How to Grow Your Business Like Amazon

Steve Anderson

Amazon is the fastest company ever to reach $100 billion in sales and they didn’t reach that landmark by staying in their comfort zone. Risk taking is the key that unlocked the door to growth at Amazon, but those risks were (and are) intentional, calculated, and strategic. Thomas Edison believed, “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.” and Amazon’s founder, Jeff Bezos, has always linked experimentation and failure with growth and success. Join Steve Anderson, author of "The Bezos Letters: 14 Principles to Grow Your Business Like Amazon," as he shares insights into the mind of one of the most successful CEOs to date. read less
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Episodes

How to Grow Your Business Like Amazon - Amazon's New Employee Focus
Sep 30 2021
How to Grow Your Business Like Amazon - Amazon's New Employee Focus
Welcome to another installment of How to Grow Your Business Like Amazon! In today's episode, Steve breaks down the new approach Amazon is taking towards its employees to further enhance their work environments, quality of life, and overall satisfaction within their role. With an increased focus on employee acquisition, skills development, and overall retention, Amazon is striving to become earth's best employer. Listen as Steve takes a deep dive into the various initiatives Andy Jassy and the team at Amazon are implementing and how these same principles could be incorporated within your own business. So sit back, relax, and enjoy yet another great conversation!Timecodes:0:08 - Overview on Amazon's approach to their employees 4:30 - What's happening at Amazon to fulfill this vision for employees5:20 - Fulfillment workers seeking upward mobility and professional development 8:11 - Increasing Amazon's minimum wage to $15/hr in 201810:30 - 76% of employees are interested in professional development opportunities12:00 - College tuition reimbursement initiative13:40 - The Amazon Restart Program16:50 - David Clark's letter to employees regarding productivity18:30 - Algorithms that help employees from getting "stuck" in a single role22:50 - Amazon looking to raise wages for current employees26:25 - The Amazon Effect on communities nationwide28:20 - Closing remarks Connect with Steve Anderson:The Success NetworkFacebookLinkedInWebsite
How to Grow Your Business Like Amazon - New Leadership Principles
Sep 15 2021
How to Grow Your Business Like Amazon - New Leadership Principles
In the latest installment of How to Grow Your Business Like Amazon, Steve explores a new wave of leadership principles entering the fold at Amazon. With Jeff Bezos stepping down as CEO, and Andy Jassy taking his place, Jassy brings a unique perspective along with two new principles. Listen as Steve explores each of the principles and how they are crucial for carrying Amazon into their next chapter with Jassy. At the core of each principle lies the notion of employee attraction and retention. So sit back, relax, and enjoy another enlightening conversation highlighting the newest leadership principles at one of the world's most successful businesses. Timecodes:0:15 - Discussions during past episodes on leadership principles1:50 - Adding two new leadership principles for the first time since 20152:15 - Original principles within the company6:18 - The 1997 letter to employees7:59 - Recognizing the importance of finding and retaining good employees10:00 - Acknowledging claims on how poorly Amazon employees have been treated in the past 12:00 - Striving to be earth's best employer and the safest place to work16:00 - Programs put in place to make workers safer all around19:40 - Principle 15: Success and scale bring broad responsibility23:45 - Principle 16: Strive to be earth's best employer26:20 - Closing remarks and information on how to reach SteveConnect with Steve Anderson:The Success NetworkFacebookLinkedInWebsite
How to Grow Your Business Like Amazon - The Scale Cycle
Jun 25 2021
How to Grow Your Business Like Amazon - The Scale Cycle
In the latest installment of How to Grow Your Business Like Amazon, Steve explores one of the most pivotal cycles that led Amazon to their massive growth, the fourth and final cycle, The Scale Cycle. Comprised of four key principles, The Scale Cycle unlocks the secrets behind how Amazon was able to achieve such massive transformations, ultimately building themselves to the global giant they are today. Listen as Steve highlights the various elements making up the final four principles and how these same ideals can be applied to your business. So sit back, relax, and enjoy a thought-provoking overview that showcases the fourth and final cycle of Amazon's inner-workings. Timecodes:0:40 - What is scaling? 2:30 - It's important to continually think like a startup business3:50 - Principle 11: Maintain Your Culture6:30 - People want to work at Amazon and stay long-term8:35 - Creating door desks and the symbol it established within the company10:20 - The use of the term "shareowners" not shareholders 12:10 - Principle 12: Focus on High Standards15:40 - How Amazon goes about maintaining high standards21:00 - Bezos' most recent letter to shareowners 23:15 - Principle 13: Measure What Matters, Question What is Measured...Trust Your Gut28:33 - "When anecdotes and data disagree, the anecdotes are usually right"29:30 - Principle 14: Believe it's Always Day One34:51 - The last quote from Bezos' most recent shareowner letter in 2021Connect with Steve Anderson:The Success NetworkFacebookLinkedInWebsite
How to Grow Your Business Like Amazon - The Accelerate Cycle
May 27 2021
How to Grow Your Business Like Amazon - The Accelerate Cycle
In the newest installment of How to Grow Your Business Like Amazon, Steve takes a deep dive into the Accelerate Cycle, which contains the core principles that propelled Amazon's massive growth. Within the Accelerate Cycle, Steve highlights the origins and importances behind the following principles: Generate High-Velocity Decisions, Make Complexity Simple, Accelerate Time with Technology, and Promote Ownership. Listen as Steve walks us through how Jeff Bezos focused on each of these core principles to enhance various sectors of Amazon, as well as integrate new, lofty ideas thought to be impossible. So sit back, relax, and enjoy another thought-provoking conversation that could leave you with some helpful information, which you could apply to your own business!Timecodes:00:05 - Introduction and overview on past episodes00:50 - The Accelerate Cycle overview01:45 - Principle 7: Generate High-Velocity Decisions05:00 - Never make a one-size-fits-all decision making process07:30 - The importance behind the phrase "disagree and commit"10:00 - Writing clarifies your thoughts 12:50 - Principle 8: Make Complexity Simple14:50 - Amazon re-invented a basic book with the Kindle19:30 - Principle 9: Accelerate Time with Technology22:00 - Amazon Web Services is a perfect example of this principle25:40 - Principle 10: Promote Ownership28:00 - Getting employees to act and think on behalf of the entire company30:30 - The Amazon Smile concept to incorporate charitable giving 33:20 - What is coming in the next episodeConnect with Steve Anderson:The Success NetworkFacebookLinkedInWebsite
How to Grow Your Business Like Amazon - The Test Cycle
Mar 26 2021
How to Grow Your Business Like Amazon - The Test Cycle
In the third installment of How to Grow Your Business Like Amazon, Steve provides a deep dive into one of the four cycles - The Test Cycle! In order for Amazon to cultivate such remarkable products and services, they had to test countless strategies and processes. When breaking it down, Steve explains how The Test Cycle is comprised of three primary principles: Encourage Successful Failure, Bet on Big Ideas, and Practice Dynamic Invention and Innovation. Each of these principles help to lay the foundation of testing new products and services. Without these three principles, Amazon would have never seen the success they achieved. So sit back, relax, and enjoy a thought-provoking discussion that could help you apply The Test Cycle's principles to your business. Timecodes:00:20 - Recapping discussions from prior episodes01:00 - the importance of testing in business03:13 - Principle #1: Encourage Successful Failure05:20 - Inventing can be messy06:00 - The Apollo Mission and its failure for NASA09:00 - "Our mission became known as NASA's biggest failure"11:45 - How Amazon has failed along their journey14:50 - Principle #2: Bet on Big Ideas17:00 - The company was wed to three elements: Marketplace, Prime, and AWS19:00 - Over 50% of sales on Amazon products go through third-party sellers21:30 - Overview on the development of Amazon Prime23:10 - The big idea of AWS25:45 - Principle #3: Practice Dynamic Invention and Innovation27:00 - The development of the Kindle32:15 - Experimentation leads to invention, that allows for thorough innovation34:15 - The Test Cycle isn't just for startups Connect with Steve Anderson:The Success NetworkFacebookLinkedInWebsite
How to Grow Your Business Like Amazon - Writing the book
Feb 4 2021
How to Grow Your Business Like Amazon - Writing the book
In the inaugural episode of How to Grow Your Business Like Amazon, you'll meet the show host, Steve Anderson, author of The Bezos Letters: 14 Principles to Grow Your Business Like Amazon, as he provides an overview on the journey of writing this book. Since its publish date, the book has been an immense success, selling copies worldwide and debuting on the Wall Street Journal and USA Today's best seller lists.Given Steve's 30+ years in the insurance industry, he has an added edge to speak professionally to hundreds of agents each year at National Alliance events and at many state association conventions and technology forums on the future of technology, the social web, and how insurance agencies can establish their Internet presence.So sit back, relax, and enjoy learning more about Steve Anderson, the writing process, and how his book rapidly climbed charts all over the world!Timecodes:00:20 - Overview on the goal of the podcast moving forward00:55 - Steve's professional background starting in insurance 04:15 - Moving to Texas and beginning to work in tech consulting05:45 - His experience gave him a unique perspective on risk08:30 - The massive tech shift towards mobile phones, which was led by Blackberry11:08 - Looking at examples of using tech risks that proved to be successful 12:00 - The birth of Amazon and the initial Bezos letters14:30 - The beginning of writing his book17:00 - Taking his rough draft to his wife for revisions19:49 - Developing the 14 principles rather than telling individual lessons from each letter21:50 - No one cared about the letters. It was all about the principles. 23:00 - The book is very readable and pulls the reader through it 24:00 - What's coming on the next episodeConnect with Steve Anderson:The Success NetworkFacebookLinkedInWebsite