The founder and former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Amazon, Jeff Bezos believes that a company’s brand is akin to an individual’s reputation, which is built by consistently striving to accomplish challenging goals.
Quote of the day by Jeff Bezos, “A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn reputation by trying to do hard things well.”
What does this quote mean?
Jeff Bezos compared a company’s brand to a person’s reputation, emphasizing that reputation is earned through the effort put into achieving difficult tasks successfully. According to the 62-year-old entrepreneur, who is the founder of space technology company Blue Origin, a company’s brand functions like a person’s reputation, which is developed through the diligent pursuit of difficult tasks.
Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in January 1964 to teenage parents Jacklyn and Ted Jorgensen, Jeff Bezos was initially named Jeffrey Preston Jorgensen. His mother officially separated from Ted in April 1968 and tied the knot with Cuban immigrant Miguel “Mike” Bezos. At the age of 4, Jacklyn’s first born was given the name Jeff Bezos as Mike officially adopted him shortly after his wedding.
Jeff showed keen interest in scientific exploration and technological learning at a very young age. After graduating from Miami Palmetto High School in 1982, he joined Princeton University. Discouraged by his fellow classmate Yasantha Rajakarunanayake’s exceptional skills in mathematical problem solving, Bezos gave up physics and switched to electrical engineering and computer science. Bezos graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) in 1986 with 4.2 GPA.
He embarked on his career with a job at a fintech telecommunications start-up called Fitel, rejecting offers from Intel, Bell Labs, and Andersen Consulting. in the following years, he switched to Bankers Trust and then to DE Shaw & Co. Widely known as a philanthropist, Bezos makes personal investments via his venture capital vehicle Bezos Expeditions and supports several non-profit projects through direct donations.
Bezos founded Amazon in 1994, Blue Origin in September 2000 and Altos Labs in the following year.
Jeff Bezos’ powerful quotes on business building and growth:
- “We can’t be in survival mode. We have to be in growth mode.”
- “Work Hard, have fun, make history”
- “The great thing about fact-based decisions is that they overrule the hierarchy.”
- “If you never want to be criticized, for goodness’ sake don’t do anything new.”
- “In the old world, you devoted 30% of your time to building a great service and 70% of your time to shouting about it. In the new world, that inverts.”
- “Your margin is my opportunity”
- “We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts. It’s our job every day to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little bit better.”
- “The death knell for any enterprise is to glorify the past — no matter how good it was.”
- “It’s not an experiment if you know it’s going to work.”
- “Invention is by its very nature disruptive. If you want to be understood at all times, then don’t do anything new.”
