What makes successful people tick – why are they different? A recent report by the BBC has identified these ‘personality’ traits for us to copy if we want! Now if you don’t know Jeff Bezos, he is now the richest man in the world, owns Amazon and he became the world’s first centi-billionaire in 2017. That’s $100 billion! So what has made him different?
Jeff Bezos’ 10 Secrets for Success:
- He has always questioned and tried to discover new things. Apparently he could take his cot apart with a screwdriver by the age of 3.
- He has always wanted to make new things and he set up an alarm system at home to keep his younger siblings out of his room.
- He’s obsessed with measurement, metrics and performance indicators and he applies them ruthlessly, letting go employees who don’t score well and we’ve all heard the rumours of timed toilet breaks.
- He’s opinionated and eccentric. For instance PowerPoint is banned.
- He likes small teams and no larger than can be fed with ‘two pizzas’!
- He’s obsessed about customer experience and still publicises his e-mail address today (its jeff@amazon.com!) so that customers can write to him.
- In his 14 leadership principles, he encourages people to give feedback and criticism on their colleagues (which is a bit harsh for team morale!)
- He takes and absorbs a lot of flak from politicians and world leaders particularly about employee conditions and pay.
- He’s prepared to change his mind! So when he got criticised for employees pay he raised the minimum wage to $15 per hour and when also criticised for a lack of charity work he contributed $2 billion via his Bezos one day fund working for the homeless and education.
- He’s a pioneer! And invests $1 billion per year into space travel. His motto is Gradatim Ferociter – which means step by step – ferociously!
What can we mere mortals take from that? He’s different, contrary and lacks all fear. He doesn’t care what people think and always wants to do things his way which makes him unpopular. He’s definitely a maverick. Would we be content with that in return for al those riches? You decide!
