Jeff had told Steve that it was his job to be like Howard Hughes. From then on, Steve had to run his fingers over each new Amazon product, checking for anything that might reduce the quality, insisting that his team maintain the highest standards. My sense was that Steve was telling me the story for two reasons. First, it was a kind of heads-up. He wanted me to know, as one of his senior team members, that he would be sending me and my team back to the drawing board if a product didn’t measure up. Second, he was telling me indirectly that I too was responsible for setting higher standards for
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