Today, I want to discuss Amazon turning 30 and its founder and executive chairman, Jeff Bezos.
I have avoided discussing leaders like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk because they already receive enough coverage.
So, over the last couple of years, I have worked assiduously to avoid having our leadership models be the most obvious. This month, however, we have a prominent leader whose organization has reached middle age, and this requires reflection.
Bezos was born in Albuquerque and raised in Houston and Miami. He graduated from Princeton University in 1986 with degrees in electrical engineering and computer science. He worked on Wall Street in a variety of related fields from 1986 to early 1994.
In the summer of 1994, a job vacancy was posted for software engineers on a precursor to online forums. It was called Usenet. The company planned to “pioneer commerce on the internet.” Applicants need to be capable of designing complex systems “in about one-third the time that most competent people think possible.” Resumes were to be addressed to Jeff Bezos at a Seattle-based startup named Cadabra.
The company now called Amazon, which turned 30 on July 5th, has indeed changed the world of online shopping. According to JP Morgan Chase, its websites will sell an estimated $554 Billion worth of goods in America this year. That equals a 42% share of American e-commerce, more than its nearest competitor, Walmart, which has only captured 6% of the market.
According to the data firm Synergy Research, the e-reader, Kindle, the smart speaker, Alexa, and the cloud computing company, Amazon Web Services (AWS) has a combined 31% share of that $300 billion market. It also runs Prime Video, America’s fourth-most-watched video streaming service.
Finally, its high-margin advertising business is already the third largest in the world behind Alphabet (Google’s parent company) and Meta (Facebook’s).
Jeff Bezos is featured in our leadership spotlight for the month due to his transformative leadership in revolutionizing e-commerce with Amazon and his visionary approach in pioneering advancements in space exploration with Blue Origin, exemplifying innovation and the relentless pursuit of his ambitious goals.
His success is the result of his tireless focus on customers and his enthusiasm for experimentation.
If you would like to know more, there is a great article in the July 4th issue of the Economist this month.
