Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’s shareholder letters revealed the words at the top of his mind. Here’s a count of those that fared better than the others.
When the world’s richest man puts pen to paper to outline his long-term strategy, it’s a good idea to comb through his words, not just for their strategic wisdom but also for the secrets they reveal. An online business magazine recently ran all of Amazon’s shareholder letters — approximately 44,000 words — through a word cloud generator and the numbers that emerged were interesting, to say the least:
443 - The number of times the word ‘customer’ or ‘customers’ appears. For years, Bezos has extolled the virtues of customer obsession. Not only is it one of the cornerstones of Amazon’s business but it’s also the first thing Bezos looks for when investing in a new business.
443:28 - The contrast between the number of times Bezos references the Amazon ‘customer’ versus the number of times he uses the word ‘competition’ or some form of it like ‘competitive advantage’. Bezos believes that competitor-obsession is a common trap that many tech companies fall into. In a 2013 interview, he said, “Let’s say you’re the leader in a particular arena, if you’re competitor-focused and you’re already the leader, then where does your energy come from? Whereas, if you’re customer focused, and you’re already the leader, customers are never satisfied. You’re always waking up wondering, how can we make that customer say, wow?”
0 - The number of times Bezos mentions the word ‘antitrust’ despite growing congressional concerns that Amazon is behaving like a monopoly and need to be regulated.
176 - The number of times Bezos mentions his employees using words like team, people, hiring and associates. In his most recent letter, Bezos challenged rivals to raise their minimum wage. “Today I challenge our top retail competitors to match our employee benefits and our $15 minimum wage,” he wrote. “Do it! Better yet, go to $16 and throw the gauntlet back at us. It’s a kind of competition that will benefit everyone.”
1 - The letter ended with a familiar sentiment — “It remains Day 1” — a reminder to employees to make decisions quickly and focus on results, not the process.
When the world’s richest man puts pen to paper to outline his long-term strategy, it’s a good idea to comb through his words, not just for their strategic wisdom but also for the secrets they reveal. An online business magazine recently ran all of Amazon’s shareholder letters — approximately 44,000 words — through a word cloud generator and the numbers that emerged were interesting, to say the least:
443 - The number of times the word ‘customer’ or ‘customers’ appears. For years, Bezos has extolled the virtues of customer obsession. Not only is it one of the cornerstones of Amazon’s business but it’s also the first thing Bezos looks for when investing in a new business.
443:28 - The contrast between the number of times Bezos references the Amazon ‘customer’ versus the number of times he uses the word ‘competition’ or some form of it like ‘competitive advantage’. Bezos believes that competitor-obsession is a common trap that many tech companies fall into. In a 2013 interview, he said, “Let’s say you’re the leader in a particular arena, if you’re competitor-focused and you’re already the leader, then where does your energy come from? Whereas, if you’re customer focused, and you’re already the leader, customers are never satisfied. You’re always waking up wondering, how can we make that customer say, wow?”
0 - The number of times Bezos mentions the word ‘antitrust’ despite growing congressional concerns that Amazon is behaving like a monopoly and need to be regulated.
176 - The number of times Bezos mentions his employees using words like team, people, hiring and associates. In his most recent letter, Bezos challenged rivals to raise their minimum wage. “Today I challenge our top retail competitors to match our employee benefits and our $15 minimum wage,” he wrote. “Do it! Better yet, go to $16 and throw the gauntlet back at us. It’s a kind of competition that will benefit everyone.”
1 - The letter ended with a familiar sentiment — “It remains Day 1” — a reminder to employees to make decisions quickly and focus on results, not the process.
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