with the customer and work backwards.
they obsess over customers.
They think long term and don’t sacrifice long-term value for short-term results.
expect and require innovation and invention from their teams and always find ways to simplify.
They seek diverse perspectives and work to disconfirm their beliefs.
Leaders are never done learning and always seek to improve themselves.
Leaders raise the performance bar with every hire and promotion.
Leaders develop leaders and take seriously their role in coaching others.
Leaders are continually raising the bar and drive their teams to deliver high-quality products, services, and processes.
Leaders create and communicate a bold direction
that inspires results.
Many decisions and actions are reversible and do not need extensive study.
Constraints breed resourcefulness, self-sufficiency, and invention.
Leaders listen attentively, speak candidly, and treat others respectfully. They are vocally self-critical, even when doing so is awkward or embarrassing.
They benchmark themselves and their teams against the best.
stay connected to the details,
skeptical when metrics and anecdotes differ.
Leaders are obligated to respectfully challenge decisions when they disagree,
They do not compromise for the sake of social cohesion.
they commit ...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
Despite setbacks, they rise to the occasion and never settle.
“As analysis becomes more causal, multivariate, comparative, evidence based, and resolution-intense,” he writes, “the more damaging the bullet list becomes.”
PowerPoint can strip the discussion of important nuance.
The real risk with using PowerPoint in the manner we did, however, was the effect it could have on decision-making. A dynamic presenter could lead a group to approve a dismal idea. A poorly organized presentation could confuse people, produce discussion that was rambling and unfocused, and rob good ideas of the serious consideration they deserved. A boring presentation could numb the brain so completely that people tuned out or started checking their email, thereby missing the good idea lurking beneath the droning voice and uninspiring visuals.
The reason writing a good 4 page memo is harder than “writing” a 20 page powerpoint is because the narrative structure of a good memo forces better
thought and better understanding of what’s more important than what, and how things are related.
we settled on a standard format. Maximum length: six pages, no desperate tricks in formatting please. Appendices with further information or supporting detail could be attached, but would not be required reading in the meeting itself.
Write an Effective Six-Pager
The example has the structure: executive summary, status quo statement, problem statement, solution statement, benefits/advantages, how the new experience will be with the solution, FAQ, appendix
The goal is to introduce the kind of complete and self-contained presentation that only the narrative form makes possible.
The entire team can contribute to the crafting of a strong narrative,
sound decisions draw from ideas, not individual performance skills.
the narrative document is infinitely portable and scalable. It is easy to circulate. Anyone can read it at any time.
day. A switch to this denser format will allow key decision-makers to consume much more information in a given period of time than with the PowerPoint approach.
The act of writing will force the writer to think and synthesize more deeply than they would in the act of crafting a PP deck; the idea on paper will be better thought out, especially after the author’s entire team has reviewed it and offered feedback.
Our goal as presenters is not to merely introduce an idea but to demonstrate that it’s been carefully weighed and thoroughly analyzed.
deck, a solid narrative can—and must—demonstrate how its many, often disparate, facts and analyses are interconnected.
A complete narrative should also anticipate the likely objections, concerns, and alternate points of view
forced to anticipate smart questions, reasonable objections, even common misunderstandings—
The narrative form demands that teams be in sync or, if they are not, that they clearly state in the document where they are not yet aligned.
two optional sections that many presenters at Amazon have found helpful.
The first is to call out one or more key tenets that our proposal relies upon—a foundational element of the reasoning that led us to make this recommendation. Tenets give the reader an anchor point from which to evaluate the rest.
The second optional section, perhaps more commonly used, is the inclusion of an FAQ.
Headings and subheadings, graphs or data tables, and other design elements will be specific to the individual narrative.
the entire audience reads the narrative, in the room, at the beginning of the meeting.
