Jeff Bezos has spearheaded the meteoric rise of Amazon in the 17 years since he founded the company. Before leaving his role as CEO, he offered his wisdom on the critical element of Amazon’s astounding success.
He explained: “That version is misleading. Being yourself is worth it, but don’t expect it to be easy or free. You’ll have to put energy into it continuously.
“It’s also true that things would often be easier – take less energy – if we were a little more normal.”
Mr Bezos, who Forbes has named as the richest person in the world, elaborated further on how critical it is to maintain a distinctiveness, pointing to democratic structures as proof of its importance.
He said: “In what ways does the world pull at you in an attempt to make you normal?
“How much work does it take to maintain your distinctiveness? To keep alive the thing or things that make you special?
“This phenomenon happens at all scale levels. Democracies are not normal. Tyranny is the historical norm.
“If we stopped doing all of the continuous hard work that is needed to maintain our distinctiveness in that regard, we would quickly come into equilibrium with tyranny.”
Turning his focus back towards Amazon, Mr Bezos reiterated his desire for the company to continue to be different.
“The world will always try to make Amazon more typical – to bring us into equilibrium with our environment,” he said.
“It will take continuous effort, but we can and must be better than that.”
Born in New Mexico, USA, Mr Bezos attended the prestigious Princeton University in the 1980’s and graduated with a degree in electrical engineering and computer science.
After leaving university, he spent eight years working on Wall Street before founding Amazon in 1994.
Originally an online book store, the company has grown exponentially and expanded into various arenas, including wider e-commerce, digital streaming and even artificial intelligence.
The 57-year-old stepped down as Amazon’s CEO on July 5 of this year, instead moving into a role as executive chairman with the company.
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