The Everything Store is the biography of Amazon as we know it today. It includes a lot of anecdotes and history about Jeff Bezos without being "the Jeff Bezos story". Every day my building lobby is filled with Amazon boxes and I certainly make multiple purchases per month - appreciating the ease and speed of the process.
I wanted to know more about a company that is critically changing life as we know it. My son won't know life without 1-click, 1 day (or less!) shipping of what we need. Jeff Bezos wasn't a passionate bookseller when he started the company. He was, however, certain that the internet was going to revolutionize commerce and life and he wanted to be at the forefront.
I enjoy reading about visionaries -- creative thinkers who take enormous risk to push the boundary for the rest of us. I am forever interested in understanding the combination of factors and timing that make someone successful in accomplishing their mission. I applaud the book for not making Jeff Bezos a flawless hero, straightforward boss or even-keeled decision maker. Nothing that good comes easily. His humanity - imperfect, brilliant and impactful - made the book a compelling read.
A link and an excerpt from his baccalaureate speech at Princeton
Tomorrow, in a very real sense, your life -- the life you author from scratch on your own -- begins.
How will you use your gifts? What choices will you make?
Will inertia be your guide, or will you follow your passions?
Will you follow dogma, or will you be original?
Will you choose a life of ease, or a life of service and adventure?
Will you wilt under criticism, or will you follow your convictions?
Will you bluff it out when you’re wrong, or will you apologize?
Will you guard your heart against rejection, or will you act when you fall in love?
Will you play it safe, or will you be a little bit swashbuckling?
When it’s tough, will you give up, or will you be relentless?
Will you be a cynic, or will you be a builder?
Will you be clever at the expense of others, or will you be kind?
I will hazard a prediction. When you are 80 years old, and in a quiet moment of reflection narrating for only yourself the most personal version of your life story, the telling that will be most compact and meaningful will be the series of choices you have made. In the end, we are our choices. Build yourself a great story.
