EIL12: Inside Amazon: The Secret Behind Jeff Bezos and Amazon's Global Success with Brian Dumaine, Bezonomics

Brian Dumaine is an award-winning journalist and a contributing editor at Fortune magazine. His 

book, “Bezonomics: How Amazon Is Changing Our Lives and What the World’s Best Companies Are Learning From It”, takes an unbiased look at Amazon’s increasingly dominant business model, the competitors either imitating or trying to outfox the company, and the ways “Bezonomics” is shaping the life of every American consumer. 

 

In this episode, Brian talks to us about the story of Jeff Bezos and Amazon, from how they started as a humble online book shop, and how with the proper mentality and execution they became one of the strongest forces in the market that threatens to disrupt the grocery business, medical business and the finance business. 

 

Why you have to checkout today’s podcast: 

Learn about the corporate culture within Amazon, and why is a “tough place” to work in  Understand Jeff Bezos’ “Flywheel” concept of business   Find out how Amazon threatens to disrupt the grocery business, medical business and the finance business through constant and continuous innovations 

 

“If there's one thing that keeps coming back to me, it's authenticity. I think the leaders who are most successful are honest people who have a passion and believe in that passion and can listen.” – Brian Dumaine 

 

Topics Covered: 

 

01:26 – Introducing today’s guest, award-winning journalist Brian Dumaine 

02:25 – What inspired Brian to write his book “Bezonomics” 

03:31 – The corporate culture inside Amazon and what it transpires 

05:32 – Why Amazon is a tough place to work in 

08:20 – What Jeff Bezos does to make sure that he has a good team around him 

11:35 – The Flywheel concept: What Jeff Bezos does that others don’t that led to Amazon’s exponential growth 

17:28 – Amazon is an innovative company that focused on customers’ convenience 

18:49 – How Jeff Bezos started Amazon, and how he developed it to what it is right now 

23:15 – Through their innovations, Amazon is going to disrupt the grocery business, the health care business, and the finance business

27:49 – The challenges that Amazon had in expanding internationally 

29:52 – Brian’s takeaway about leadership 

 

Key Takeaways: 

 

“Propensity for forthrightness and clarity and the facts really help Amazon become an incredibly innovative company. But again, it's a tough culture. It's not one for everyone.” – Brian Dumaine 

 

“If you do everything to please the customer… you're going to attract more customers. And if you attract more customers… you'll attract more third-party sellers who will offer more products on the site for customers. And if you do that, you get to grow your revenue. And if you grow your revenue, you're going to have economies of scale that allow you to do more for your customers.” – Brian Dumaine 

 

“Their [Amazon’s] tentacles reach far and wide. And, you know, you put cloud on top of that and you start wondering: Sections of the economy, are they not playing it? – Brian Dumaine 

 

“If there's one thing that keeps coming back to me, it's authenticity. I think the leaders who are most successful are honest people who have a passion and believe in that passion and can listen.” – Brian Dumaine 

 

People / Resources Mentioned: 

·           Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/ 

·           Amazon Go: https://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=16008589011 

·           Pillpack: https://www.pillpack.com/ 

·           AWS: https://aws.amazon.com/ 

·           Bezonomics: How Amazon Is Changing Our Lives and What the World's Best Companies Are Learning from It: https://www.amazon.com/Bezonomics-Amazon-Changing-Companies-Learning/dp/1982113634 

·           The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Everything-Store-Jeff-Bezos-Amazon/dp/0316219266 

·           Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't: https://www.amazon.com/Good-Great-Some-Companies-Others/dp/0066620996 

 

Connect with Brian Dumaine:  

·           LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-dumaine-839a05ba/ 

 

Connect with Dr. Katrina Burrus: 

·           LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katrinaburrus/ 

·           Website: https://mkbconseil.ch/contact/