You Will Never Get Anything Done

By Patrick Hanna

Although the initial encounter didn't seem to be smooth sailing, Dalzell left Seattle with a vision and personal charisma that was distinct from Bezos's. However, returning to Bentonville, Arkansas, Dalzell was easily influenced by Walmart managers. Lee Scott, the future CEO of Walmart who was running the supply chain, told Dalzell that Amazon w

• Language: English
• Publisher: Patrick Hanna
• Release date: Oct 3, 2023
• ISBN: 9798868952975

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You Will Never Get Anything Done

You Will Never Get Anything Done

Copyright © 2023 by Patrick Hanna

All rights reserved

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1 : HE REPEATEDLY REFUSED BEZOS AND COVEY

CHAPTER 2 : THE PROBLEM IS THAT THE COMPANY'S BUSINESS IS SO STRONG

CHAPTER 3 : BEZOS SAW THE COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

CHAPTER 4 : IF YOU NEVER MAKE A MISTAKE

CHAPTER 5 : MODERN LEADERS ENDLESS GOALS

CHAPTER 1 : HE REPEATEDLY REFUSED BEZOS AND COVEY

While visiting Seattle that spring, because the airline lost his luggage, Dalzell had to borrow a jacket and tie from the hotel baggage handler. Then, he showed up early at the Amazon office but no one was there. Unlike Walmart, employees at Amazon work late and wake up late. When Bezos arrived at the office, he and Dalzell sat down to talk and the Amazon founder accidentally spilled the entire cup of coffee on Dalzell's borrowed jacket.

Although the initial encounter didn't seem to be smooth sailing, Dalzell left Seattle with a vision and personal charisma that was distinct from Bezos's. However, returning to Bentonville, Arkansas, Dalzell was easily influenced by Walmart managers. Lee Scott, the future CEO of Walmart who was running the supply chain, told Dalzell that Amazon was a novel idea but it had limited potential.

Bezos didn't give up pursuing Dalzell or stop looking for other seasoned technical people. He looked for anyone suitable but still had Covey call Dalzell's wife, Kathryn, every few weeks and John Doerr tried to seduce Dalzell. Bezos and Covey flew to Bentonville to surprise Dalzell and invite him to dinner. After the meal, Dalzell agreed to join Amazon – but then changed his mind. It would take an atomic bomb to get my family out of Arkansas, he said at the time.

However, Dalzell couldn't put Amazon out of his mind. My wife tells me that if I'm passionate about something, I won't stop talking about it, he said. One day she turned to me and said, 'Why are you still at Walmart?' In August, he finally accepted the offer.

In August 1997, Dalzell started a new job as chief information officer of Amazon and became a key member of the J Team. He is an experienced director, adept at hiring quickly and building large teams to plan and accomplish ambitious goals. Dalzell regularly sits next to Bezos in meetings and is responsible for selecting and arranging the most suitable human resources for the founder's ideas. Jeff comes up with big ideas faster than anyone else can put them into practice, says Bruce Jones, a longtime Amazon engineer and friend of Dalzell. Rick assured us we would perfect the important elements.

Dalzell joined Amazon that summer with great results, and this caused concern for Shel Kaphan. Before the IPO, Bezos took a walk with his first partner and shared with him that the company needed more in-depth technical management and then asked him to become Amazon's chief technology officer. This may sound like a promotion, but in reality Kaphan will serve in a consulting role, with no budget or direct responsibility. Kaphan refused and Bezos did not mention the issue again.

Kaphan stayed on as technical director for the next few years and remained on the management board. However, Kaphan was left out because there were no employees left who reported to him or had the power to influence the allocation of key resources. Frustration and feelings of powerlessness grow. He built the initial system for Amazon under difficult conditions based on the concept of savings, now, when Amazon is approaching the $60 million a year revenue mark, the physical system has become a disaster. disaster. Kaphan wants to take his time with a careful rebuild. Bezos refused and wanted the entire engineering team to develop new features, not repair old ones.

After that, Bezos continued to pressure Kaphan by approving some of his projects, such as rebuilding Amazon's infrastructure system from the old foundation, but leaving other directors in charge of implementation. Kaphan just sat and watched. Bezos no longer trusted the introverted programmer with any real management responsibilities, but he expressed gratitude and affection for Kaphan. In the fall of 1998, Bezos told Kaphan to pack his bags and accompany him on a business trip to inspect a potential takeover target. But then he surprised Kaphan with what he called Shelebration, a weekend in Hawaii to commemorate Kaphan's four years in the Amazon.

That weekend vacation created an unexpected opportunity for Bezos to get to know Stewart Brand, one of Kaphan's friends traveling with the group. He is the founder of the publication Whole Earth Catalog. A few years later, Bezos became the largest financial sponsor of the 10,000 Year Clock and installed it on a building he owned in Texas.

But Kaphan appeared upset throughout the Hawaii trip. He felt like a non-retired person receiving a gold watch. Bezos' two promises now conflict. Bezos once committed to Kaphan that he could hold this position forever. But the Amazon founder also promised the company and investors that he would always raise hiring standards and that Amazon would live or die based on its ability to recruit great engineers. Rick Dalzell and Joel Spiegel understand the art of political fighting that often occurs in large companies. Kaphan is a shy hacker, with an idealistic personality and little intuitive leadership ability. In fact, he was unable to recruit and develop personnel for his department as planned. However, he has also quietly contributed to developing Amazon worldwide since its inception and is uncertain about the future development in Jeff Bezos's calculation pages.

Kaphan could not imagine that one day he would leave. However, he realized that day was approaching as he counted the weeks until his 5th anniversary working at Amazon. He officially stayed at Amazon until the fall of 1999. He called Bezos one morning to say he was quitting. Kaphan recalls that Bezos said he was sorry for making him think it was necessary to make the difficult decision to leave and for not trying hard to convince him to stay.

Bezos considers Kaphan the most important person in the history of Amazon . But Kaphan felt bitter resentment about his five-year adventure with Amazon. Kaphan called Bezos' decision to remove him and not allow him to actively work at Amazon a betrayal of the sacred trust between the people who started the business together, and the way he was treated was one of the worst. The most disappointing thing in life."

Kaphan's feeling is also a common feeling of disappointment among many early Amazon employees. With his divine persuasion ability, Bezos convinced them that if they were loyal, they would be rewarded handsomely later. Then the steadfast-eyed founder replaced them with other groups with new beliefs and more experience. Standing on the sidelines and watching the company grow gave them a feeling of torment, as if their children had left home and moved to another family. But in the end, when Bezos decided to definitively decide the fate of Shel Kaphan, Amazon only had one parent left.

FEVER DREAM

D

In early 1997, Jeff Bezos flew to Boston to give a lecture at Harvard Business School. He spoke to the Marketing Management class, and the students pretended he wasn't there while meticulously dissecting the online retailer's growth prospects. At the end of the hour, they came to a common conclusion: Amazon is unlikely to survive the wave of traditional retailers moving online. You seem to be a good, kind person, so don't misunderstand the above issue. However, you need to sell the company to Barnes & Noble and leave the market, a student frankly told Bezos.

Brian Birtwistle, a student in the class, remembers that Bezos responded modestly and cautiously. You may be right, the Amazon founder responded. But I think you underestimate how difficult it will be for traditional retailers who are distributing through high street stores or any company that wants to join. They have to get used to and adapt themselves to new ways and will have difficulty becoming flexible or focusing on new business channels. I guess we'll see that soon. At the end of the class, only a few students spoke to Bezos, far fewer than the crowd that flocked to greet most of the other guests. One of those students was Jason Kilar (who would work for Amazon for the next nine years, working his way up the company's management team before becoming CEO of video site Hulu). When it was Birtwistle's turn to meet Bezos, it was time for him to go to the airport. The professor in charge of the class suggested Birtwistle drive Bezos to the airport. Great, Bezos agreed. I can save money on taxis.

During the 15-minute drive, Bezos thought Birtwistle was interested in career opportunities at Amazon and began interviewing him. Why do you want to work at Amazon ? he asked.

Birtwistle didn't think he would participate in the interview at that time, but he still followed suit. I was a history major, he said. If I had the opportunity to join an early-stage company like yours, I would feel like I was participating in something historic.

Bezos almost screamed. That's exactly how we think at Amazon ! You see, there are countless companies in the world and most will go bankrupt. There are only a few brands that stand the test of time, and we will be one of them.

After a few seconds of silence, Bezos asked: So, why are manhole covers round?

Jeff, if you want to get to the airport on time, don't ask me questions like that.

Bezos laughed as loud as a gunshot, startling Birtwistle and skidding on the highway. No, seriously, Bezos said. How will you answer?

They are round because it makes it easier to roll them into place? It's not true, but it's not a bad hypothesis, Bezos said. When Birtwistle graduated from Harvard, he joined Amazon, along with Kilar and Andy Jassy. They were among the first business graduates hired by Amazon.

In early 1998, vice president of marketing, Mark Breier, gave Bezos the results of a study showing that the majority of consumers do not use Amazon  and will not use it in the future, because they simply do not use Amazon . buy very few books. Breier says Bezos doesn't seem too worried about the dismal research data on Americans' literary tastes. He asked Breier to assign a group of new graduates from Harvard Business School to a SWAT team. The team is responsible for researching product groups with high SKU index (number of items available in inventory) that are in the warehouse, and can be easily sent by mail. I gave him very bad news about the company's business, and I was really surprised when he seemed happy, Breier said.

Currently, Bezos feels the need to immediately expand into new product categories. In the minds of customers, the Amazon brand is only associated with books. He wants it to be flexible and diverse, like Richard Branson's Virgin, which is tied to everything from music to aviation to wine. Bezos also needs Amazon to generate revenue that will allow him to invest in technology and stay ahead of his competitors. Before that, Jeff had calculated it all on paper and knew this had to happen. The company has to grow, go big or go home, said Joel Spiegel, vice president of engineering, who has worked for both Microsoft and Apple.

Joy Covey believes that from the beginning, Bezos planned to expand his business into non-book products, but he waited for the right time to do it. He always had big ambitions, she said. It's just a question of seizing the opportunity at the right time.

That spring, Jassy studied music, Kilar focused on home video, Victoria Pickett, a classmate at Harvard, examined thin-film packaging software, and the list of products examined went on. In an off-site meeting at the Westin hotel, the MBA team presented their findings to the company's top management. The company's mission is now to become more inclusive. The motto that appears at the top of the website changes from World's Largest Book Store to Books, Music & More, and right after that to Biggest Selection on the Planet – Million Store.

Near the end of the multi-hour meeting, Bezos asked everyone to write down a five-year company revenue forecast. Eugene Wei, a strategic planning analyst who attended the meeting as a secretary, remembered that Bezos gave the highest number of all participants. But he suspected that no one had come up with the correct number. They simply don't know what's going on.

To open new product categories and build more warehouses, Amazon needs more than just a plan: The company needs more capital. So, in May of that year, the company raised $326