The Amazon Way: 14 Leadership Principles Behind the World's Most Disruptive Company

margin? I know which one I want to be!”

When the rules can’t be explained; when they don’t favor the customer; when you can’t get redress from a higher authority; when you can’t get an answer to a reasonable question; when there is no service level agreement or guaranteed response time built into the process; or when the rules simply don’t make sense—when any of these circumstances occur

Feel sorry for yourself ▪Give away your power ▪Shy away from change

Amazon.com eventually built the type of volume that convinced the vendors and big-name manufacturers that people would buy complicated technology online. Jeff had wagered that his customers were intelligent enough to figure out electronics on their own—and he had won.

And it’s clear that Jeff has often followed his gut instincts over the years. He respects leaders who are willing to do the same.

This created a virtuous cycle: by sacrificing short-term financials for customer benefit, the strategy drove long-term competitive and financial benefits.

In addition, Kimberly still had the responsibility of maintaining compliant processes and procedures. If she was going to innovate, she had to be able to present options, choices, trade-offs, and opportunities. This required her to combine both her years of expertise and a “beginner’s mind-set.”

There’s a common assumption that it’s important to know the exact right action to take before doing anything. That’s not how things are viewed at Amazon. As Jeff once said, “If you never want to be criticized, for goodness’ sake, don’t do anything new.”

Pushing the publishing industry to make books available electronically provided readers with instant gratification at lower prices.