Think Like Amazon Quotes

“Why do programs and projects take too long, go over budget, become bloated, and fail to deliver according to expectations? Execution and project management technique can be reasons, but the biggest root cause is failing to accurately define the end state at the beginning.”
― John Rossman, Think Like Amazon: 50 1/2 Ideas to Become a Digital Leader

“At the heart of how Amazon innovates is its six-page memo, which kicks off everything the company does. Executives must write a press release, complete with hypothetical customer reactions to the product launch. That is followed by a series of FAQs, anticipating questions customers, as well as internal stakeholders, might have.”
― John Rossman, Think Like Amazon: 50 1/2 Ideas to Become a Digital Leader

“A well-written narrative and the process of writing it will force teams to get beyond being polite and get to insights.”
― John Rossman, Think Like Amazon: 50 1/2 Ideas to Become a Digital Leader

“Achieving clarity can be uncomfortable. It can disrupt. People tend to want to avoid conflict, be collaborative, and basically accept all the ideas and all the wording. This tactic does not demand the best thinking and avoids the sensitive topics in the spirit of “getting along.”
― John Rossman, Think Like Amazon: 50 1/2 Ideas to Become a Digital Leader

“It would certainly be much easier and socially cohesive to just compromise and not debate, but that may lead to the wrong decision.”
― John Rossman, Think Like Amazon: 50 1/2 Ideas to Become a Digital Leader

“idea 22: Customer expectations are rising across all sectors and experiences. Delivering to those expectations and competing in the digital era are enabled by operational excellence. Digital experiences and the Internet of Things (IoT) offer opportunities to enhance your operational excellence programs.”
― John Rossman, Think Like Amazon: 50 1/2 Ideas to Become a Digital Leader

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. —Aristotle”
― John Rossman, Think Like Amazon: 50 1/2 Ideas to Become a Digital Leader

“1.   Identify your core capabilities as a business. Can you define precisely what gives your company competitive advantage? How easily can it be imitated? How do you deliver value to your customers? Evaluate your business as a set of processes and capabilities. Be clear on the definition, and break down big processes into smaller functions and services. 2.   Identify the services. Think through what the service, and the API for the service, might be. How do you make it a “black box”? In other words, how will you protect it from replication and theft? 3.   Where’s your advantage? How would you offer best-in-class commercial terms? Commercial terms include cost, speed, availability, quality, flexibility, and features. 4.   Can it be profitable? Would these commercial terms and capabilities be viable in the market? Would it be a viable profitable business for you? 5.   Test and evaluate. You have a critical and fact-based understanding of your core capabilities, their gaps, and the potential benefit (or lack thereof) of a platform. Build your agile approach to testing, learning, and building value as you go.”
― John Rossman, Think Like Amazon: 50 1/2 Ideas to Become a Digital Leader

“There’s a slogan in Silicon Valley: Step one, install software. There is no step two. That’s it. That’s how easy you have to be.”1”
― John Rossman, Think Like Amazon: 50 1/2 Ideas to Become a Digital Leader

“You must wring out the last drop of capability every single day until you and your organization are great. Then wash, rinse, and repeat.”
― John Rossman, Think Like Amazon: 50 1/2 Ideas to Become a Digital Leader

“Philip Schiller, senior vice president of worldwide marketing for Apple”
― John Rossman, Think Like Amazon: 50 1/2 Ideas to Become a Digital Leader

“When a team takes ownership of its problem, the problem gets solved. It is true on the battlefield, it is true in business, and it is true in life. —Jocko Willink”
― John Rossman, Think Like Amazon: 50 1/2 Ideas to Become a Digital Leader

“We pay very low cash compensation relative to most companies,” says Bezos. “We also have no incentive compensation of any kind. And the reason we don’t is because it is detrimental to teamwork.”
― John Rossman, Think Like Amazon: 50 1/2 Ideas to Become a Digital Leader

“Start important projects or changes with an announcement. Be clear about what the “killer feature” is for the future state capability. Give it to one leader to make this vision happen across the organization. Everyone works for this person to transform this vision into reality.”
― John Rossman, Think Like Amazon: 50 1/2 Ideas to Become a Digital Leader

“Writing ideas and proposals in complete narratives results in better ideas, more clarity on the ideas, and better conversation on the ideas. You will make better decisions about what to do and how to do it. The initiatives will be smaller and less risky. Writing narratives is hard, takes a long time, and is an acquired skill for the organization. High standards and an appreciation for building this capability over time are required.”
― John Rossman, Think Like Amazon: 50 1/2 Ideas to Become a Digital Leader

“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”
― John Rossman, Think Like Amazon: 50 1/2 Ideas to Become a Digital Leader

“The true cost of a hiring mistake is hard to calculate: lost time, lost culture, lost business, lost opportunity, lost confidence.”
― John Rossman, Think Like Amazon: 50 1/2 Ideas to Become a Digital Leader

“Consensus poses two dangers for the business trying to be innovative. The first danger is that hard, honest, forthright conversations are not being had. The second danger is that ideas that are truly innovative tend to be counterintuitive, and they often seem stupid, impossible, counterproductive, or all three.”
― John Rossman, Think Like Amazon: 50 1/2 Ideas to Become a Digital Leader

“Think about your organization’s priorities and social norms. If getting along is more valued than being right, the business will become more about getting along than about doing the right thing over time. This value seeps in slowly, but definitively.”
― John Rossman, Think Like Amazon: 50 1/2 Ideas to Become a Digital Leader

“However, it’s important not to twist this notion to mean that being a great colleague or respectful to others is not important. It’s just that it’s not enough, and it’s not the top priority. Being nice and getting along are necessary and valued. You can’t achieve the right results if you leave nothing but burned bridges behind you. But getting along is simply not the most important thing.”
― John Rossman, Think Like Amazon: 50 1/2 Ideas to Become a Digital Leader

“Think about how most large companies operate. Big-company politics tend to rule the day. Discussions are not forthright. Meetings are layered in so much posturing and subtle deception, they are downright Shakespearean. Seniority and titles matter more than having the right data or insight. People speak out of both sides of their mouths. They smile and nod their heads yes without agreeing. In this world, civility is more important than being right. Results suffer for the sake of harmony.”
― John Rossman, Think Like Amazon: 50 1/2 Ideas to Become a Digital Leader