Business Strategy Quotes

"If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses." "We've had three big ideas at Amazon that we've stuck with for 18 years, and they're the reason we're successful: Put the customer first. Invent. And be patient." "Your margin is my opportunity." "Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough." "We innovate by starting with the customer and working backwards. That becomes the touchstone for how we invent." "Vision, guts and enthusiasm. Three qualities I feel you always gotta have to have a shot at success." "When [competitors are] in the shower in the morning, they're thinking about how they're going to get ahead of one of their top competitors. Here in the shower, we're thinking about how we are going to invent something on behalf of a customer." "We are stubborn on vision. We are flexible on details." "Most large organizations embrace the idea of invention, but are not willing to suffer the string of failed experiments necessary to get there." "All of my best decisions in business and in life have been made with heart, intuition, guts... not analysis." "If you're watching your competitors, you're unlikely to invent a bunch of stuff on your own." "Most decisions should probably be made with somewhere around 70% of the information you wish you had. If you wait for 90%, in most cases, you’re probably being slow." "A company shouldn't get addicted to being shiny, because shiny doesn't last." "Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning." "Friends congratulate me after a quarterly-earnings announcement and say, 'Good job, great quarter.' And I'll say, 'Thank you, but that quarter was baked three years ago.'" "I very frequently get the question, “What’s going to change in the next ten years?” And that is a very interesting question; it’s a very common one. I almost never get the question, “What’s not going to change in the next ten years?” And I submit to you that that second question is actually the more important of the two, because you can build a business strategy around the things that are stable in time." "Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower." "You can create value with breakthrough innovation, incremental refinement, or complex coordination. Great companies often do two of these. The very best companies do all three" "If you want to be a millionaire, start with a billion dollars and launch a new airline." "My philosophy is that if I have any money I invest it in new ventures and not have it sitting around."