Amazon’s love memo

Jeff Bezos, who is probably going to be the first person to be running a trillion dollar company, confesses how Amazon can be hated for its sheer size and success. Bezos has been very protective about Amazon’s perception in the public and maintains that Amazon should be loved and not feared. In an attempt to make this happen, he writes a love memo, which I have pasted below, as is. I keep coming back to the memo because of its ability to inspire on multiple levels (business and personal).

The Love Memo, written by Jeff Bezos

• Rudeness is not cool.
• Defeating tiny guys is not cool.
• Close-following is not cool.
• Young is cool.
• Risk taking is cool.
• Winning is cool.
• Polite is cool.
• Defeating bigger, unsympathetic guys is cool.
• Inventing is cool.
• Explorers are cool.
• Conquerors are not cool.
• Obsessing over competitors is not cool.
• Empowering others is cool.
• Capturing all the value only for the company is not cool.
• Leadership is cool.
• Conviction is cool.
• Straightforwardness is cool.
• Pandering to the crowd is not cool.
• Hypocrisy is not cool.
• Authenticity is cool.
• Thinking big is cool.
• The unexpected is cool.
• Missionaries are cool.
• Mercenaries are not cool.”