While conventional wisdom about corporate culture seems to target work-life balance, that seems to be an approach that Jeff Bezos has rejected at Amazon. Do you agree with his approach? What do you see as the upsides and downsides of his management philosophy?
“The Everything Store†explores the difference between being a stock market-driven company and a customer-focused company. While this may seem on the surface to be a stark and easy choice, in fact it can create complications for a company’s leadership. What other companies do you see as bring customer-driven, and to what result?
How do these two phrases typify the Amazon approach: “Today is Day One.†“We don’t sell things. We just make it easy for people to buy things.â€
Amazon is a company that seems built to avoid specific problems that legacy-based companies have – they don’t want to sell things, or do things a certain way, because they always have. How has the evolution of the Kindle typified that approach?
What did you find most interesting about this book? What business, corporate, societal facets were most useful for you? What did you learn that was particularly interesting that you can use? If you were preparing a question for the class about this book, what would that question be?