Amazon after Bezos: How will Amazon maintain its culture as it prepares for its founder Jeff Bezos to step down as CEO? One answer is the set of processes and principles that the company has put into place, the "Invention Machine" created by Bezos and his leadership team. That's the assessment of Bill Carr, a former Amazon executive and the co-author of the new book, “Working Backwards,” with fellow Amazon veteran Colin Bryar. Read key takeaways and hear our conversation with Carr on a special episode of the GeekWire Podcast.
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One juicy tidbit from the book is the inside story of how an offhand remark by late Apple CEO Steve Jobs contributed to Amazon’s expansion into digital media: "Amazon has a decent chance of being the last place to buy CDs," the late Apple CEO told Bezos and a group of Amazon executives in 2003, prior to the release of iTunes for Windows. That backhanded compliment, Carr said, helped to put Amazon on a path that ultimately led to Kindle, Amazon Music, Echo, Fire TV and many other products.
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The book says Bezos is often among the last to finish reading Amazon’s six-page documents in meetings. This does not mean that Bezos is a slow reader, Carr says. Instead, it means “he’s thinking very deeply about every word, every sentence in the document and analyzing it, to decide whether he actually agrees.”
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Former Amazon board member Tom Alberg reviews the book for GeekWire: “Jeff’s selection of Andy Jassy, who has operated in Amazon’s strong culture for over 20 years, as his successor as CEO, assures that the leadership principles will continue into the future. It is why Jeff has always preferred that his successor be someone who has lived and breathed the culture.”
Related: Amazon is developing a wall-mounted Echo device with a touchscreen and Alexa capabilities, according to a report from Bloomberg.
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Thanks for reading, and see all our latest headlines below. — GeekWire editor Todd Bishop, editor@geekwire.com, managing editor Taylor Soper, taylor@geekwire.com, and reporter Kurt Schlosser, kurt@geekwire.com.
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