Podcast appearances and mentions of colin bryar

Listen or watch as Enterprise Business Agility Coach Om Patel and Product Manager Brian Orlando debate whether communication is the primary function of product managers. We explore how and if PMs can balance effective communication across stakeholder groups while still delivering results, in addition to other topics, such as: What percentage really is communicationThe power-interest matrix for stakeholder managementBalancing narrative leadership vs technical excellenceCreating vision without authorityMaking the invisible turn visibleWhat makes a good one-page vision documents#ProductManagement #Agile #Communication= = = = = = = = = = = =REFERENCESArguing Agile 201: Mastering Stakeholder Communication and ManagementArguing Agile 205: Debating Impact versus Visibility in Product ManagementArguing Agile 123: PRDsWho Moved My Cheese, Spencer Johnson, 1998Geoffrey Moore, Crossing the Chasm, 1991Working Backwards, Bill Carr & Colin Bryar, 2021The Power/Interest Grid, Eden & Ackermann, 1998= = = = = = = = = = = =LINKS Arguing Agile: http://arguingagile.comYouTube: https://youtu.be/MEKYApOb4xcSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/362QvYORmtZRKAeTAE57v3Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agile-podcast/id1568557596= = = = = = = = = = = =Toronto Is My Beat (Music Sample)By Whitewolf (Source: https://ccmixter.org/files/whitewolf225/60181)CC BY 4.0 DEED (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en)

We are joined by Colin Bryar, a former Amazon executive and co-author of the outstanding book, "Working Backwards:  Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon".  How did Amazon grow from a tiny start-up to one of the most successful companies on the planet?  What best practices did Amazon leverage to facilitate this success?  Colin was Jeff Bezos' "shadow" (Jeff's Chief of Staff") during those early days and talks to CSI Chat about: - How was Amazon able to hire the best and the brightest employees?  Colin explains Amazon's "Bar Raiser" hiring approach and how it was leveraged to hire 1,000's of Amazon's top employees.   - Amazon has banned the use of PowerPoint within their organization for most meeting presentations.  Why did Amazon ban PowerPoint and what format does Amazon now use for most presentations?   - How has "thinking long-term" and "focusing on the customer" resulted in some of Amazon's life changing products and services including "Amazon Prime" and "Amazon Web Hosting"? End of the day, Colin explains how nearly all of Amazon's best practices can be leveraged by all corporations to facilitate their growth and success.    

Jorge is officially taking over as the new host of Think Like Amazon. But before diving into fresh conversations, he went back and studied the top episodes. What he found is timeless leadership lessons from insiders who built and scaled Amazon. In this kickoff episode, he breaks down 7 powerful insights (from earning trust to building real customer obsession) that every ambitious leader should hear.Whether you lead a team or just want to level up your thinking, these takeaways will change how you operate.1. (02:50) Long-Term Results Mean Bringing People with You (Ronak Patel, ex-Director of Logistics)2. (06:26) Customer Obsession Goes Beyond Data (Jennifer Arthur, 16-year Amazon veteran)3. (11:58) "Working Backwards" Means Embracing Hard Truths (Colin Bryar, former Technical Assistant to Jeff Bezos)4. (14:06) Earning Trust Can Be Systematic (Justin Maner, ex-Director Amazon Devices)5. (20:56) Simple Solutions Often Win (Dave Anderson, former GM)6. (24:21) Ownership Has Levels (Ethan Evans, former Amazon VP)7.  (28:21) Say YES to Get "Lucky" (Ronak Patel, most listened episode so far) Mentioned in the episode:·       Ronak Patel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronak-patel-nashville/·       Jennifer Arthur: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-arthur-460768/·       Colin Bryar: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colinbryar/·       Justin Maner: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinmaner/·       Dave Anderson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scarletink/·       Ethan Evans: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethanevansvp/·       Follow us on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/think-like-amazon-podcast

Colin Bryar is a business advisor and technology leader whose career has focused on optimizing business strategy, technology, and operations. He is a former top-level executive at Amazon, where he spent more than 12 years – much of it in the early aughts during the company's period of unmatched innovation – serving as a tech VP, leading the operations for IMDb.com, as well as shadowing and working directly with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to help with all aspects of Amazon's business including strategy, technology, and operations.Bryar is also the co-founder of Working Backwards, LLC where he coaches and advises executives at both early stages and established companies around the globe, helping them to implement the management practices developed at Amazon. He also serves as an advisor for Singapore-based online marketplace, Carousell.Learn more about Colin | Websitehttps://www.workingbackwards.comConnect with Alisa! Follow Alisa Cohn on Instagram: @alisacohn Twitter: @alisacohn Facebook: facebook.com/alisa.cohn LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alisacohn/ Website: http://www.alisacohn.com Download her 5 scripts for delicate conversations (and 1 to make your life better) Grab a copy of From Start-Up to Grown-Up by Alisa Cohn from AmazonLove the show? Subscribe, Rate, Review, Like, and Share!

Colin Bryar, former vice-president of Amazon and Jeff Bezos' right-hand man, shares the secrets that have transformed Amazon into the world's leading e-commerce company. In this interview, he discusses the philosophy of putting the customer at the centre of all decisions, the importance of analysing the right data to understand and respond to consumer needs, and the steps that led to the company's continuous innovation. From changes in packaging - prompted by direct customer feedback - to the emergence of Amazon Web Services, which created the cloud computing industry. In addition, he explores how customer prioritisation and the intelligent use of data have shaped the company's success in the digital marketplace. Bryar also explains how companies can apply these lessons to grow, innovate and solve real problems. In this episode of ‘It's not that simple', discover the impact of digital transformation, the future of online commerce and the strategies that continue to position Amazon at the forefront of e-commerce and technology. More on the topic: Alcott Global interview Colin Bryar's LinkedIn Agile Education interview Q&A from the Think Like Amazon podcast Commonplace Expertise interview

I'm obsessed with business scaling, but if you're in business, that's the primary domain you'll deal with daily and at a long-term strategic level.​Indeed, when it comes to scaling, it'll be critical to understand its nuances as the landscape changes everything (from product development to marketing and sales processes).But what about scaling that makes it so critical for business?Let me explain step by step but before a visual representation of what I'll cover in this issue!Extract from https://businessengineer.ai/p/business-scaleUnderstanding Business Scaling: A Deep DiveSource: Excerpts from "business scaling! -" by Gennaro Cuofano and FourWeekMBASection 1: Introduction to Business ScalingThis section defines business scaling as the transformation process a business undergoes when its product is validated by increasingly wider market segments. It emphasizes the importance of understanding scaling nuances for business success, as it impacts various aspects, including product development, marketing, and sales.Section 2: The Foundation of Scaling: Product and Target MarketThis section highlights the significance of a "great product" as the cornerstone of scaling. It emphasizes that a product's greatness is relative to its target market segment. The example of Tesla's initial focus on a niche market of sports car enthusiasts with the Roadster illustrates this concept.Section 3: From Product Validation to Sustainable Business ModelThis section delves into the crucial step after product validation: establishing a sustainable business model. It emphasizes that even with a validated product, a company might struggle to balance the elements needed for a viable business model. The section stresses that this alignment between product and business model is not linear and often requires trial and error.Section 4: The Role of Organizational Design in ScalingThis section focuses on the increasing importance of organizational design as a company scales. It highlights the challenges of coordination as the number of employees grows and emphasizes the need for a scalable organizational structure. The section references Colin Bryar's insights from "Working Backwards" about Amazon's experience with organizational design during rapid growth.Section 5: Phases of Growth and Shifting FocusThis section outlines the long-term growth process, highlighting the evolving focus on different aspects as a company scales. It emphasizes that while the product remains central, business model refinement and organizational design require increasing attention at different stages of growth.Section 6: Case Studies: Tesla, Amazon, and a Hypothetical StartupThis section presents real-world case studies to illustrate the concepts discussed. Tesla's segmented scaling approach, Amazon's organizational design, and a hypothetical startup's failure due to a lack of a viable business model are presented as examples.Section 7: Additional Real-World Case Studies of Companies That Unlocked ScaleThis section provides a series of concise case studies of companies like Apple, Google, Facebook, and more. Each case study highlights the company's context, scaling strategy, approach, key highlights, and insights gained from their successful scaling journey. Each case study provides a brief overview of how these companies achieved significant growth and market dominance.

In this episode of the Moonshots Podcast, hosts Mike and Mark explore the behind-the-scenes strategies that powered Amazon's meteoric rise to global dominance. Drawing from Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon, authors Colin Bryar and Bill Carr—two key executives who worked alongside Jeff Bezos—unpack the innovative practices and leadership philosophies that made Amazon a billion-dollar powerhouse.Through rich discussions and exclusive clips, we explore the core principles that have guided Amazon's evolution from its early startup days to becoming one of the most customer-obsessed companies in the world. Learn how Amazon's unique leadership, decision-making, and innovation approach can be applied to your ventures, helping you build a customer-centric, scalable organization.Key Topics Covered:1. Meet the AuthorsColin Bryar & Bill Carr's Trailer to Working Backwards (1m08)The authors introduce us to the book and share their experiences working inside Amazon, giving listeners a glimpse into the inner workings of the company's culture and strategy.2. Leadership at AmazonJeff Bezos on Hiring Talented Employees (55s)In this clip, Bezos discusses the importance of hiring top-tier talent and raising the bar with every new addition to the team. Discover how Amazon's strict hiring standards help the company continuously improve and innovate.Colin Bryar with Roger Dooley: Single-Threaded Leadership (4m19)Colin Bryar shares the single-threaded leader concept, one of Amazon's fundamental leadership principles. Learn how this practice fosters focused leadership, accountability, and faster execution by assigning one leader to own a project without competing priorities.3. How to Innovate Like AmazonColin Bryar on the Power of the 6-Page Memo (3m56)Amazon's internal decision-making relies heavily on the written word, with the 6-page memo being a staple of meetings. Discover why Amazon believes text is better than PowerPoint for conveying complex ideas and encouraging deep thinking.Bill Carr on the PRFAQ Process (4m14)The PRFAQ (Press Release and FAQ) process is at the heart of Amazon's product development strategy. By working backward from a customer-centric vision, teams are forced to think critically about how to build and deliver new products. Bill Carr explains how this method fosters clarity, innovation, and accountability.4. The Bigger PictureJeff Bezos on Managing Inputs, Not Outputs (49s)In this final clip, Bezos shares one of his key insights: the importance of focusing on the inputs you can control rather than fixating on outputs like profit or growth. This philosophy encourages long-term thinking and continuous improvement.Why You Should ListenThis episode provides a masterclass in leadership and innovation from one of the most successful companies in history. Whether you're an entrepreneur, a business leader, or someone who loves learning about breakthrough companies, you'll gain actionable insights from Amazon's unique hiring, decision-making, and scaling approach.Watch & Read MoreFull episode on YouTube.Read the related blog: Billion Dollar Entrepreneurial Secrets from Amazon.Check out the book summary on Blinkist.Apply the lessons from this episode to raise the bar in your organization, implement focused leadership, and transform your approach to innovation. Thanks to our monthly supporters Edward Rehfeldt III 孤鸿 月影 Fabian Jasper Verkaart Margy Diana Bastianelli Andy Pilara ola Fred Fox Austin Hammatt Zachary Phillips Antonio Candia Mike Leigh Cooper Daniela Wedemeier Corey LaMonica Smitty Laura KE Denise findlay Krzysztof Diana Bastianelli Roar Nikolay Ytre-Eide Stef Roger von Holdt Jette Haswell Marco Silva venkata reddy Dirk Breitsameter Ingram Casey Nicoara Talpes rahul grover Evert van de Plassche Ravi Govender Craig Lindsay Steve Woollard Lasse Brurok Deborah Spahr Barbara Samoela Christian Jo Hatchard Kalman Cseh Berg De Bleecker Paul Acquaah MrBonjour Sid Liza Goetz Konnor Ah kuoi Marjan Modara Dietmar Baur Nils Weigelt Bob Nolley ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

We took another dive into the large pile of books…and came up with Working Backwards by Colin Bryar and Bill Carr Business books; are they all they are hyped up to be? Meet the “insights, stories and secrets” of Amazon presented by a couple of senior ex-employees. We dive into the formulaic nature of business books and how the Amazon story has a lot more Jeff and a lot more luck than perhaps this book really acknowledges. We also reflect on whether the book really represents the Amazon of today, which is perhaps a different story. Support your local bookstore or library PLEASE :-) or find out where to grab the book here: https://booko.co.nz/w/9684567/Working-Backwards-Insights-Stories-and-Secrets-from-Inside-Amazon_by_Colin-Bryar-Bill-Carr Follow us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. Connect with us here: the232podcast@gmail.com Get Sean's book The Impact Professional at: impactprofessional.nz

Amazon ist ein Vorreiter was agile Arbeitsweisen angeht – auch ohne dabei einfach nur auf Scrum oder irgendein Framework zu setzen. Stattdessen hat der Amazon-Gründer und langjährige CEO Jeff Bezos die Unternehmenskultur bereits in der neunziger Jahren auf agile Denkweisen eingeschworen. Und Amazon profitiert davon bis heute. In dieser Episode reflektieren unsere Co-Hosts Miriam und Jean Amazon's “Leadership Principles” (also Führungsgrundsätze) und wie diese die agilen Arbeitsweisen von Amazon bis heute prägen. In den unten verlinkten Blogposts könnt ihr die Details nachlesen und dazu passende Retro-Formate direkt mit eurem Team ausprobieren. Amazon's 2 Pizza Team Regel (inkl. Retro Format):  Amazon's agile Arbeitskultur: Zwei Pizza Team-Regel Amazon's Kundenbesessenheit (inkl. Retro Format): Amazon's agile Führungsprinzipien: Kunden-Besessenheit Amazon's Immer Tag 1 Kultur (inkl. Retro Format):  Amazon's “Immer Tag 1” Kultur Amazon's Leadership Principles:  Leadership Principles Buchempfehlung: Working Backwards von Bill Carr und Colin Bryar (auf Amazon):  Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon Vernetze dich mit uns Dr. Miriam Sasse: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-miriam-sasse/ Jean Michel Diaz: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeanmicheldiaz/ #agile_world #AgileWorld #Agile #AgileTalkShow #AgileManifiesto #AgileCoach #ScrumMaster  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Agile World Deutsch LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Agile World Deutsch Buchseite⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Agile World Deutsch Webseite⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Big Thank You to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sabrina C E Noto⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Karl A L Smith⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ © 2024 Agile World ® ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠News and Broadcast Network⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ California, USA | Music by Debs from ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Detoxen⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (Facebook)

Isn't it refreshing when someone further down the path is willing to share the successes AND failures they've seen along the way?That's exactly the type of conversation you'll get from today's episode with Eric Siu, CEO of Single Grain, Founder of Leveling Up and Co-Host of the top-ranked Marketing School Podcast.Eric's journey has taken him from having “no idea how to run a business” at 27 to now having scaled his agency into 8-figures, all while building a media brand, authoring a book and becoming a recognizable name in SEO and modern marketing more broadly.Despite his successes, Eric does hold back from sharing his missteps along the way and (most importantly) the lessons you can take from them.For instance, you'll hear:What roles should be contractors vs FTEs in your agencyThe CEO's actual role in hiring during times of growthCounterintuitive ways to identify and recruit new talentIn addition to sharing his hard learned hiring secrets, Eric shares:The 2 best operating systems you can steal from to make your agency run more efficientlyWhen and where pay-for-performance pricing makes sense for most agenciesResources Mentioned in This Episode:An Agency's Guide to Measuring And Improving Billable Utilization (Ebook)Connect with Eric on LinkedInThe Agency Owner's Association with Eric Siu & Neil Patel  Working Backwards by Colin Bryar & Bill Carr Free Tool to Run Your L10 Meetings in EOS: Instant Agency Tools.comThe State of Agency Operations ReportNever Split the Difference by Chris VossWant to watch the video version of the podcast on YouTube?Check it out here: Agency Life Podcast on YouTubeWant to get more content to support your agency life? Subscribe to the Agency Life newsletter, check out past episodes & find more content at teamwork.com/agencylife. This podcast is brought to you by Teamwork.com.

Cedric Chin is a writer, researcher and operator whose Commoncog newsletter is dedicated to finding useful, practical ways to accelerate business expertise. He joins us to discuss some of the most potentially transformative concepts he's uncovered, from the business expertise triad to naturalistic decision making. Important Links: Cedric's Website (Commoncog) Are You Ready for the Great Reshuffle? The Naturalistic Decision Making Podcast Wisdom Unleashed Show Notes: Commoncog's Rabbit-Holing Origins The Business Expertise Triad Quality Engineering & Process Control The Effectiveness of Naturalistic Decision Making Expectancy, Intuition & Investing How to Stay Open-Minded Trial & Error, Knowledge Shields & the Power of Reading Protocols & Pattern-Matching Cedric as Emperor of the World MUCH more! Books and Articles Mentioned: The Tricky Thing About Creating Training Programs; by Cedric Chin The Business Expertise Series; by Cedric Chin The Oxford Handbook of Expertise; edited by Paul Ward, Jaan Maarten Schraagen, Julie Gore and Emile Roth Accelerated Expertise; by Robert R. Hoffman, Paul Ward, Paul J. Feltovich, Lia DiBello, Stephen M. Fiore and Dee H. Andrews The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success; by Will Thorndike Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon; by Colin Bryar and Bill Carr Understanding Variation: The Key to Managing Chaos; by Donald Wheeler The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations that Transform the World; by David Deutsch The Hound of the Baskervilles; by Arthur Conan Doyle What Works on Wall Street: The Classic Guide to the Best-Performing Investment Strategies of All Time; by Jim O'Shaughnessy

Unlocking Excellence: Read to Lead Better, Learn to Grow Faster These are two powerhouse books that capture the journey of leadership. These two books are distinctly different, but both reflect our focus on school leaders' need to Navigate the Seas of School Leadership. Joe recommends, Sea Stories: My Life in Special Operations, which is an autobiographical book by Admiral William H. McRaven, a retired Navy SEAL and former commander of the United States Special Operations Command. The book is a firsthand account of Admiral McRaven's remarkable military career, spanning from his childhood, the early days in training, to his experiences leading special operations missions. The narrative is filled with anecdotes and insights into the world of special operations, offering readers a glimpse into the challenges, triumphs, and lessons learned in high-stakes environments. It's an amazing exploration of leadership, resilience, and the values that underpin success in the most demanding situations. The book not only shares the author's personal journey but also imparts valuable leadership lessons that can be applied in various contexts, making it a great recommendation for school leaders who are navigating their own challenges. T.J. recommends, Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon, a book written by Colin Bryar and Bill Carr, former executives at Amazon. The book provides a unique insider's perspective on Amazon's culture, leadership principles, and business strategies. In "Working Backwards," the authors share anecdotes and insights based on their experiences working with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. The book covers Amazon's customer-centric approach, decision-making processes, and the principles that have contributed to the company's success. It also offers valuable lessons for leaders and businesses seeking to adopt Amazon's innovative practices. What You'll Learn in this Episode with Joe & T.J. Joe reveals that his mentor and friend, Dr. Steven Godowsky, originally shared this book with him knowing his interest in leadership perspectives from the military. Listen to Joe describe how Admiral McRaven structures the book to capture the intention of the reader. Joe also emphasizes how Sea Stories covers McRaven's career. Too often leadership books don't chronicle the journey of a leader and the many different leadership positions that an individual may hold. This book does! Who doesn't want a look inside Amazon? Listen to T.J. describe why he likes this book and why he recommends it to school leaders. T.J. describes how these gentlemen detail their work within Amazon and the lessons that can be learned for leaders. You don't want to miss how the authors describe working for Jeff Bezos. Let us know what you're reading by contacting us at contact@theschoolhouse302.com. And don't miss our leadership newsletter every week by subscribing on the site. We can't wait to hear from you. Joe & T.J.

In today's leadership spark, I chat with Colin Bryar, Co-founder of Working Backwards. We talked about the impact of focused leadership and team management, particularly in the realm of product development and problem-solving within a company. Colin highlights Amazon's "single-threaded leaders/teams" concept, which prioritizes undivided attention to a single project or problem by a leader or team, enhancing the quality and innovation of solutions developed.  Colin also details the "bar raiser process" in hiring, ensuring candidates align with Amazon's leadership principles through a thorough, unbiased review by a panel of interviewers. While high performers at Amazon are strategically placed on significant opportunities and may experience expedited promotions, the company maintains a balanced approach to traditional practices like annual reviews, willing to innovate while retaining effective, established methods. __________________ This episode is sponsored by ⁠Kyndryl⁠. Kyndryl makes the future of work possible by designing, building and managing systems that the world depends on. Make sure to check them out at ⁠Kyndryl.com.⁠ __________________ Start your day with the world's top leaders by joining thousands of others at Great Leadership on Substack. Just enter your email:⁠ ⁠⁠⁠https://greatleadership.substack.com/

What I learned from reading Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon by Colin Bryar and Bill Carr.---I'm doing a live show with Patrick O'Shaughnessy from Invest Like the Best on October 19th in New York City. Get your tickets here!---Sponsors: I use EightSleep to get the best sleep of my life. Find out why EightSleep is loved by founders everywhere and get $150 off at eightsleep.com/founders/----Vesto makes it easy for you to invest your businesses idle cash. Schedule a demo with Vesto's founder Ben and tell him David from Founders sent you. Here's the legal disclosures to make the lawyers happy:Vesto Advisors, LLC (“Vesto”) is an SEC registered investment adviser. Registration with the SEC does not imply a certain level of skill or training. More information about Vesto and our partnership can be found hereWe are entitled to compensation for promoting Vesto Advisors, LLC. Accordingly, we have an incentive to endorse Vesto and its team and services. We are not current advisory clients of the Vesto.----Join Founders AMAMembers of Founders AMA can:-Email me your questions directly (you get a private email address in the confirmation email) -Promote your company to other members by including a link to your website with you question -Unlock 40 Ask Me Anything (AMA) episodes immediately-Listen to new Ask Me Anything (AMA) episodes every week ---Join my free email newsletter to get my top 10 highlights from every book---(8:00) Principles Jeff Bezos would repeat: customer obsession, innovation, frugality, personal ownership, bias for action, high standards.(10:30) Single threaded leadership: For each project, there is a single leader whose focus is that project and that project alone, and that leader oversees teams of people whose attention is focused on that one project.(11:00) The best thing I did as a manager at PayPal was to make every person in the company responsible for doing just one thing. Every employee's one thing was unique, and everyone knew I would evaluate him only on that one thing. I had started doing this just to simplify the task of managing people. But then I noticed a deeper result: defining roles reduced conflict. — Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Futureby Peter Thiel. (Founders #278)  (12:30) Jeff said many times: We need to eliminate communication, not encourage it. Communication is a sign of dysfunction.(14:30) Jeff is insisted that instead of finding new and better ways to manage our dependencies, we figure out how to remove them.(15:30) Jeff on decision making speed: “Most decisions should probably be made with somewhere around 70% of the information you wish you had. If you wait for 90%, in most cases, you're probably being slow. Plus, either way, you need to be good at quickly recognizing and correcting bad decisions. If you're good at course correcting, being wrong may be less costly than you think, whereas being slow is going to be expensive for sure."(16:30) The best way to fail at inventing something is by making it somebody's part-time job.(21:00) Even though you cannot hear it, with a well-written narrative there is a massive amount of useful information that is being transferred in those 20 minutes.(23:00) A simple tip on how to produce unique insights:Jeff has an uncanny ability to read a narrative and consistently arrive at insights that no one else did, even though we were all reading the same narrative. After one meeting, I asked him how he was able to do that. He responded with a simple and useful tip that I have not forgotten: he assumes each sentence he reads is wrong until he can prove otherwise. He's challenging the content of the sentence, not the motive of the writer. Jeff was usually among the last to finish reading.(26:30) Jeff wanted to know exactly what we were going to build and how it would be better for customers. To Jeff a half-baked mockup was evidence of half-baked thinking.(27:00) Founders force the issue.(28:00) Writing required us to be thorough and precise. We had to describe features, pricing, how the service would work, why customers would want it. Half baked thinking was harder to disguise on the written page than in PowerPoint slides.(34:30) Failure and invention are inseparable twins.(35:30) Working backwards exposes skill sets that your company needs but does not yet have.(36:30) Differentiation with customers is often one of the key reasons to invent.(44:00) To read Bezos' shareholder letters is to get a crash course in running a high-growth internet business from someone who mastered it before any of the playbooks were written.(46:00) The idea that Amazon, a pure e-commerce distributor of retail products made by others, would become a hardware company and make and sell its own reader device was controversial.(46:00) If you outsource then your company doesn't acquire those skills. Amazon wants the skills.(54:00) Jeff wanted to build a moat around his best customers.(58:00) We had acquired a core competency only a few other companies could match.List of Jeff Bezos episodes to learn more:#282 Jeff Bezos shareholder letters#180 Jeff Bezos (Invention of a Global Empire)#179 Jeff Bezos (Everything Store)#155 Jeff Bezos (Invent and Wander)#71 Jeff Bezos Shareholder Letters#38 Space Barons#17 Jeff Bezos (Everything Store)----“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested, so my poor wallet suffers.” — GarethBe like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

Global Product Management Talk is pleased to bring you the next episode of... Product Mastery Now with host Chad McAllister, PhD. The podcast is all about helping people involved in innovation and managing products become more successful, grow their careers, and STANDOUT from their peers. About the Episode:  Today we are talking about the “working backwards” approach to product that was created at Amazon. To give us the details on this approach, Colin Bryar is with us. He joined Amazon in 1998—four years after its founding—and spent the next 12 years as part of Amazon's senior leadership team. For two of his years at Amazon, Colin was Chief of Staff to Jeff Bezos, AKA “Jeff's shadow,” during which he spent each day attending meetings, traveling with, and discussing business and life with Jeff. Colin is co-founder of Working Backwards where he coaches executives at both large and early-stage companies on how to implement the management practices developed at Amazon. He is also the co-author of Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon.

In this episode you will learn what it means to work backwards. This is a very powerful technique which can streamline your projects, improve efficiency and superpower you as a tech manager. You will understand key benefits and limitations of this approach. There are many cases where you can use this tool, but also there are some cases where this tool won't work. Also, we will review multiple examples to see how to use this approach in the real world. In this episode we will discover the nature of working backwards. This approach is famous as one of the key success factors of Amazon. Colin Bryar and Bill Carr even wrote a book about it. Tune in now and join the conversation! If you have any questions or suggestions feel free to email them to address alphatrials@kuzmuk.com.

Qualitative vs. quantitative data analysis? Today we are talking with Scott Voigt, co-founder and CEO of Fullstory about how qualitative data analysis helps you to drive conversions. Scott tells us why a solid data basis is so important for optimizing websites or apps and how a digital experience intelligence platform can help you optimize your conversion rate. He also talks about current trends in customer journey optimization.Of course, we asked Scott for book recommendations - here are his tips:Working Backwards, Colin Bryar, Bill Carr Who: The A Method for Hiring, von Geoff Smart, Randy Street

For this episode, let's revisit a Case Interview & Management Consulting classics where we interviewed the former Amazon Digital Media VP, Bill Carr. Bill is the coauthor of Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon, an insider's breakdown of Amazon's approach to culture, leadership, and best practices from two long-time, top-level Amazon executives.  Bill Carr joined Amazon in 1999 and spent more than 15 years with the company. As the former Vice President of Digital Media, Bill launched and managed the company's global digital music and video businesses, including Amazon Music, Prime Video, and Amazon Studios. After Amazon, Bill was an Executive In Residence with Maveron LLC, an early-stage, consumer-only venture capital firm. Bill later served as the Chief Operating Officer of OfferUp, the largest mobile marketplace for local buyers and sellers in the U.S. Today, Bill is the co-founder of Working Backwards LLC where he coaches executives at large and early-stage companies on how to implement the management practices developed at Amazon. Bill holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Colby College and a Masters in Business Administration from the Goizueta Business School at Emory University. Get Bill's book here: Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon. Bill Carr and Colin Bryar. Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Amazon is a massive success in part because of its principle of ‘working backwards'. Starting with the customer and working backwards to the technology has been Amazon's core belief since the beginning, and is key to how the company operates. This week, episode 173 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about working backwards: both the methodology and the book written by Colin and his co-author Bill Carr.Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-ScaleIn this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Colin Bryar shares the importance of not being afraid to fail to innovate and actionable steps you can take right now to improve your hiring process based on your leadership principles. Colin Bryar co-authored Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon, a first-person account of how Amazon created and implemented the principles and processes that have made it successful. Colin spent 12 years at Amazon where he earned the moniker “Jeff's Shadow”, after working alongside Bezos attending meetings, traveling with, and discussing work and life as his Technical Advisor. Colin has served as COO of IMDb and RedMart, and is co-founder of Working Backwards, LLC where we help companies learn how to work backwards. In this episode, Dan and Colin discuss the following:Single-threaded leadership and what that means.The bar-raiser process for hiring, how it worked at Amazon, and how it can work for your agency.The importance of measuring inputs, not outputs.What really makes Jeff Bezos different than anyone who has worked alongside him.Don't forget to check out Working Backward: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon and let us know your thoughts on the book.Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!Learn more about The Digitial Agency Growth Podcast at https://www.salesschema.com/podcast/CONNECT WITH COLIN:Working BackwardsLinkedInTwitterCONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:LinkedInSales Schema

In this episode, we have Chris McCabe to share his expertise. In fact Chris launched ecommerceChris where he teaches sellers how to think like Amazon, protect their accounts, and appeal listing restrictions and suspensions. Christ shares his vast knowledge and experience on how to deal and navigate and know more about the platform Amazon. He also shares the kind of sellers Amazon wants, his mistake predictions this 2023 and tips to confidently succeed and avoid mistakes.    In This Episode: [00:50] Welcoming Chris McCabe,Former Amazonian that helps sellers communicate with Amazon to protect (and save) their business. [01:45] How easy/hard it is to start Amazon now. [07:22] Seller Performance, most Amazon mistakes. [09:00] Appeal, troubleshooting Amazon problems. [10:50] What kind of sellers does Amazon want? [13:20] Intellectual property. [15:40] Invoices, documentations. [24:15] 2023 mistakes predictions, What to be aware of. [31:40] Advice.   Guest Links and References: Email: chris@ecommercechris.com; support@ecommercechris.com Podcast: https://www.sellerperformancesolutions.com/ Conference: https://www.sellervelocityconference.com/ LinkdIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-mccabe-2646555/   Book References: Working Backwards by Colin Bryar et al. The Octopus by Frank Norris Lying for Money by Dan Davis   Links and References: Wizards of Amazon: https://www.wizardsofecom.com/ Wizards of Amazon Courses: https://wizardsofamazon.mykajabi.com/a/27566/x6Kwkz6p Wizards of Amazon Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/South-Florida-FBA/ Wizards of Amazon on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/WizardsofAmazon/ Wizards of Amazon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wizardsofecom/  

Hello Needlemovers!On this weeks episode of our Book club series, your hosts dive into "Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon" by Bill Carr and Colin Bryar.Support the showCheck us out and send us a message on our instagram, Tik Tok and Youtube platforms @the.needle.moverswww.theneedlemovers.xyz

Kamil Rextin is the General Manager of 42 Agency, a B2B Agency that helps SaaS companies scale Demand Generation & build RevOps infrastructure. He has worked in RevOps Growth & Demand Gen for the last 12+ years at companies like CrowdRiff & Uberflip.He uses a scientific approach when it comes to marketing. So rather than believing whatever is trending, he experiments, and whatever proves to be effective is what matters to him.Outside of work, Kamil enjoys hiking and reading, especially comics.In the episode we cover:00:00 - Intro01:08 - What Is Demand Generation?02:48 - The Relation Between Demand Generation & Brand Marketing06:03 - Top Mistakes When Implementing Dem Gen & RevOps09:08 - Demand Generation Through LinkedIn12:41 - Performance Branding14:01 - First Steps To Start Doing Performance Marketing17:05 - Kamil's Favorite Activity To Get Into a Flow State17:37 - Kamil's Piece of Advice for His 20 Years Old Self18:22 - Kamil's Biggest Challenges at 42Agency19:05 - Instrumental Resources For Kamil's Success20:41 - What Does Success Means for Kamil Today21:25 - Get In Touch With KamilGet in Touch With Kamil:Kamil's LinkedInKamil's Twitter42 Agency WebsiteMentions:Emily KramerTara RobertsonBooks:Creativity Inc. by Ed Catmull & Amy WallaceWorking Backwards by Colin Bryar & Bill Carr Tag Us & Follow:FacebookLinkedInInstagramMore About Akeel:TwitterLinkedInBest Rated SaaS Podcasts

For this episode, let's revisit a Strategy Skills classic where we interviewed the former Amazon Digital Media VP, Bill Carr. Bill is the coauthor of Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon, an insider's breakdown of Amazon's approach to culture, leadership, and best practices from two long-time, top-level Amazon executives.  Bill Carr joined Amazon in 1999 and spent more than 15 years with the company. As the former Vice President of Digital Media, Bill launched and managed the company's global digital music and video businesses, including Amazon Music, Prime Video, and Amazon Studios. After Amazon, Bill was an Executive In Residence with Maveron LLC, an early-stage, consumer-only venture capital firm. Bill later served as the Chief Operating Officer of OfferUp, the largest mobile marketplace for local buyers and sellers in the U.S. Today, Bill is the co-founder of Working Backwards LLC where he coaches executives at large and early-stage companies on how to implement the management practices developed at Amazon. Bill holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Colby College and a Masters in Business Administration from the Goizueta Business School at Emory University. Get Bill's book here: Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon. Bill Carr and Colin Bryar. Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Working Backwards is an insider's breakdown of Amazon's approach to culture, leadership, and best practices from two long-time Amazon executives―with lessons and techniques you can apply to your own company, and career, right now. Today we chat with the authors' Bill Carr & Colin Bryar about their time working directly with Jeff Bezos on some of Amazon's biggest product innovations. This podcast is brought to you by: Accelevents: Sign up for a free trial of Accelevents today. Zapier: Try Zapier for free today at zapier.com/Rocketship Shopify: Start selling on Shopify today. Go to Shopify.com/Rocketship now. Felix Gray: To get the best blue light glasses on the market, go to Felixgrayglasses.com/Rocketship Produx Labs: New students can use the code ROCKET at checkout to enroll in Product Institute Foundations for just $999. That's a $200 savings! Drata: Listeners can get 10% off by visiting drata.com/partner/rocketship Rocketship is brought to you by The Podglomerate. *** Previous Guests include Seth Goden, Christian Idioti, Ash Maurya, Dan Shapiro of Glowforge, Lolita Taub, Amy Hood of Hoodzpah, Amanda Goetz, Helen Tran, Ben Parr, Mac Conwell, Charli Marie Prangley of ConvertKit, Kandis O'Brian, Laura Roeder, Brenna Loury of Doist, Lopa van der Mersch of Rasa, Ken Norton, Randy Silver, Sanjiv Kalevar of OpenView Venture Partners, Dan Olsen, Jay Clouse, Melissa Perri, Dheerja Kaur of Robinhood, Rahul Vohra of Superhuman, Rich Mironov, Ben Foster, Ron Weiner of Earth Class Mail. *** This show is a part of the Podglomerate network, a company that produces, distributes, and monetizes podcasts. We encourage you to visit the website and sign up for our newsletter for more information about our shows, launches, and events. For more information on how The Podglomerate treats data, please see our Privacy Policy.  Since you're listening to Rocketship, we'd like to suggest you also try other Podglomerate shows surrounding entrepreneurship, business, and careers like Creative Elements and Freelance to Founder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Andrew Wolgemuth founded Wove to recreate the way couples buy engagement rings in a highly traditional and outdated industry. Andrew grew up in an entrepreneurial environment working at his parents jewellery company in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. After attending West Point and serving as a Platoon Leader in the Army's 75th Ranger Regiment, he attended Stanford's GSB's Ignite Entrepreneurship Programme where the idea for Wove was born.   Questions   Could you share with our listeners a little bit about your journey, at least your journey into entrepreneurship, how did you get to where you are today? And what kind of propelled you into that space? Could you tell us a little bit about your ecommerce company? What's the name of the company? As a business owner, you're operating in the ecommerce space and I'm sure a lot has changed since COVID. What have been some of your key learning opportunities that you've been able to capitalize on? As you know, we went through a pandemic, and now we're emerging out of a pandemic, how have you been able to still satisfy clients, meet their demands despite all of what was happening globally? What are maybe one or two key things that as a designer communicates with the client, they try to focus on to ensure that those things are manifested into the product to make people feel like they're a part of what you're purchasing. How hard is it to kind of lead a remote base team and leverage their expertise seeing that you're not all in the same space? And do you find that the customer experience is better because you're able to kind of navigate that journey, control that journey as much as possible, you have more control over the things that may impact your customer in a positive or a negative way. Could you share with us what's the one online resource, tool, website or app that you absolutely can't live without in your business? Could you share with us maybe one or two books that you've read, either recently or in the past that have had a great impact on you. Could you also share with us what's the one thing that's going on in your life right now that you're really excited about? Either something you're working on to develop yourself or your people. Where can listeners find you online? Do you have a quote or saying that during times of adversity or challenge, you will tend to revert to this quote, it kind of helps to get you back on track if for any reason you got derailed?   Highlights   Andrew's Journey   Andrew shared that entrepreneurship actually started for him in his childhood. Both of his parents were young entrepreneurs, they started a family jewellery company when he was just a baby. And so, much of his childhood was spent watching his parents start a business. And he thinks many of the lessons that he learned from watching his parents, both himself and his siblings took with them as they entered into the real world.   About Andrew's Ecommerce Company Wove   Andrew shared that their company is called Wove. They're www.wovemade.com/. And what they specialize in is custom engagement rings and wedding bands. So, essentially, the way that their process works, they match their clients with one of their in house jewellery designers, after they submit a short quiz on their website, that design consultation allows the client to work with a designer to discover their preferences, design an engagement ring or wedding band. And once they're satisfied with the design, they send them an exact replica of that ring that they can try on at home.   And really what this allows the client to do is try on a realistic version of their ring, test drive it at home, show friends and family and ensure that when you go to buy the final ring that you're getting exactly what you're looking for. So, it kind of acts as a way of allowing the client to buy with full confidence that what they're getting is actually the ring that they want to wear for the rest of their life.   Me: That's very cool. So, your niche is specifically in the marriage line.   Andrew shared that right now, they are focused specifically on bridal jewellery, yes. But they are excited to be launching their own jewellery lines, things other than engagement rings and wedding bands here before the end of this year. So, they're in the process of designing those pieces right now, they're going through the prototyping phase, and very soon they'll also have jewellery on their site.   Satisfying and Meeting Clients Demands Despite What is Happening Globally   Me: Now, could you share with our listeners, Andrew, as a business owner, you're operating in the eCommerce space and I'm sure a lot has changed since COVID.   What have been some of your key learning opportunities that you've been able to capitalize on? As you know, we went through a pandemic, and now we're emerging out of a pandemic, how have you been able to still satisfy clients, meet their demands despite all of what was happening globally?   Andrew stated that it's interesting, their business was very much grown out of the pandemic. Neither Brian, his co-founder nor himself really anticipated on having a career in the jewellery industry, this kind of happened by accident.   And so, it's a great question to ask, they started working actually with deployed service members back in 2020 when the pandemic was just starting. And those service members wanted a way to design and buy an engagement ring from overseas. And that way when they got back, they could propose but no one really wanted to take the chances of buying an engagement ring online and shipping it to a deployment address in the Middle East.   And so, they started sending replicas to service members while they were deployed. And so, it was interesting as they got home, and the pandemic was still going on and many of the jewellery stores were closed, many of their friends and family started asking for the same bespoke custom design and replica service. And really, that's how they got started, they recognized that there was a need for what they were building and people enjoyed buying an engagement ring the Wove way, better than the next best alternative.   So, the pandemic really is what allowed them to gain the early traction that enabled them to raise the funding that they raised and grow their team. But he thinks if there's one fundamental lesson that they continue to lean on is, test early and often and do it as inexpensively as possible. They've changed our product and process so many times over the last two years, and really allowing them doing those things early on, allow you to build the shiny, expensive product later after you have full proof that it's exactly what you need to be building.   Key Things As a Designer Communicates with the Client to Ensure They are a Part of What They are Purchasing   Me: So, your organization also focuses heavily on personalization. And we found, just through, of course, research and data that we get from like Forrester and some of top leading market research entities, that personalization is one of the things that helps to differentiate you in this world, regardless of the industry that you're in. Because clearly if the service is personalized, then it's almost like you're getting something that's not generic, and it's specific to you.   And I heard that in when you're explaining how it is that your business operates, the fact that the designer does custom made designs, sends you a replica of it, you can literally walk with a replication of it before you actually purchase the final product.   What are some of the things that you focus on in the personalization process? What are maybe one or two key things that as the designer communicates with the client, they try to focus on to ensure that those things are manifested into the product to make people feel like they're a part of what you're purchasing?   Andrew stated that at the most fundamental level, he would just say listening, and if that sounds very, very simple. One of the first clients that they ever worked with, he remembers very distinctly getting on the follow up design consultation after the couple had received their replica ring. And immediately one of the partners started to tear up and his initial thought was, “Oh, no, what happened, we must have messed up the replica ring.” And what she said was so poignant to him, she said, “I feel so heard, you incorporated everything that I wanted into the ring, into this design.”   And so, that was really moving for them and it's the way that they train their designers today is that listening to the client is one of the most important things that you can do. And not just listening, but actively listening, taking notes and ensuring that the design preferences they have are incorporated into the design.   But even taking that a step further, one of the things that they do is before a client ever gets on a design consultation is that they have them fill out a style quiz, which allows them to be matched based on their style preferences with one of their in-house designers. So, before they ever get on a call, they are doing what they can to match them with someone that they think they'll be compatible with from a style and design perspective. And that has made their process run incredibly smoothly. And allowed them to really meet the client where they're at.   Me: Brilliant, I love that. Absolutely love that. All right, so you're leading, how many designers would you say your organization has?   Andrew shared that a few of them are full time and a few are contract but at any one given moment in time right now they have about 8 different designers that they've worked with. So, not a ton, but that's enough to really cover the span of different styles for engagement rings, and so that's about the number that they're utilizing today.   Me: Okay. And these persons are pretty much remote based.   Andrew agreed, they are. And one of the things that's great about their model is that jewellery designers are surprisingly underpaid in the industry. And so, what they've been able to do is essentially create a job description that is exactly what any jewellery designer would want to be doing, which is designing jewellery, working with clients and ultimately seeing their pieces come to life.   A lot of jewellery designers that work for top brands will work in a tiny design office in a crammed New York City office building, they never get to meet the client, and oftentimes their piece is never built. And so, what they able to do is pay their designers more than their competitors in the industry and give them a job that's much more satisfying.   And so, because of that, they've been able to attract some of the top designers from across the industry, from major brands that you would recognize. And so, that's been really exciting for them to be able to attract some of the top talent for what they're building.   Leading a Remote Based Team and Leverage Their Expertise   Me: Amazing. So, how hard is it to kind of lead a remote based team and leverage their expertise seeing that you're not all in the same space? I know you still have a lot of leaders globally who believe that because we basically emerged out of the pandemic, they want everybody to come back face to face. But I gather that based on your business model, this has been how you've operated from inception.   Andrew shared that it is about 50% of their company is remote and 50% is in person. So, they do have an office in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, that office contains all of their manufacturers, a lot of their content creators and the operations people in the company. But our remote team consists of all of our designers, marketers, web developers, really anyone that doesn't have to be in person.   And so, it's fascinating. He and Brian, his co-founder both came from the Army, which is obviously very much an in-person organization. But he thinks a lot of the leadership lessons and management principles are the same. They do the best that they can to care for their employees, whether you're remote or in person have contact daily, ensure that people's professional and personal needs are being satisfied. So, they love the model that they have, they make an effort to see even their remote employees in person at least once every two months, whether it's going and visiting them or doing an off-site. But for them, that model has worked really well, and it's given them a lot of flexibility.   Me: Brilliant. Now, just to also confirm you handle everything for the consumer from start to finish. So, is there any third party like vendor that you would engage to, let's say, do the delivery of the product, or does your company handle from start to finish so that way you're controlling all of the touch points that your client will have with you.   Andrew shared that they handle just about everything start to finish. And so, the things that they handle are the design of the ring, they do all the manufacturing, all of their jewellery is made from start to finish in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. And because of that, they're able to produce a really high-end product and they're able to produce it very quickly. They produce rings in about 5 to 7 days, which for custom is about 6 times the national average for custom jewellery.   And so, they're really proud of that, the only vendors that they work with are diamond suppliers. They don't carry any of their own diamond inventory, they work with different diamond suppliers from top diamond sources in the US, all of their diamonds are ethically sourced, they pass the Kimberley Process, which ensures they're conflict free. And they also do a lot of work with lab grown diamonds as well. But really the diamond sourcing is done in house, but they purchase diamonds from outside vendors. And that's really the only thing that they do with a third party.   Navigating the Journey – Having Control Over Things That May Impact Customers in a Positive or a Negative Way   Me: Amazing. And do you find that the customer experience is better because you're able to kind of navigate that journey, control that journey as much as possible, you have more control over the things that may impact your customer in a positive or a negative way.   Andrew stated absolutely. And custom is hard, it's a hard thing to do at scale. He thinks the reason that they've been able to do it so successfully, is because they spent a lot of time investing in systems that allow the customization to occur in a way that's organized, they don't lose track of details and they have a method to how they produce.   But ultimately, he thinks it gives the consumer a one of a kind experiences that allows them to build something completely custom, they're not going to see their friend wearing the same ring that they have on. Everything is one of a kind, they only build their rings once for the customer experience. And as far as diamonds go, if you bought a diamond online through Blue Nile or Brilliant Earth, you're going to get to a diamond page and there are literally 10s of 1000s of diamonds on the page. If you don't have an education in diamonds, it can be extremely daunting trying to figure out which one is the right one.   And so, their geologists and designers walk their clients through every step of the process, will help you pick a diamond. So, yes, it is absolutely a heavy investment, but he thinks the customer experience is truly one of a kind and it gives their clients tremendous confidence that what they're getting is the ring that they want to be wearing the rest of their life. So, they're really proud of what they've built. But obviously he's a little bit biased, but he thinks their experience is certainly the best when it comes to customer engagement rings.   App, Website or Tool that Andrew Absolutely Can't Live Without in His Business   When asked about online resources that he cannot live without in his business, Andrew shared that they use HubSpot in a lot of different ways. HubSpot is their primary CRM, they use it for tracking their sales funnel, where their rings are out in production. They use it for automated emails and text and that engine has been tremendously powerful for their business and also gives them a ton of customization.   They knew that when they built out their CRM that they weren't going to be able to use a plug and play CRM template. And so, HubSpot gave them the flexibility to essentially build exactly what they needed on their platform.   Books that Have Had the Biggest Impact on Andrew   When asked about books that have had a great impact, Andrew shared that the most recent book that he's read is Amazon's Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon by Colin Bryar. He loves this book, what the book talks about is how Amazon goes about proposing products and how they go about designing products that they believe their customers will one, be excited about and two, that will be functional for them. And so, that's been a book that's really been useful for him when he thinks about how they're designing user experiences or providing tools to their clients that allow them to solve the problems that they face when buying an engagement ring. That is a great book.   The other book that he really liked, it's not really as much business related, but it's very team related is Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World by General Stanley McChrystal. Now, that takes him back to his Army days, but it's a book that he continuously goes back to because it talks about how teams function successfully. And he thinks it has a lot of good lessons that are good reminders for any type of organization.   What Andrew is Really Excited About Now!   When asked about something that's going on that he's really excited about, Andrew shared that one thing that they're very excited about that they are launching next week on their Wove website is they are launching the ability for clients to order replicas of Wove pre-designed rings. And so really, the difference of what that is compared to what they offer today is, there are certain clients that may not need the full custom experience, but still want to be able to try the ring on before they buy it.   And so, their designers from across their company put together what they believe are the top rings that represent both Wove as well as what consumers are looking for. And clients can either buy that ring right off the site, or they can order for free, an exact and realistic replica of that design that they can try on at home before making the big decision. And so, he's really excited to get that product live, it's going live next week, it'll be on www.wovemade.com. So yeah, check it out.   Where Can We Find Andrew Online   Website – www.wovemade.com Instagram - @wove_made Facebook - @wovemade   Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity Andrew Uses   When asked about a quote or saying that he tends to revert to during times of adversity or challenge, Andrew stated yes, absolutely. A quote that he heard recently from one of his mentors that he really likes is that, “Failure is rarely fatal, and success is never permanent or lasting.”   And that's a quote that her refers back to constantly. As a founder, there are often times where you can feel defeated, things won't be going the way that you anticipate. And so, being able to take a step back and look at the big picture and rely on a quote like that is reassuring. So, that's one of his favorites.   Me: Amazing. Well, thank you so much Andrew for taking time out of your day, to hop on our podcast Navigating the Customer Experience. And just share some of these great insights as it relates to the journey of your business, your own personal journey, the importance of customization, the importance of leading a team that is even though remote based, that you're able to leverage their expertise in the highest possible way. And of course, controlling that journey of your customers by ensuring that you're giving and meeting those needs, those needs that are so specific to each individual in a way that will have them remember you for the rest of their lives. So, thank you so much for that.   Please connect with us on Twitter @navigatingcx and also join our Private Facebook Community – Navigating the Customer Experience and listen to our FB Lives weekly with a new guest   Grab the Freebie on Our Website – TOP 10 Online Business Resources for Small Business Owners   Links   Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon by Colin Bryar Teams of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World by General Stanley McChrystal   The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience   Do you want to pivot your online customer experience and build loyalty - get a copy of “The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience.”   The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience provides 26 easy to follow steps and techniques that helps your business to achieve success and build brand loyalty. This Guide to Limitless, Happy and Loyal Customers will help you to strengthen your service delivery, enhance your knowledge and appreciation of the customer experience and provide tips and practical strategies that you can start implementing immediately! This book will develop your customer service skills and sharpen your attention to detail when serving others. Master your customer experience and develop those knock your socks off techniques that will lead to lifetime customers. Your customers will only want to work with your business and it will be your brand differentiator. It will lead to recruiters to seek you out by providing practical examples on how to deliver a winning customer service experience!

Books: seeking out good ones, talking about them, and implementing some of the things we discover in their pages has long been a theme of this show. However, as longtime listeners will know, Dan is often disappointed by one category in particular: business books. But one he read recently, ‘Working Backwards' by former Amazon executives Colin Bryar and Bill Carr, really blew him away. And he was thrilled when one of the authors, Colin Bryar, agreed to drop by the show. Colin joined Amazon in the late 90s, and worked closely with Jeff Bezos. That time at the company covered a period of incredible innovation - Kindle, Amazon Prime, Amazon Echo and Alexa, and Amazon Web Services Dan talks to Colin about the principles and practices, many of them counterintutive to traditional business thinking, that drove that incredible succes, and how they can also be applied to the smaller businesses many of us are growing. They include: ditching the powerpoint in favor of narratives at meetings, why it's essential for your best people to take on key projects in ‘single-threaded leadership', and much more.

Crear un producto requiere de un proceso adecuado y una serie de pasos que deben ser ejecutados al detalle, sin impulsos de correr contra el reloj. Para saber más acerca de este tema, en este episodio invitamos a Gustavo Grande, director de programas empresariales de StartUP FIU. A lo largo de los años, Gustavo ha ayudado a numerosas startups y empresas establecidas a desarrollar nuevos productos y una mejor estrategia para sus negocios. Gustavo nos comenta que “un producto no es necesariamente el negocio, sino que es uno de los componentes de un negocio”. “Si estamos desarrollando un producto lo primero que tenemos que entender es el problema que existe y cómo se lo podemos resolver a un usuario. De allí, la experiencia, los procesos y todo va a surgir desde el punto de vista del usuario. Si no existe un problema, no tiene sentido invertir en una solución”, explica nuestro invitado. Tal como sostiene Gustavo, hay ciertos indicadores en función del usuario que un emprendedor debe tener en cuenta. Los clientes a veces tienen un problema y son consientes de ello, pero otras veces no es así. “Como seres humanos pensamos que somos racionales, pero muchas veces no existen razones lógicas a nuestros pensamientos y comportamientos, porque están más ligados a las emociones”, asevera Gustavo, y eso influye constantemente en la elección y armado de un producto. “La persona tiene que estar buscando una solución. La forma más fácil de identificar si un problema representa un carácter de urgencia o prioridad para alguien es preguntándole si lo ha buscado en Google”, afirma nuestro especialista, y agrega que hay que tener en cuenta “si la persona está buscando una solución con diferentes herramientas”. Lo último a considerar es si los usuarios tienen un presupuesto, porque a veces las personas están conscientes del problema, pero si no tienen presupuesto no van a comprar nuestro producto. “Y ahí llegamos a otro error de los emprendedores que, al principio, no entienden el concepto de competir por valor, sino que empiezan a competir con el precio y lo bajan, lo cual impacta tanto en su estructura de costos como en sus márgenes de rentabilidad que, más adelante, no les permite reinvertir en la escalabilidad de su negocio. Como el producto es un componente fundamental del negocio, el precio también lo es”, enseña Gustavo. Saber estos indicadores es fundamental al momento de empezar a considerar el desarrollo de un producto físico o digital. Gustavo hace referencia al libro Working Backwards, de Bill Carr y Colin Bryar. Los autores dicen que hay que trabajar desde donde se origina la cadena de valor, y eso es el punto de vista del cliente. “A veces decimos que los clientes siempre tienen la razón, pero al mismo tiempo no saben lo que no saben o lo que es posible. Es importante entender cómo hacemos las preguntas para poder sacar lo que es esencial para el desarrollo de un producto o servicio”, remarca nuestro invitado. Para acercarse lo más posible al acierto, Gustavo vuelve a adentrarse en las técnicas de otro libro llamado The Mom Test, de Rob Fitzpatrick, el cual se basa en un método científico en el que hay una hipótesis, un producto, testeamos y validamos la hipótesis o no. “Pero él decía que en ese proceso hay que entender que existen factores humanos que hay que tener en cuenta”, resalta Gustavo, y esto es claro en el libro ya que se presenta un hijo ante su madre para mostrarle una idea de producto, pero no obtiene la devolución objetiva que necesita. “Hay elementos que el emprendedor tiene y uno es el tema del ego, porque el producto para un vendedor es su bebé y al no querer ponerse vulnerable, está poniendo en riesgo la objetividad”, recalca Gustavo. “Cuando uno hace preguntas no tiene que hacer preguntas hipotéticas del futuro, sino que tiene que hacer preguntas en función del comportamiento y las emociones del pasado. De esa forma obtenemos data real. Tenemos que hacer preguntas de las emociones, hábitos y del comportamiento del día a día”, expone nuestro especialista, dejando en claro que la conversación con el cliente es clave y es uno de los métodos para recabar información. “Hay una metodología conocida como Design Thinking, que habla de la empatía. Existe la empatía cognitiva que es cuando no podemos vivir una situación de alguien pero podemos activar nuestra empatía al colocarnos en situaciones en las que hemos experimentado las mismas emociones. Luego viene la empatía emocional, que es cuando hemos pasado por las mismas situaciones y podemos conectarnos más profundamente. Y luego está la empatía que nos lleva a la acción, que no sólo nos permite entender las emociones sino también querer ayudar en lo que necesita esa persona en ese momento. Y hay diferentes formas de hacer esto: una es simplemente escuchando a esa persona, la otra es haciendo preguntas, la otra es observando su comportamiento y la otra es compartiendo un día con el usuario. Estas son las técnicas que existen para que uno colecte data y saber en qué contexto el usuario se encuentra al momento de sufrir ese problema y así encontrar una solución para él”, desarrolla Gustavo. El proceso de colectar data es fundamental y no hay métodos o herramientas únicas para llevarlo a cabo. Lo que sí hay que considerar es el número de personas a las que vamos a entrevistar. “Lo que estamos tratando de entender es cuáles son los puntos en común que tiene un grupo de personas para poder servirle a la mayoría de ellos. De lo contrario, cada persona va a tener una necesidad diferente y, al momento de desarrollar un producto, vamos a tener una lista extensa y vamos a perder tiempo, dinero y energía para lanzarlo al mercado”, asegura nuestro invitado. Cuando estamos desarrollando un producto lo más importante es que lo podamos testear lo antes posible, es decir, que con la información que tenemos y con al menos 100 personas entrevistadas “podamos identificar tres elementos comunes con los que les vamos a aliviar del 50 al 80 por ciento de los problemas al 100 por ciento de esos usuarios”. “Desarrollamos nada más esos tres o menos elementos, lanzamos el prototipo, colectamos data y, en base a esa información, vemos cuál es el patrón de comportamiento para saber qué tenemos que modificar de nuestro producto”, enumera Gustavo. Según nuestro especialista, cuando hablamos del prototipo no necesariamente tiene que ser el producto terminado, sino “aquello que podamos producir con la menor cantidad de recursos en el período de tiempo más corto”. No hay un tiempo exacto, ya que es relativo y depende del negocio en el que nos adentremos. “Usualmente son tres, seis, doce o 18 meses lo que la gente dice que es el tiempo para desarrollar un producto o servicio, pero va a depender del tipo de negocio, de nuestra capacidad y de nuestra resiliencia para aceptar el fracaso y el feedback”, expresa Gustavo. Sea cual sea el resultado del prototipo, nuestro invitado opina que nunca es negativo ni positivo, porque “si el resultado no valida la hipótesis que tenemos, igualmente nos está dando una información”. “Cuando pasa eso puede no validar nuestra hipótesis desde el punto de vista micro, es decir, características concretas del producto, o desde el punto de vista macro, donde ya hablamos del cambio de target del público”, aclara nuestro invitado. Este tipo de procesos aparecen miles de veces en un emprendimiento y esto involucra a las pequeñas, medianas y grandes empresas. Fuera del producto, hay otros componentes de un modelo de negocio que no debemos olvidar, y Gustavo hace referencia a Ash Maurya, quien creó el Lean Canvas, que “es un mapa mental que nos permite identificar los componentes del modelo de negocio que son claves, y se basa en entender cuál es el problema, las soluciones que existen en el mercado, nuestro segmento de mercado, dentro de ese segmento cuál es nuestro usuario principal, la propuesta de valor, nuestra solución en función de esa propuesta de valor, cuál es nuestro componente secreto que nadie va a poder replicar, y en función de eso cuáles son nuestros recursos, las actividades principales en las que nos vamos a enfocar, los canales de comunicación, nuestra relación con el cliente, nuestra estructura de costo y forma de generar ingresos”.  Un lanzamiento de producto exitoso no sólo depende de que el producto sea el correcto para la audiencia indicada, sino de estar acompañado por una estrategia de marketing acorde a las expectativas que se tienen. Sí, hay muchas variantes que cambian dependiendo del tipo de producto o servicio, pero la mayoría de los lanzamientos exitosos siguen los pasos que nombró Gustavo durante este episodio. LinkedIn: Gustavo Grande Instagram: @grande.gustavo

Today, I'm riding solo for the reason that an inspiration came to mind that I can't wait to share with you. So here it is, the top 3 levers that impacted my business recently.  These references sure helped our business in a very impactful way as such it gave us clear direction as to manage the structure, personnel, and getting things done strategically. In This Episode: [00:28] Why this topic and how this may help you. [01:35] E-myth Revisited Book and my top 3 takeaways from it. 07:25] The Gallup Strength Assessment and how to implement them in your business. [12:35] Working Backwards Book and my top 3 takeaways from it.   Book References: The Gallup Strength Assessment E-myth Revisited by Michael Gerber Working Backwards by Colin Bryar and Bill Carr   Links and References: Wizards of Amazon: https://www.wizardsofecom.com/ Wizards of Amazon Courses: https://wizardsofamazon.mykajabi.com/a/27566/x6Kwkz6p Wizards of Amazon Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/South-Florida-FBA/ Wizards of Amazon on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/WizardsofAmazon/ Wizards of Amazon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wizardsofecom/

To help you become an awesome software architect, we have picked out our top four books to make 12 in total. We are looking at engineering books have influenced both ourselves and 'The Flywheel Effect' book. 1. 'Continuous Delivery' came out in 2011. And it has been massively influential in how high performing teams deliver their software today. It is still as fresh as it was when it was written. And a lot of teams would do well to actually read it again. 2. 'Domain Driven Design' is a good book on how to describe a domain, good domain models and the importance of collaboration, communication and shared understanding, including their chapter on ubiquitous languages. You can be in different types of stacks or scenarios, but the knowledge is abstract so it's broadly applicable. 3. The Simon Wardley Book I have got a print copy of it. And I find myself always coming back to it. I think it was out in 2011. It's chunky and quite academic. So it's not exactly an easy read. But it's as deep as well, as they say. So I'm a big fan and I always go back to it. I don't take every word of it literally. But it's definitely a good read and will challenge your thinking still to this day. 4. 'Accelerate' by Nicole Forsgren, Jez Humble, and Gene Kim. This is a game changer. I think everyone the industry understands that. It distills down and captures (with scientific backing) all of the things that we were trying to articulate or were trying to push or evolve in our ecosystem.The capabilities to drive improvement, the scientific backing and little snippets of good advice and guidance. It is one of the best. 5. 'Extreme Ownership' by Jocko Willink. There's some cracking guidance on how to own something and lead. One that sticks out is centralised command and leading up and down the line. It's a well thought out and structured book on how to think, modern leadership and how to motivate people to be successful. I enjoy reading about how to think through systems, particularly in a leadership position, in technical orbs and stuff like that. It helps you to think like a leader. 6. 'Team Topologies' by Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais. It's such a powerful question to ask 'what type of team are you?' And the response is: 'what do you mean?'. The answer is that you're a platform team, an enablement team, a value stream team or you're not anything. And all the techniques are in it with different tools and team API's and stuff. I think it's really practical. You can pick it up and implement tomorrow. 7. 'Reaching Cloud Velocity' It covers how to succeed in the cloud. In other words what are the principles and tenets that you should apply. What are the cultural and organisational things you should think about as you're starting to move to the cloud. It looks at the architectural approaches and patterns you should adopt. And how to do security and governance. It also looks at what's your business strategy, now that you're in the cloud. 8. 'Designing Data Intensive Applications' is almost a bible for anything data related such as streaming, different types of databases and why you make decisions on certain types of databases. You get into the design and the nuance of it. And understanding the landscape. It's broken into 2 to 3 minute blocks. So you can get straight into it and get perspective or context. 9. 'Creativity Inc', by Ed Catmull. The book is about Pixar, who went up against Disney by direct selling films. The full title of the book is 'Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration' . They talk about the inspiration of creating and then actually making it. And how they structured the company and all the challenges they had. 10. 'Working Backwards' by Colin Bryar and Bill Carr. We see Amazon from the outside eg. amazon.com, Amazon Prime, deliveries and Alexa. But how do they actually do it? How can they be so successful and set themselves up for success? What way are their leadership structured? 'Working Backwards' distils down and gives insight into how Amazon operates at that sort of scale. It looks at how they have remained successful despite their growth. 11. 'Ask Your Developer' by Jeff Lawson, looking at the developer centric approach at Twilio. There's a lot of good content on how to inspire great individuals and teams to be creative. There's a good chapter on developer experience, their golden path and off roading. And how they've organised around developer experience. 12. 'The Software Architect Elevator', by Gregor Hohpe. I love his concept of an architect riding the elevator to talk to the executive in the penthouse, going down to the basement to write code and then all the floors in between. He talks about the how an architect can behave and operate to be successful in a company. Gregor is the 'architect's architect'. Serverless Craic from The Serverless Edge theserverlessedge.com @ServerlessEdge

In this episode from February 2021, early Amazon execs Colin Bryar and Bill Carr -- in conversation with a16z's Sonal Chokshi -- go beyond the well-known artifacts of Amazon innovation, like the memo and the press release, and share the leadership principles, decision making practices, and operational processes that helped Amazon continue to innovate, invent new products and learn from its mistakes, as it scaled. It's all based on their book, Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon, drawing from the 27 years combined experience of being in the room where it happened at Amazon.

Leon Kuperman is the CTO of CAST AI, a platform that increases your SaaS company's profit margin without additional work. They cut your cloud bill in half, automate DevOps tasks, and prevent downtime in one Autonomous Kubernetes platform. Leon has over 20 years of experience in product management, software design and development all the way through to production deployment. He's an industry leader on Web Application Security and Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), e-commerce, cloud computing and web application architecture. He's passionate about his customers, his work as well  as Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, where he actually holds a Brown belt. In this episode we cover: 00:00 - https://byldd.com (Byldd - MVP Development Agency Based in New York) 01:12 - Intro 02:55 - The Main Value Of AI & Why Simple Automation Is Not Enough 08:24 - Problems in Cloud Service That Requires Automation 12:56 - Tips To Start Using Automation On A SaaS 15:52 - Scenarios Where Cloud Automation May Not Work Well 17:55 - The Main Tool Categories To Address The Automation Challenges 19:26 - The Secret Of Building a Machine Learning Model 21:24 - Where is CAST AI in Terms of Size Today 22:18 - Leon's Favorite Activity To Get Into a Flow State 23:18 - Leon's Piece of Advice for His 25 Years Old Self 24:17 - Leon's Biggest Challenges at CAST AI 25:36 - CAST AI Ukraine Hiring Program 27:10 - Instrumental Resources for Leon's Success 29:36 - What Does Success Means for Leon Today 32:36 - Get In Touch With Leon Get In Touch With Leon: https://www.linkedin.com/in/itexecutivecto (Leon's LinkedIn) https://cast.ai (CAST AI Website) Mentions: https://cloud.google.com (Google Cloud) https://aws.amazon.com (AWS) https://azure.microsoft.com/pt-br/ (Azure) Books: https://www.amazon.com.br/Working-Backwards-Insights-Stories-Secrets/dp/1250267595 (Working Backwards by Colin Bryar & Bill Carr) https://www.amazon.com.br/Lean-Startup-Entrepreneurs-Continuous-Innovation/dp/0307887898 (The Lean Startup by Eric Ries) Tag Us & Follow: https://www.facebook.com/SaaSDistrictPodcast/ (Facebook) https://www.linkedin.com/company/horizen-capital (LinkedIn) https://www.instagram.com/saasdistrict/ (Instagram) More About Akeel: https://twitter.com/AkeelJabber (Twitter) https://linkedin.com/in/akeel-jabbar (LinkedIn) https://horizencapital.com/saas-podcast (More Podcast Sessions)

Mehr als eine Milliarde Dollar Bewertung für einen Solaranlagen-Vermieter? Enpal Gründer Mario Kohle spricht über die Bausteine für den Erfolg von Enpal, dem ersten Greentech Unicorn. Was hat er aus seiner ersten Gründung gelernt? Welche Rolle spielt das richtige Team und wie baut man dieses auf?1:16 Was hast du aus deiner ersten Gründung mitgenommen und wie bist du zum Gründen gekommen? 2:29 Was ist das Geschäftsmodell von Käuferportal? 3:09 Wie kamst du von Käuferportal dann zu Enpal? 4:45 Wieso seid ihr mit dem Verkauf von Produkten gestartet? 6:39 Was kostet eine Solaranlage und wie hat der Preis euer Geschäftskonzept verändert? 8:15 Wie hat sich das Angebot im Vergleich zu damals verändert? 9:06 Rechnungsbeispiel Solaranlage 12:23 "Wie seid ihr gestartet, was waren die ersten Schritte?" 14:37 "Was waren anfangs die wichtigsten Bereiche, in denen du froh warst, jemanden zu haben?" 17:25 "Wie definierst du ""richtige Leute""?" 19:24 Wie bist du vorgegangen bzw. was empfiehlst du: Senior oder Junior einstellen? 22:21 Was ist dein Rezept für persönliche Weiterentwicklung? 25:05 Buchempfehlungen26:00 Was ist deine Management-Philosophie? 28:40 "Gibt es Bereiche, bei denen du dich nicht überflüssig machen kannst/möchtest?" 31:05 "Welche Auswirkungen hat es, wenn man trotz schlechtem Gefühl jemanden einstellt?" 33:25 Was sind die Ziele für 2022 und darüber hinaus?MARIO KOHLE: Mario auf LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mario-kohle-600a8a112/ Enpal: https://www.enpal.de/ Marios Buchempfehlungen: Good to Great von Jim Collins - https://amzn.to/3Df8FXs Working Backwards von Colin Bryar und Bill Carr - https://amzn.to/3tIK36z WHATSAPP NEWSLETTER: 2-3x wöchentlich bekommst du eine persönliche Sprachnotiz oder Inhalte von mir, die dich zu einem besseren Gründer machen, probier es aus:https://jungunternehmerpodcast.com/newsletter DU GRÜNDEST EIN STARTUP? Falls du bei deiner Startup Gründung Hilfe brauchst, meld dich gerne. Fabian, der Host dieses Podcasts, arbeitet mit diversen Startups die zwischen Pre-Seed und Series A stecken zusammen und vielleicht kann er dir ja auch helfen: https://jungunternehmerpodcast.com/startup-advisory See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

090 Colin Bryar is the former VP of Amazon, Technical Advisor to Jeff Bezos, COO at IMDb and COO at Singapore-based RedMart. He is also the co-author of the book Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon, which takes you in the room and show how the principles and practices were used to create four key Amazon business: Kindle, Amazon Prime, Prime Video and Amazon Web Services.  Check out our brand new YouTube Video Podcast!  https://www.SmartVenturePod.com IG/Twitter/FB @GraceGongGG LinkedIn:@GraceGong YouTube: https://bit.ly/gracegongyoutube Join the SVP fam with your host Grace Gong. In each episode, we are going to have conversations with some of the top investors, super star founders, as well as well known tech executives in the silicon valley. We will have a coffee chat with them to learn their ways of thinking and actionable tips on how to build or invest in a successful company. ======================= https://www.pair.com/grace Use Promo Code GRACE =======================    

Rex is a principal and the founder of M A Legal. Rex started M A Legal with an immense drive to help his clients achieve success within the framework of the law.Rex has an extensive legal background holding roles as General Manager and Legal Counsel for a large manufacturing distribution company, Senior Solicitor acting for members of the BRW 1000 Entrepreneurs List, and legal counsel for government bodies and charitable organizations.He is known for his business acumen and ability to guide clients not only through complex commercial litigation and business negotiation but in their strategic growth and planning needs. He has played a pivotal role in start-ups and existing large enterprises, with his clients comprising real estate moguls and business leaders.Rex develops a solid rapport with his clients and is driven to achieve the best possible outcomes for them and, in return, has built a significant and loyal following. He is a highly passionate individual who does not do anything in half measures; it takes one look at his collection of motor and boxing memorabilia to know that he will fight for his clients. His lovely demeanor aside, he is fierce and fearless in all his pursuits.  In this episode, Dean Newlund and Rex Afrasiabi discuss:Learning leadership principles from sportsTimely advice for business ownersA lack of motivation due to uncertaintyKeeping yourself from burning out Key Takeaways:Have a clear objective, have a plan, and have the right people around you, and you'll find success in whatever you want to do.Growth starts with visualizing your ideal destination. Work backward from the goal. Every significant result starts with a small idea.The pandemic halted many people's plans, and many lost their drive and motivation because of the uncertainty they had to face. Realign yourself to what motivated you at the start.Set boundaries, let others know when your work is over and be firm and stable with it. When you let people know when you'll be off, and until what time you'll be available, you might find that people will respect that.   "Have a balanced lifestyle. Don't just work non-stop because you'll burn out; no one can do that and maintain that… you need to realign yourself, focus on what you wanted at the start." — Rex Afrasiabi. Resources: The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal by Jim Loehr and Tony SchwartzWorking Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon by Colin Bryar and Bill Carr See Dean's TedTalk “Why Business Needs Intuition” here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEq9IYvgV7I  Connect with Rex Afrasiabi: Website: http://www.malegal.com.au/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rex_afrasiabi_lawyer/?hl=enLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rexafra/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rex.afrasiabi Connect with Dean:YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgqRK8GC8jBIFYPmECUCMkwWebsite: https://www.mfileadership.com/The Mission Statement E-Newsletter: https://www.mfileadership.com/blog/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deannewlund/Twitter: https://twitter.com/deannewlundFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/MissionFacilitators/Email: dean.newlund@mfileadership.comPhone: 1-800-926-7370

In this episode we chat to Alex Atkins who is a mine engineer by background and now holds a number of non-executive directorship positions. We met a few years ago at a mining conference in Melbourne and I know how passionate she is about mining. She is on the podcast to talk about her passions in ESG, diversity and inclusion and digital transformation. We also talk about non-executive directorships and what you need to do if you're looking for NED opportunities. KEY TAKEAWAYS  Being ready to pivot and use your skillset differently opens all kinds of doors. The mining industry is becoming more diverse and family friendly. Virtual working is now much more commonplace. Partly due to CoVid. ESG has become especially important for the mining industry and for those who invest in it. Genuine diversity creates a safe environment in which people are not afraid to speak up about issues quickly. Meaning that problems get solved fast. Know what your life purpose is and project that out. Being honest like that builds trust. Think about what you have to offer in terms of what is valuable, rare, imitable, and non-substitutable. Be commercial in your mindset. Don´t be too airy-fairy. Tie in details of actual business benefits to make your points. Try to deliver your message at a point when people are ready to hear it. APIs are a great way to join data and digital solutions up to solve many of the industry´s biggest problems. When it comes to NEDs, usually the company comes to you. For that to happen you need a strong personal brand. Write papers, mentor, speak publicly and volunteer to build your brand. Only join a board where you can be authentically you. Being on several boards enables you to be involved in a wide range of projects. Listen carefully and be ready to make your points succinctly.   BEST MOMENTS ‘I found my way back into the mining industry through consulting. ´ ‘I used what was rare about me, what was valuable about me to influence others.' ‘Being on boards feels entrepreneurial.'   EPISODE RESOURCES LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexatkins/ Email: alex.atkins@bigpond.com   RECOMMENDED READING: Working Backwards by Colin Bryar & Bill Carr - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Working-Backwards-Insights-Stories-Secrets/dp/B08KSDMDDV/ Range by David Epstein - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Range-Generalists-Triumph-Specialized-World/dp/B07PCS26MN/   VALUABLE RESOURCES mailto:rob@mining-international.org https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-tyson-3a26a68/ http://www.mining-international.org https://twitter.com/MiningConsult https://www.facebook.com/MiningInternational.org https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC69dGPS29lmakv-D7LWJg_Q?guided_help_flow=3     ABOUT THE HOST Rob Tyson is the Founder and Director of Mining International Ltd, a leading global recruitment and headhunting consultancy based in the UK specialising in all areas of mining across the globe from first world to third world countries from Africa, Europe, Middle East, Asia, and Australia. We source, headhunt, and discover new and top talent through a targeted approach and search methodology and have a proven track record in sourcing and positioning exceptional candidates into our clients' organisations in any mining discipline or level. Mining International provides a transparent, informative, and trusted consultancy service to our candidates and clients to help them develop their careers and business goals and objectives in this ever-changing marketplace. CONTACT METHOD rob@mining-international.org https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-tyson-3a26a68/   Podcast Description   Rob Tyson is an established recruiter in the mining and quarrying sector and decided to produce the “Dig Deep” The Mining Podcast to provide valuable and informative content around the mining industry. He has a passion and desire to promote the industry and the podcast aims to offer the mining community an insight into people's experiences and careers covering any mining discipline, giving the listeners helpful advice and guidance on industry topics. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Podcast: Model FA Podcast (LS 36 · TOP 2.5% what is this?)Episode: The Guide is Not the Hero: Financial Advisors and the Power of Storytelling with Aaron KleinPub date: 2021-10-19Aaron Klein is the co-founder and CEO of Riskalyze, the organization that invented the Risk Number, empowering the world to invest fearlessly. Under Aaron's leadership, Riskalyze has grown to serve thousands of financial advisors and has been recognized by Fast Company Magazine as one of the world's top ten most innovative companies in finance. InvestmentNews has named Aaron one of the industry's Top 40 Under 40 executives. In addition to his responsibilities at Riskalyze, Aaron actively performs humanitarian work. He has co-founded and serves as a board member of Hope Takes Root, an initiative to serve orphans and vulnerable kids in Ethiopia, and serves on the board of Invest in Others, an organization that supports financial advisors who give back to their communities. Aaron joins me today to discuss how financial advisors can harness the power of storytelling to foster their connection with clients. He describes how the impetus behind Riskalyze started in a conversation between friends. He defines what the “red pill” principle is and shares the different personal routines he maintains to help him balance his time between family and business. He also discusses how clients seldom make long-term decisions, highlights how social media can be used for positive outcomes, and underscores the relationship between storytelling and good selling.   “Painting yourself as the hero instead of a guide leaves your clients as a spectator. You can't be a successful financial advisor until the client takes an active role in the story.” - Aaron Klein   This week on The Model FA Podcast: Aaron's backstory and why Riskalyze made a pivot to the B2B space The “Apollo 13” question and how Riskalyze started as a conversation between friends The “red pill” principle and the difficulty and wonder of being an entrepreneur Mindsets and personal routines that help Aaron stay positive and persevere through challenges Unlocking the secrets of powerful storytelling How clients make short-term decisions that serve as fuel for their long-term vision Using the C3 list to commit to the process of success The law of diminishing returns in social media Using capitalism to pull people out of poverty   Resources Mentioned: Book: What Great Salespeople Do: The Science of Selling Through Emotional Connection and the Power of Story by Michael T. Bosworth Book: Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon by Colin Bryar and Bill Carr Book: Amazon Unbound: Jeff Bezos and the Invention of a Global Empire by Brad Stone Book: The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz   Our Favorite Quotes: “There are ups and downs and ebbs and flows in the entrepreneurial journey. It's important to have an aspect of your life that's foundational and stable. For me, that's my personal routine.” - David DeCelle “A start-up is a process of learning. It's about how much tenacity and drive you have to extend that learning experience long enough to get you to the other side.” - Aaron Klein “Ensure that the client feels educated and empowered to make decisions that can save themselves.” - David DeCelle   Connect with Aaron Klein: Riskalyze Riskalyze on LinkedIn Riskalyze on Facebook Riskalyze on Twitter Email: ak@riskalyze.com Aaron Klein on LinkedIn Aaron Klein on Instagram Aaron Klein on Facebook Aaron Klein on Twitter   About the Model FA Podcast The Model FA podcast is a show for fiduciary financial advisors. In each episode, our host David DeCelle sits down with industry experts, strategic thinkers, and advisors to explore what it takes  to build a successful practice — and have an abundant life in the process. We believe in continuous learning, tactical advice, and strategies that work — no “gotchas” or BS. Join us to hear stories from successful financial advisors, get actionable ideas from experts, and re-discover your drive to build the practice of your dreams.    Did you like this conversation? Then leave us a rating and a review in whatever podcast player you use. We would love your feedback, and your ratings help us reach more advisors with ideas for growing their practices, attracting great clients, and achieving a better quality of life. While you are there, feel free to share your ideas about future podcast guests or topics you'd love to see covered.    Our Team: President of Model FA, David DeCelle   If you like this podcast, you will love our community! Join the Model FA Community on Facebook to connect with like-minded advisors and share the day-to-day challenges and wins of running a growing financial services firm.The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Model FA, which is the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Listen Notes, Inc.

Podcast: The Model FA (LS 35 · TOP 3% what is this?)Episode: The Guide is Not the Hero: Financial Advisors and the Power of Storytelling with Aaron KleinPub date: 2021-10-19Aaron Klein is the co-founder and CEO of Riskalyze, the organization that invented the Risk Number, empowering the world to invest fearlessly. Under Aaron's leadership, Riskalyze has grown to serve thousands of financial advisors and has been recognized by Fast Company Magazine as one of the world's top ten most innovative companies in finance. InvestmentNews has named Aaron one of the industry's Top 40 Under 40 executives. In addition to his responsibilities at Riskalyze, Aaron actively performs humanitarian work. He has co-founded and serves as a board member of Hope Takes Root, an initiative to serve orphans and vulnerable kids in Ethiopia, and serves on the board of Invest in Others, an organization that supports financial advisors who give back to their communities. Aaron joins me today to discuss how financial advisors can harness the power of storytelling to foster their connection with clients. He describes how the impetus behind Riskalyze started in a conversation between friends. He defines what the “red pill” principle is and shares the different personal routines he maintains to help him balance his time between family and business. He also discusses how clients seldom make long-term decisions, highlights how social media can be used for positive outcomes, and underscores the relationship between storytelling and good selling.   “Painting yourself as the hero instead of a guide leaves your clients as a spectator. You can't be a successful financial advisor until the client takes an active role in the story.” - Aaron Klein   This week on The Model FA Podcast: Aaron's backstory and why Riskalyze made a pivot to the B2B space The “Apollo 13” question and how Riskalyze started as a conversation between friends The “red pill” principle and the difficulty and wonder of being an entrepreneur Mindsets and personal routines that help Aaron stay positive and persevere through challenges Unlocking the secrets of powerful storytelling How clients make short-term decisions that serve as fuel for their long-term vision Using the C3 list to commit to the process of success The law of diminishing returns in social media Using capitalism to pull people out of poverty   Resources Mentioned: Book: What Great Salespeople Do: The Science of Selling Through Emotional Connection and the Power of Story by Michael T. Bosworth Book: Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon by Colin Bryar and Bill Carr Book: Amazon Unbound: Jeff Bezos and the Invention of a Global Empire by Brad Stone Book: The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz   Our Favorite Quotes: “There are ups and downs and ebbs and flows in the entrepreneurial journey. It's important to have an aspect of your life that's foundational and stable. For me, that's my personal routine.” - David DeCelle “A start-up is a process of learning. It's about how much tenacity and drive you have to extend that learning experience long enough to get you to the other side.” - Aaron Klein “Ensure that the client feels educated and empowered to make decisions that can save themselves.” - David DeCelle   Connect with Aaron Klein: Riskalyze Riskalyze on LinkedIn Riskalyze on Facebook Riskalyze on Twitter Email: ak@riskalyze.com Aaron Klein on LinkedIn Aaron Klein on Instagram Aaron Klein on Facebook Aaron Klein on Twitter   About the Model FA Podcast The Model FA podcast is a show for fiduciary financial advisors. In each episode, our host David DeCelle sits down with industry experts, strategic thinkers, and advisors to explore what it takes  to build a successful practice — and have an abundant life in the process. We believe in continuous learning, tactical advice, and strategies that work — no “gotchas” or BS. Join us to hear stories from successful financial advisors, get actionable ideas from experts, and re-discover your drive to build the practice of your dreams.    Did you like this conversation? Then leave us a rating and a review in whatever podcast player you use. We would love your feedback, and your ratings help us reach more advisors with ideas for growing their practices, attracting great clients, and achieving a better quality of life. While you are there, feel free to share your ideas about future podcast guests or topics you'd love to see covered.    Our Team: President of Model FA, David DeCelle   If you like this podcast, you will love our community! Join the Model FA Community on Facebook to connect with like-minded advisors and share the day-to-day challenges and wins of running a growing financial services firm.The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from David DeCelle, which is the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Listen Notes, Inc.

Aaron Klein is the co-founder and CEO of Riskalyze, the organization that invented the Risk Number, empowering the world to invest fearlessly. Under Aaron's leadership, Riskalyze has grown to serve thousands of financial advisors and has been recognized by Fast Company Magazine as one of the world's top ten most innovative companies in finance. InvestmentNews has named Aaron one of the industry's Top 40 Under 40 executives. In addition to his responsibilities at Riskalyze, Aaron actively performs humanitarian work. He has co-founded and serves as a board member of Hope Takes Root, an initiative to serve orphans and vulnerable kids in Ethiopia, and serves on the board of Invest in Others, an organization that supports financial advisors who give back to their communities. Aaron joins me today to discuss how financial advisors can harness the power of storytelling to foster their connection with clients. He describes how the impetus behind Riskalyze started in a conversation between friends. He defines what the “red pill” principle is and shares the different personal routines he maintains to help him balance his time between family and business. He also discusses how clients seldom make long-term decisions, highlights how social media can be used for positive outcomes, and underscores the relationship between storytelling and good selling.   “Painting yourself as the hero instead of a guide leaves your clients as a spectator. You can't be a successful financial advisor until the client takes an active role in the story.” - Aaron Klein   This week on The Model FA Podcast: Aaron's backstory and why Riskalyze made a pivot to the B2B space The “Apollo 13” question and how Riskalyze started as a conversation between friends The “red pill” principle and the difficulty and wonder of being an entrepreneur Mindsets and personal routines that help Aaron stay positive and persevere through challenges Unlocking the secrets of powerful storytelling How clients make short-term decisions that serve as fuel for their long-term vision Using the C3 list to commit to the process of success The law of diminishing returns in social media Using capitalism to pull people out of poverty   Resources Mentioned: Book: What Great Salespeople Do: The Science of Selling Through Emotional Connection and the Power of Story by Michael T. Bosworth Book: Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon by Colin Bryar and Bill Carr Book: Amazon Unbound: Jeff Bezos and the Invention of a Global Empire by Brad Stone Book: The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz   Our Favorite Quotes: “There are ups and downs and ebbs and flows in the entrepreneurial journey. It's important to have an aspect of your life that's foundational and stable. For me, that's my personal routine.” - David DeCelle “A start-up is a process of learning. It's about how much tenacity and drive you have to extend that learning experience long enough to get you to the other side.” - Aaron Klein “Ensure that the client feels educated and empowered to make decisions that can save themselves.” - David DeCelle   Connect with Aaron Klein: Riskalyze Riskalyze on LinkedIn Riskalyze on Facebook Riskalyze on Twitter Email: ak@riskalyze.com Aaron Klein on LinkedIn Aaron Klein on Instagram Aaron Klein on Facebook Aaron Klein on Twitter   About the Model FA Podcast The Model FA podcast is a show for fiduciary financial advisors. In each episode, our host David DeCelle sits down with industry experts, strategic thinkers, and advisors to explore what it takes  to build a successful practice — and have an abundant life in the process. We believe in continuous learning, tactical advice, and strategies that work — no “gotchas” or BS. Join us to hear stories from successful financial advisors, get actionable ideas from experts, and re-discover your drive to build the practice of your dreams.    Did you like this conversation? Then leave us a rating and a review in whatever podcast player you use. We would love your feedback, and your ratings help us reach more advisors with ideas for growing their practices, attracting great clients, and achieving a better quality of life. While you are there, feel free to share your ideas about future podcast guests or topics you'd love to see covered.    Our Team: President of Model FA, David DeCelle   If you like this podcast, you will love our community! Join the Model FA Community on Facebook to connect with like-minded advisors and share the day-to-day challenges and wins of running a growing financial services firm.

Colin Bryar is the co-author of the bestselling book Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets From Inside Amazon. He's also the co-founder of Working Backwards LLC and he is the former VP of Amazon. He started working at Amazon four years after the company started and he was there for 12 years, working very closely with Jeff Bezos. Colin says it was a fantastic experience working at Amazon and during his time there they were inventing and creating a lot of the products we know today like Amazon Prime, Kindle, and Fulfillment by Amazon. The management team that Colin was a part of was also working on building processes within Amazon so that the company could scale 10 and 100x. He says, “I learned a ton about not only what it what it's like to take an idea on a whiteboard and turn it into a household name, but also how to create simple processes that work across a number of different types of organizations to build in your company and grow fast while we're remaining nimble and true to your roots.” What was Amazon like in the early days When Colin was working at Amazon there were only around 500 people working at the company and 100 people in the corporate area. They had two fulfillment centers in customer service. The company now has over 1.3 million employees.  Colin says in the early days it was a very intense environment and their mantra was get big fast. They very quickly went from a single category retailer, selling books, to multiple categories. They expanded into the UK, Germany, Japan and France very quickly. And because they were growing so rapidly in such a short period of time the company relied a lot on individual heroic efforts to save the day. There would be days where so many orders would come in that everyone would have to pitch in to get them out in time.  “We quickly had to figure out we were facing the same growing pains that any fast growing company has, and we're trying to figure out how and when to layer in process, because we knew that doesn't scale, you know, there are only 168 hours in the week. And you can't work any more than that. You also have to sleep and eat and go home and spend time with your family. So we knew that we'd have to change the way we operated in order to continue to grow as fast as we were.” What does working backwards mean and how is the process used inside Amazon Amazon has a lot of processes that are unique and quite a few of them were created back when Colin was working there. These processes are all part of something that Amazon calls working backwards, which is where Colin got the title of his book. Working backwards is how they vet ideas and see if they are worth moving forward with. It's really about starting from the customer experience and then working backwards from that.  One of these processes is called PRFAQ, which stands for press release frequently asked questions. So when any employee inside of Amazon has a new idea they have to create one of these, and it is a six page paper. You start with a one page press release that clearly defines the customer problem you are trying to solve and it lays out exactly what your solution is. And then the paper is convincing the customer why they should adopt and use this solution and how it will make their life easier. Once someone creates a PRFAQ they present it to a team of senior leaders who will look over the document, maybe all in the same room together or maybe in different locations virtually, and after taking 20 minutes to look it over in silence they make comments on the idea and ask questions.  The reason behind adopting this method was, as Colin shares, “A SWOT analysis--strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats--is a typical type of tool. That's a skills forward approach. We did that up until about 2003-2004. And we realized that we were not, we were forgetting the customer, too often. So the customer is not with us on that journey. And so Jeff said, we want to make sure the customer from the very beginning of an idea is with us on that journey to see if we could turn that idea into a product or feature that we're building.” And a lot of ideas go through this process and don't make it to the light of day. Some ideas can be tweaked or reworked and become reality, but some just don't work out.  What happens if an idea fails at Amazon No matter what company you work for there are always going to be failures that happen. But how leaders deal with failure is different. Colin says there are two types of failures. One type is when you have a well thought out, well executed idea but it didn't resonate with customers after it went to market. The other type of failure is in the execution of the product. The product was built, but there were a lot of defects or it was a sloppy execution before it even got out to the customer.  But Jeff Bezos has created a culture where failures are not only acceptable, they are celebrated. He understands that the bigger the company gets, the bigger the failures may be since they are thinking bigger and experimenting with new things.  When failure happens inside of Amazon they do take time to look back at what happened to figure out what they could have done differently. What things can they change that can ensure that doesn't happen again. They use their failures to get better and improve for the future.  --------------------------- Whether you have 50 or 1,000 employees, Namely HR helps you maintain a great experience for the entire employee lifecycle. They offer onboarding, performance management, intuitive benefits enrollment, and much more - all on one connected platform. Learn more about making the switch to Namely by going to Namely.com today! Get the latest insights on the Future of Work, Leadership and employee experience through my daily newsletter at futureofworknewsletter.com  Let's connect on social!Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jacobmorgan8 Instagram: https://instagram.com/jacobmorgan8 Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/jacobm Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FuturistJacob

In episode 70, Colin Bryar shares how Amazon improved their hiring process with Bar Raisers and why they ditched Powerpoints during decision-making meetings. Colin was previously known as Jeff Bezo's right-hand man during his time as Vice President of Amazon. Today, he is the co-author of “Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon.” In this episode, Colin shares the importance of leadership principles and how to implement them. We also talk about why narratives provide clarity of thought and Colin's experience writing, reviewing, and exploring them. Tune in to hear how Colin spent his time at Amazon and the types of meetings he had as a leader.

How does Amazon decide on what to build or do next? How do they ensure that technical dependencies don't get in the way of continuous growth? In this episode we cover Working Backwards written by Colin Bryar and Bill Carr, 2 senior employees who worked closely with Jeff Bezos during some of the most explosive growth Amazon has experienced to date. This episode covers strategies that can be used by companies of any size. For example, Jeff Bezos banned the use of PowerPoint presentations in meetings. Why? They are a waste of time. It is too easy to be swayed by a great presenter or to miss a great opportunity because of a poor presentation. So what do they do instead? Have a listen to find out why every Amazon meeting starts with 20 minutes of silence!

Understanding ACoS is tricky and takes a lot of trial and error. In this episode, we are diving deeper on what influences the numbers in your ACoS and what you should probably try to get on top or maintain your ACoS. And what better way to be in-depth with ACoS is of course Keywords. Get your calculators ready cos this is all about the numbers. The data, the budget, the ranking and everything in between. All juicy topics you wouldn't want to miss. In This Episode: [00:30] PPC strategist and founder of Jungler, Elizabeth Green [01:12] Are you willing to pay the piper? [03:08] ACoS according to Elizabeth [06:45] What influences the numbers? [12:05] When to decide whether to change or go for the keywords? [24:15] Calculating a single keyword [29:37] Picking your ranking keywords with data. [34:12] Allocating budget Guest Links and References: LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-greene-junglr WEBSITE: https://www.junglr.com/ YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFRGUdfAUxoOes2bJQkjz6g Book References: Working Backwards by Colin Bryar and Bill Carr 100 Million Offers by Alex Hormozi How to Make Friends and Influence People By: Dale Carnegie Links and References: Wizards of Amazon: https://www.wizardsofecom.com/ Wizards of Amazon Courses: https://wizardsofamazon.mykajabi.com/a/27566/x6Kwkz6p Wizards of Amazon Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/South-Florida-FBA/ Wizards of Amazon on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/WizardsofAmazon/ Wizards of Amazon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wizardsofecom/ Wizards of Amazon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wizardsofecom/

In our 50th episode, Yoni sat down with Destany Wishon, CEO and Co-Founder of BetterAMS, and a thought leader in Amazon advertising. BetterAMS is an Amazon advertising agency helping sellers grow faster by improving their advertising performance. Topics covered: Starting a partnership Being a visionary Hiring and building a remote team Building your company's methodology ✨ Download our FREE Financial Planning Template for Amazon Sellers: https://bit.ly/multiplymii-free-financial-planning-template ✨ Connect with us on social media: Yoni on LinkedIn - https://linkedin.com/in/yonkoz/ Successful Scales on LinkedIn - https://linkedin.com/company/successful-scales/ Instagram - https://instagram.com/successfulscales Facebook - https://facebook.com/successfulscales ✨ More about us: MultiplyMii Staffing - https://multiplymii.com Escala Consulting - https://weareescala.com Successful Scales Podcast - https://successfulscales.com ✨ Full video episodes are also uploaded on YouTube: Subscribe here: https://lnkd.in/gAuEXjS RESOURCES: EOS Worldwide Becoming An EOS® Visionary podcast episode with Mike Paton Gino Wickman - EOS Visionary COO Alliance Who: The A Method of Hiring by Geoff Smart Working Backwards by Colin Bryar and Bill Carr No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention by Reed Hastings The Sales Acceleration Formula by Mark Roberge Successful Scales is sponsored by Global Wired Advisors - a leading digital investment bank with decades of merger and acquisition experience on online and e-commerce businesses and focused on optimizing the business sale process to increase the transactional value of your greatest asset

Working Backwards is an insider's breakdown of Amazon's approach to culture, leadership, and best practices from two long-time Amazon executives―with lessons and techniques you can apply to your own company, and career, right now. Today we chat with the authors' Bill Carr & Colin Bryar about their time working directly with Jeff Bezos on some of Amazon's biggest product innovations. *** This episode is brought to you by: Vidyard: The Top Video Tool for SaaS Marketing and Sales http://vidyard.com/rocketship NetSuite: NetSuite by Oracle is a scalable solution to run all of your key back office operations. Go to netsuite.com/rocketship today. Blinkist: Rocketship.fm is now on Blinkist! Listen to 12 minute episodes with no ads! Get seven days free when you check out Blinkist. Indeed: Indeed is the job site that makes hiring as easy as 1-2-3. Get started with a free $75 sponsored job credit at indeed.com/rocketship. BetterHelp: Unlimited Professional Counseling via Online Chat, Video or Phone Anytime, Anywhere. Get 10% off when you visit betterhelp.com/rocketship. Fundrise: Fundrise makes investing in private real estate as easy as investing in stocks, bonds, or mutual funds. Go to fundrise.com/rocketship today. Airfocus: The home for products and the people who build them. Airfocus is an easy-to-use and flexible product management platform that combines product strategy superpowers with modularity. Visit airfocus.com/rocketship and try it for free today. WIX: When your agency partners with Wix, you unlock an entire digital ecosystem for creating, managing and growing your business online. Head over to Wix.com/Partners and reimagine what your agency can accomplish. *** This show is a part of the Podglomerate network, a company that produces, distributes, and monetizes podcasts. We encourage you to visit the website and sign up for our newsletter for more information about our shows, launches, and events. For more information on how The Podglomerate treats data, please see our Privacy Policy.    Since you're listening to Rocketship, we'd like to suggest you also try other Podglomerate shows surrounding entrepreneurship, business, and careers like Creative Elements and Freelance to Founder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Zasady przywództwa dla liderów w Amazon są bardzo ciekawym przykładem na budowanie spójnej kultury organizacyjnej.W tym odcinku podcastu przedstawiam i komentuję 14 zasad dla liderów, które zostały opisane i zmodelowane w trakcie budowania programów rozwojowych w firmie po kilku latach jej funkcjonowania.Właśnie niedawno wyszła w Polsce książka napisana przez byłych, wysoko postawionych menedżerów firmy „Od Z do A. Tajniki, zasady i sekrety.” Colin Bryar i Bill Carr.Opisuje ona dość szczegółowo fenomen Amazon, jego praktyki zarządzania i oczekiwania co do postaw managerskich. Warto się z nimi zapoznać, bo są dość uniwersalne i mogą być inspiracją do budowania kultury organizacyjnej w Twojej firmie.Jestem ciekaw jakie zasady przywództwa wprowadza się świadomie w Twojej firmie, a jeśli takich nie ma, to mam do Was pytanie czy warto je ustanowić? Link do książki: https://sqnstore.pl/wydawnictwo-sqn/sqn-pop/999-od-z-do-a-jak-to-zrobilismy-tajniki-zasady-i-sekrety-amazona-colin-bryar-bill-carr.html

Matthew Koergte, Managing Director of Telstra Ventures, is an unsung hero of the Venture Capital industry with a portfolio including 78 investments, 28 liquidity events, 12 unicorns, and a staff of 19 globally. He is a passionate and dynamic advocate for the startup industry, where he has been active since 1998. Prior to starting at Telstra Ventures in 2011, Matthew worked across a variety of industries including positions at Accede Capital Venture Partners, Deutsche Bank, Macquarie Group, and Fujitsu.In his chat with Ian, Matthew discusses:The GPLP structure of Telstra ventures and why it worksTelstra Ventures operating as a thematic investorThe Telstra customer network and why it is an asset for Telstra VenturesThe growth of the Australian startup ecosystem over the past 10 yearsThe existence and future of secondary marketsAustralia's venture capital market in comparison to other countries globally...and more!Quickfire Recommendations:Book: Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari, The Hard Thing about Hard Things by Ben Horowitz, & Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon by Bill Carr and Colin Bryar.Podcast: 20 Minute VC & Pivot News Source: TechCrunch, Business Insider, Wall Street Journey, & AFRTech CEO: George Kurtz of CrowdStrikeApp: LinkedIn & Apple MusicProductivity Tool: Telstra Ventures data science toolsFavourite TV Show: WestworldTed Talk topic: “Aligning incentives between management and investors”

Statt Plaid nun halt Tink: Visa hat den Wert von Open Banking erkannt und wird nun im Zuge dessen das schwedische Fintech-Startup für 1,8 Milliarden Euro kaufen - sofern Wettbewerbsbehörden diesmal nicht einschreiten. Weitere Fintech-Schlagzeilen liefert Solarisbank, die nach einer großen Finanzierungsrunde nun vor dem Unicorn-Status stehen. Mit einem vielversprechenden Blick sieht man bei Raisin und Deposit Solutions in die Zukunft, denn mit einer Fusion wurden hier Kräfte gebündelt und Ambitionen für den US-Markt gestärkt. Zudem: Trade Republic mit neuen bedenklichen Optionen, der globale Investment Boom und die Ausläufer in Südkorea bei Viva Republica, verschwundene Bitcoin bei der Handelsplattform Africrypt, der Verkauf von Amazons Logistik-Bereich, die Partnerschaft von Flink und Rewe, Google und die Einführung einer neuen Gesundheitsapp, die gemeinsame Mediathek von ARD und ZDF sowie die Quartalszahlen von Nike nach dem chinesischen Embargo. --- Die Themen der Folge 125: --- • Visa kauft schwedisches Fintech-Startup Tink https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2021/06/24/visa-to-buy-swedish-fintech-start-up-tink.html https://www.creativeconstruction.de/blog/2021/06/28/webinar-embedded-finance-die-potenziale-von-fintech-fuer-nicht-banken/ • Solarisbank wird mit neuer Finanzierungsrunde zum Unicorn https://financefwd.com/de/solarisbank-unicorn-funding/ • Raisin und Deposit Solution fusionieren https://www.fintechfutures.com/2021/06/raisin-and-deposit-solutions-merge-to-create-pan-european-fintech-giant/ https://www.femalefuturefinance.creativeconstruction.de/podcast/12-die-zukunft-des-sparens-und-anlegens-mit-verena-thaler-vp-strategy-business-development-bei-raisin/ • Mehr Derivate und Real-Time-Einzahlungen bei Trade Republic https://assets.traderepublic.com/assets/files/Kundenvereinbarung.pdf https://www.creativeconstruction.de/blog/lp/trends-2021/enabling-financial-health/ • Viva Republica und der Trading-Boom in Südkorea https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/south-koreas-answer-to-robinhood-and-venmo-lands-a-7-billion-valuation-11624416070 • Krypto-Boom in Indien https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-28/even-gold-obsessed-indians-are-now-pouring-billions-into-crypto • Britische Finanzaufsicht geht gegen Kryptobörse Binance vor https://www.manager-magazin.de/finanzen/boerse/binance-britische-finanzaufsicht-fca-geht-gegen-boerse-fuer-kryptowaehrungen-vor-a-056c306f-721c-4a33-9ca7-820a6b2a89ed • Krypto-Handelsplattform Africrypt und verschwundene 2 Milliarden Dollar in Bitcoin https://finance.yahoo.com/news/3-6-billion-bitcoin-disappears-060549648.html? • Amazon könnte zum Verkauf seines Logistikbereichs gezwungen werden https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-22/amazon-could-be-forced-to-sell-logistics-business-under-bill • Rewe wird Vertriebspartner von Schnelllieferdienst Flink https://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtschaft/unternehmen/rewe-verbuendet-sich-mit-schnell-lieferdienst-flink-17372687.html • Leichtere Zulassung: Google bringt neue Health-App zuerst nach Europa https://www.wired.com/story/google-launches-medical-app-outside-us/ • ARD und ZDF starten Streaming-Offensive https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/ard-zdf-mediathek-101.html • China, Uiguren und Nike https://purpose.nike.com/statement-on-xinjiang https://www.bbc.com/news/business-57606588 • YouTube entfernt Videodokus über chinesischen Menschenrechtsverletzungen https://www.theverge.com/2021/6/27/22552714/youtube-google-took-down-videos-human-rights-abuses-china-xinjiang-uyghur • Mit Windows 11 ist der Internet Explorer Geschichte https://www.theverge.com/2021/6/25/22550714/microsoft-windows-11-internet-explorer-disabled --- » Die Buchempfehlung der Woche – von Sören: Colin Bryar, Bill Carr: „Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon“ --- » Weitere Infos, Kontakt und alle Podcasts: https://zurueckzurzukunft.creativeconstruction.de/ --- » Feedback, Anregungen und Wünsche an: podcast@zurueckzurzukunft.de

Colin spent 12 years on Amazon's senior leadership team, including two years as “Chief of Staff” to Jeff Bezos. During this time, Colin had a front-row seat to the development and implementation of Amazon's core operating principles and mechanisms, such as written memos, single-threaded teams, and the bar raiser program.  In early 2021, Colin, along with fellow ex-Amazon VP Bill Carr, released the book “Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon.” In this episode, host Tyler Wallis sits down with Colin to discuss questions submitted by podcast listeners. The ensuing conversation dives deep into Amazon's innovation machine, what it was like shadowing Jeff Bezos, and how companies of various sizes and industries are applying Amazon's operating principles to realize growth in their own organizations.   Check out Colin's book:  https://www.workingbackwards.com/ Follow Colin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colinbryar/

Good morning everyone! Thank you for listening to the podcast. I'm your host, Dean Boot. Today is Saturday and we have a book review called "Working Backwards" by Colin Bryar. Working Backwards is both a practical guidebook and the story of how the company grew to become so successful. It is filled with the authors' in-the-room recollections of what “Being Amazonian” is like and how their time at the company affected their personal and professional lives. They demonstrate that success on Amazon's scale is not achieved by the genius of any single leader, but rather through a commitment to and execution of a set of well-defined, rigorously executed principles and practices―shared here for the very first time. Listen on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2VkXGHq Listen on Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/39TYebQ Motivated Entrepreneurs Website: https://motivatedentrepreneurs.co.uk/ Please Like, Share, and Subscribe to Motivated Entrepreneurs Youtube Channel: https://bit.ly/3eA64u5   Have  a nice day, Dean

In this week's episode, Andy & Angela are joined by Tim Reid; host of one of Australia's top marketing podcasts ‘Small Business, Big Marketing' and author of the popular marketing book ‘The Boomerang Effect.' Tim's an expert in small business marketing and has worked with HUNDREDS of companies to get their marketing strategy and execution on point.Now he joins us to share his top tips on why we need to shift our thinking around marketing as trade business owners! Tim's here to show us how we can take marketing from a chore to a passion AND get great results with small budgets.Listen today and check out these helpful resources from Tim: Josh Nichols (customer manifesto) interview - https://smallbusinessbigmarketing.com/how-to-create-a-customer-manifesto/Colin Bryar (working backwards) interview - https://smallbusinessbigmarketing.com/amazons-working-backwards-process/Got a business question? Throw your question in our Tradie Toolbox https://www.lifestyletradie.com.au/podcast/ and have your trade business questions answered! OR email us at podcast@lifestyletradie.com.au

There's a saying at Amazon: "Good intentions don't work. Mechanisms do." For well over a decade, Colin Bryar and Bill Carr worked in tandem with Jeff Bezos, building out the mechanisms and leadership principles that shaped the company into what it is today. How'd they do it? They started with a relentless focus on the customer – and worked backwards from there. Colin and Bill were in the trenches for the creation of some of Amazon's most innovative products and services including Kindle, Amazon Prime, Amazon Studios, and Amazon Web Services. And on today's episode of Seeking Wisdom, they sit down with DC and talk about what Amazon was really like in the early days, the development of critical processes like the PR FAQ, single-threaded teams, and their best practices for hiring the right talent. Like this episode? Be sure to leave a ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ review and share the pod with your friends. You can connect with DC on Twitter @dcancel @DriftPodcasts or text him to share your feedback at +1-212-380-1036.For more learnings from DC, check out his weekly newsletter, The One Thing. You can subscribe here: https://www.drift.com/insider/learn/newsletters/dc/Buy a copy of Working Backwards here: https://www.amazon.com/Working-Backwards-Insights-Stories-Secrets/dp/1250267595

Note: the recording of this episode starts a minute or two into the show.Ali recommends: The Hard Thing about Hard Things  by Ben Horowitz [0:18]Ben recommends: High Output Management by Andy Grove [4:36]Marc recommends: Who Really Matters: The Core Group Theory of Power, Privilege, and Success by Art Kleiner [10:48]Best read for enterprise sales: Power Base Selling by Jim Holden, et al [13:06]Microsoft, Google, government contracts, and politicized workplaces [16:28]Marc recommends: The Tyranny of Structurelessness by Jo Freeman [29:32]Ali recommends: Radical Candor by Kim Scott [33:19]Ben recommends: No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention  by Erin Meyer and Reed Hastings [44:19]Ben recommends: Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon by Colin Bryar [50:28]How they are approaching the return to work and remote work [53:00]Boss Talk is the Clubhouse show where a16z cofounder Ben Horowitz and Ali Ghodsi, the Founder/CEO of Databricks, discuss CEO stuff, leadership stuff, management stuff... boss stuff. Live every Tuesday 5-6pm on Clubhouse. For more a16z Clubhouse shows, follow the a16z Club on Clubhouse or visit www.a16z.com/clubhouse. 

What I learned from Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon by  Colin Bryar and Bill Carr.Become a Misfit now to automatically unlock every full length episode. You will get access to 187 full-length episodes available nowhere else. A new episode is added every week. Learn the key insights from biographies on Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, John D. Rockefeller, Coco Chanel, Andrew Carnegie, Enzo Ferrari, Dr. Suess, Estee Lauder, Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger, Phil Knight, Joseph Pulitzer, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bill Gates, P.T. Barnum, Edwin Land, Henry Ford, Walter Chrysler, Thomas Edison, David Ogilvy, Ben Franklin, Howard Hughes, George Lucas, Levi Strauss, Walt Disney and so many more. Learn from the founders of Nike, Patagonia, Apple, Microsoft, Hershey, General Motors, Ford, Standard Oil, Polaroid, Home Depot, MGM, Intel, Federal Express, Wal Mart, JP Morgan, Chrysler, Cadillac, Oracle, Hyundai, Seagram, Berkshire Hathaway, Teledyne, Adidas, Les Schwab, Renaissance Technologies, IKEA, Sony, Ferrari, and so many more. Subscribe now by tapping this link.

What makes Amazon different? What are the secrets to their success? Bill Carr would say they aren't really secrets, but it does take innovative management. Bill is a former Amazon executive and the co-author with Colin Bryer of Working Backwards: Insights, Stories and Secrets from Inside Amazon. Bill and Kevin dig deep into the idea of working backwards. It starts with leaders being customer-obsessed, finding out what they want/need and work backward. This isn't as easy as it sounds. We meet with lots of folks each day, many of whom are not our customers. So, we need to go out of our way to think about the customer. Bill also shares the four characteristics that help define the company culture and how this applies to leaders at any level. This episode is brought to you by… From Manager to Remarkable Leader, Kevin's Flagship workshop based on his proven leadership model. Additional Leadership Resources Book Recommendations: Working Backwards: Isights, Stories, and Serets from Inside Amazon by Colin Bryar and Bill Carr Capitalism in America: A History by Alan Greenspan and Adrian Wooldridge Connect with Bill Carr: Website Related Podcast Episodes: How to Think Like Amazon with John Rossman. Leading By Learning From the Tech Titans with Alex Kantrowitz. Follow the Podcast Don't miss an episode! Follow this podcast through the options below. iTunes Stitcher TuneIn Soundcloud RSS Or your favorite podcast app. Join Our Facebook Group Join our Facebook community to network with like-minded leaders, ask us questions, suggest guests and more. We welcome your wealth of experience and hope you will join us in sharing it with others on their leadership journey. You can join the group here: facebook.com/groups/RemarkableLeadershipPodcast/

What makes Amazon different? What are the secrets to their success? Bill Carr would say they aren't really secrets, but it does take innovative management. Bill is a former Amazon executive and the co-author with Colin Bryer of Working Backwards: Insights, Stories and Secrets from Inside Amazon. Bill and Kevin dig deep into the idea of working backwards. It starts with leaders being customer-obsessed, finding out what they want/need and work backward. This isn't as easy as it sounds. We meet with lots of folks each day, many of whom are not our customers. So, we need to go out of our way to think about the customer. Bill also shares the four characteristics that help define the company culture and how this applies to leaders at any level. This episode is brought to you by… From Manager to Remarkable Leader, Kevin's Flagship workshop based on his proven leadership model. Additional Leadership Resources Book Recommendations: Working Backwards: Isights, Stories, and Serets from Inside Amazon by Colin Bryar and Bill Carr Capitalism in America: A History by Alan Greenspan and Adrian Wooldridge Connect with Bill Carr: Website Related Podcast Episodes: How to Think Like Amazon with John Rossman. Leading By Learning From the Tech Titans with Alex Kantrowitz. Follow the Podcast Don't miss an episode! Follow this podcast through the options below. iTunes Stitcher TuneIn Soundcloud RSS Or your favorite podcast app. Join Our Facebook Group Join our Facebook community to network with like-minded leaders, ask us questions, suggest guests and more. We welcome your wealth of experience and hope you will join us in sharing it with others on their leadership journey. You can join the group here: facebook.com/groups/RemarkableLeadershipPodcast/  

Amazon announced its earnings last week - and saw its share price hit a record high. Announcing that they’d surpassed 200 million Prime members was just one of the milestones that the company was able to celebrate in a blowout performance. The company’s sales - no doubt helped by a captive audience trapped at home in a pandemic - rose by 44%, a growth clip that would seem impossibly high for a 17 year old firm if we hadn’t seen Apple’s revenue grow by 54% two days previously.The interesting difference between Amazon and many of the tech brands that we’re surrounded with is that much of their innovation comes from within. For sure we all use multiple products by Google, but the search company bought YouTube, bought Android, bought what became Google Maps, bought Waze, bought Nest, bought their self-driving cars business, bought DoubleClick ads, and also bought lots of things that are now sitting in the where are they now? file like Fitbit and Motorola. Sure we know that Facebook own Instagram (bought in 2012), Whatsapp (bought in 2014) and Oculus (bought in 2014) but their homeground products (remember Poke? Slingshot? Lasso? of course you don’t).The big question you might ask about these big tech cultures is ‘if they’re so special how come they don’t create any follow-on hits themselves?’ Tech versions of Pixar they are not, they’re the Maroon 5’s of invention, shipping in the clever ideas of other people to keep them bopping in the app charts. It’s not unfair to characterise these companies as bloated bureaucracies propped up by vastly cash generative ad businesses. The commercial real estate expert Dror Poleg commented last week that we sometimes look to the examples set by these big firms as a sign of what the smart brains are doing. Poleg was looking at JP Morgan just about agreeing to some degree of hybrid working. The truth of all of these firms is that, despite the external mystique, they are able to avoid decisions of scarcity by their high margins and often make terrible decisions along the way. I’m often emailed by people who work at big tech firms who tell me that their job is a slow-moving bureaucracy overwhelmed with rules and red-tape, in contrast when people from education or local government contact me they are apologetic for how slow their cultures are to evolve. Little do they know how big tech firms share a lot in common with them.So how do Amazon do it? This week’s podcast is a discussion with long-time Amazon exec Colin Bryar. Along the way we talk through Amazon’s Leadership Principles, how Amazon created products like Kindle and Prime, their recruitment process, and much more. But there was one thing that really stood out to me and that was the idea of ‘Separable, Single-Threaded Leadership’. As Colin told me Jeff Bezos made a comment one day, ‘The best way to fail at inventing something is by making it somebody’s part-time job’. Bezos realised that the worst part of people’s roles was having to keep dozens (hundreds!) of colleagues in the loop because of co-dependencies. The best way to make people feel empowered by their job was to genuinely empower them - to let them get on with them without having to tell everyone what they were doing all of the time. To that end Bezos decided ‘that if we wanted Amazon to be place where builders can build, we needed to eliminate communication, not encourage it’. Wow. Think about that. Someone recognising that the worst part of your job is endless video calls and emails stopping you actually doing your job. As Colin puts it, ‘In other words, Jeff’s vision was that we needed to focus on loosely coupled... See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Amazon's profits more than tripled in the first quarter of 2021, as the pandemic continued to boost its online retail, cloud and advertising businesses.The tech giant on Thursday reported a whopping $8.1 billion in quarterly net income, up 224% from the same period in the prior year, crushing Wall Street analysts' prediction of $4.98 billion. Earnings hit $15.79 per diluted share.Total net sales from the quarter grew 44% from the year-ago period to $108.5 billion, also beating the $104.5 billion analysts had projected.Amazon (AMZN) shares spiked as much as 4% in after-hours trading."Amazon has the almost perfect business for the world right now," James Harris, global chief strategy officer at Mindshare Worldwide, said in an email following the report. "The world's leading e-commerce platform, a growing cloud business and a smaller but growing advertising capability all working in unison. It's a compelling offer."The company's cloud unit and biggest money maker, Amazon Web Services, posted net sales of $13.5 billion during the quarter, up 32% year-over-year. That's an acceleration in growth from the prior quarter as more companies adopt the technology to help manage hybrid workforces.Among the other highlights from the quarter: Amazon now has more than 200 million paid Prime subscribers and streaming hours on Prime Video are up more than 70% year-over-year.Despite a tough year-over-year comparison because of the surge in demand the pandemic caused in 2020, Amazon still expects net sales between $110 and $116 billion, up 24% to 30% from the same period in the prior year, during the second quarter of 2021. That's assuming that its annual Prime Day event occurs during the quarter as normal.On Wednesday, the day before the earnings report, Amazon announced it would spend $1 billion to raise wages for more than 500,000 hourly workers by as much as $3 an hour as it continues its hiring push that has elevated its global workforce beyond 1.3 million people globally. The company will not, however, increase its $15 per hour minimum wage.Earlier in the first quarter, Amazon faced a landmark union drive at a warehouse in Alabama that drew intense scrutiny to its labor practices. Despite popular support from celebrities and even US President Joe Biden, the union vote was unsuccessful.The latter part of this year will bring a major leadership shakeup at the company, as Amazon founder Jeff Bezos steps down from his role as chief executive, to be replaced by current Amazon Web Services CEO Andy Jassy, and the cloud unit gets a new leader.Today, a share in the company costs about $US3,500. Back in 1998, when they were just $US18, a man called Colin Bryar joined Amazon in the Senior Leadership Team, becoming Jeff Bezos’ “Chief of Staff” aka “Jeff’s shadow”.   After 12 years, he left Amazon, and with colleague Bill Carr set up business coaching company Working Backwards. They’ve now written a book of the same name, and Colin's been speaking to Jack Tame.LISTEN ABOVE

In our headlines today capping earnings week, Amazon crushing forecasts of how much money it would rake in from pandemic- fuelled online shopping saying this quarter its profit tripled and revenue soared 44 percent to 108.5 Billion. We find out what has fuelled Amazon’s amazing success with Colin Bryar co-author of Working Backwards - Insights, Stories and Secrets from Inside Amazon in this edition of Read with Michelle Martin.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Colin Bryar joined Amazon in 1998—four years after its founding—and spent the next 12 years as part of the senior leadership team as the company grew from a domestic (US-only) seller of books to a global, multi-dimensional powerhouse and innovator. He served as Vice President at Amazon, and spent two of his years as Chief of Staff to Jeff Bezos, a.k.a. "Jeff's shadow." During this time, he spent each day attending meetings, traveling, and discussing business and life with Jeff. In this episode, Colin describes what it was really like working alongside Jeff Bezos, as well as what Jeff’s superpowers are when it comes to business. Listen in to learn how Amazon developed single-thread leadership within the organization, why the company moved away from using PowerPoint as a means of persuasion and analysis (and what they use instead), and what Jeff Bezos considers one of the best things that Amazon has ever done. You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: https://bit.ly/3sFpeVI

Colin Bryar joined Amazon in 1998, four years after its founding and spent the next 12 years as part of Amazon's senior leadership team as Amazon grew from a domestic seller of books to a global, multi-dimensional powerhouse and innovator. Colin served as Vice President at Amazon, and for two years was Chief of Staff to Jeff Bezos working directly with him advising on technical and business areas.After Amazon, Colin relocated to Singapore where he served as Chief Operating Officer of the e-commerce company RedMart, which was subsequently sold to Alibaba. Colin is now co-founder of Working Backwards LLC where he coaches executives at both large and early-stage companies on how to implement the management practices developed at Amazon.Check out Colin's new book, Working Backwards which is an insider's break down of Amazon's approach to culture, leadership, and best practices: https://amzn.to/3t9wFWbOur conversation discusses the principles applied by Amazon to achieve rapid growth from the early stages. We discuss the factors which make a company truly successful from scalability and operationalisation to the product development lifecycle and customer obsession. Lastly, Colin offers his advice for young professionals navigating their career at the moment.Timestamps:(00:00) Introduction(03:52) Colin Bryar's background & Working Backwards(07:15) Amazon & Jeff Bezos/scalability/long term strategy(10:22) Customer centric focus/competitive edge/leadership principles(13:11) How to scale successfully/creating & inventing(17:22) Single threaded leader & Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) (21:33) Taking risks/failure/product development lifecycle(26:56) Defining metrics & success criteria(29:48) Core principles & repeatable processes(32:37) Competition/capital/finding a niche(35:51) COVID-19 shift towards e-commerce/Brexit/regulation(40:57) Careers advice/building on your interests/passions(47:30) When to change company & find new challengesFollow Kickoff Sessions on Spotify to keep updated with new sessions!If you enjoyed this episode, please consider sharing the session on Instagram or leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts. Tell everyone I'm a semi-decent guy and it really helps to grow the show!For show notes and more episodes, visit Kickoff Sessions website. Sign up to the Kickoff Sessions email list for regular updates and content.Follow me on LinkedInFollow Kickoff Sessions on This episode is sponsored by Sons. Please support the podcast and get 40% off your first order by using the discount code KICKOFFSESSIONS40. Sons IE: sons.ieSons UK: sons.co.ukSons are a men's health care brand that offers clinically proven, licenced hair loss treatments for less than the cost of a cup of coffee per day. - ExpressVPN: ExpressVPN.com/kickoffsessions and get 3 extra months free- Buzzsprout: Buzzsprout.com and receive a $20 Amazon Gift CardSupport the show

In 2018 Amazon became the world's second trillion dollar company after Apple: a remarkable success story for a company launched out of a garage in 1994. How did they achieve this? And how can others learn from this extraordinary success and replicate it? In this week's episode we're joined by Colin Bryar and Bill Carr two of Amazon's most senior executives in the last two decades. Their time at Amazon covered a period of unmatched innovation that brought products and services including Kindle, Amazon Prime, Amazon Echo and Alexa, and Amazon Web Services to life. They speak to Linda Yueh about Amazon's founding characteristics: customer obsession, long-term thinking, eagerness to invent, and operational excellence. To find out more about the book click here: https://bit.ly/32ohKfh  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 135 of the Business Bookshelf - Colin Bryar - Author of "Working Backwards" Today our guest is Colin Bryar. Colin joined Amazon in 1998 -- four years after its founding -- and spent the next 12 years as part of Amazon's senior leadership team as Amazon grew from a domestic (US-only) seller of books to a global, multi-dimensional powerhouse and innovator. Colin served as a Vice President at Amazon, and for two of his years he was "Chief of Staff" to Jeff Bezos, AKA "Jeff's shadow", during which he spent each day attending meetings, traveling with, and discussing business and life with Jeff. After Amazon, he and his family relocated to Singapore for two years where Colin served as Chief Operating Officer of e-commerce company RedMart, which was subsequently sold to Alibaba. Colin is co-founder of Working Backwards LLC where he coaches executives at both large and early-stage companies on how to implement the management practices developed at Amazon. Colin is the co-author of the book “Working Backwards”. Working Backwards is a practical guidebook and a corporate narrative, filled with the authors’ in-the-room recollections of what “Being Amazonian” is like and how it has affected their personal and professional lives. They demonstrate that success on Amazon’s scale is not achieved by the genius of any single leader, but rather through commitment to and execution of a set of well-defined, rigorously-executed principles and practices―shared here for the very first time. The book can be purchased here - https://amzn.to/3mM0gmg. Colin's company Working Backwards can be found here - www.workingbackwards.com. The host is Lance Peppler and can be emailed at lance@ideastorm.co.za or visit www.businessbookshelfpodcast.com. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/businessbookshelf/support

Episode Title: How To Work Backwards In this episode, we talk to Colin Bryar (Co-founder of Working Backwards LLC) as we discuss his new book, his time at Amazon under Jeff Bezos, and the work he and his co-founder Bill Car do at Working Backwards, LLC.  Purchase his book Working Backwards here **More On Colin** Colin Bryar joined Amazon in 1998 — four years after its founding —  and spent the next 12 years as part of Amazon's senior leadership team as Amazon grew from a domestic (US-only) seller of books to a global, multi-dimensional powerhouse and innovator. Colin served as a Vice President at Amazon, and for two of his years was "Chief of Staff" to Jeff Bezos, AKA "Jeff's shadow", during which he spent each day attending meetings, traveling with, and discussing business and life with Jeff. After Amazon, he and his family relocated to Singapore for two years where Colin served as Chief Operating Officer of e-commerce company RedMart, which was subsequently sold to Alibaba. Colin is co-founder of Working Backwards LLC where he coaches executives at both large and early-stage companies on how to implement the management practices developed at Amazon. Written by: Dominic Lawson  Executive Producers: Dominic Lawson and Kenda Lawson Music Credits: **Show Theme**  Behind Closed Doors - Otis McDonald  **Break Theme** Cielo - Huma-Huma  www.funkymedia.agency/calendar to book an interview. 

For the next episode, episode 17, we speak to Colin Bryar, an early employee at Amazon and co-author of the book Working Backwards: Stories and Secrets from Inside Amazon. Colin joined Amazon's leadership team in 1998 - only four years after its inception. He worked side-by-side with Jeff Bezos as his Chief of Staff (and “Shadow”) for 2 years. Colin was instrumental in bringing several Amazon businesses to life, including Kindle, Amazon Prime and Amazon Web Services. After Amazon, Colin relocated to Singapore and served as Chief Operating Officer of e-commerce giant RedMart, which was subsequently sold to Alibaba."Just always be curious. I love learning new things. I made a lot of mistakes but I've also learnt a lot. So just be curious. It's what makes life fun." - Colin Bryar See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

For episode 17, we speak to Colin Bryar, an early employee at Amazon and co-author of the book Working Backwards: Stories and Secrets from Inside Amazon. Colin joined Amazon's leadership team in 1998 - only four years after its inception. He worked side-by-side with Jeff Bezos as his Chief of Staff (and “Shadow”) for 2 years. Colin was instrumental in bringing several Amazon businesses to life, including Kindle, Amazon Prime and Amazon Web Services. After Amazon, Colin relocated to Singapore and served as Chief Operating Officer of e-commerce giant RedMart, which was subsequently sold to Alibaba. In this episode, Colin discusses the importance of always having a customer-first mindset, the benefits of Amazon's unique narrative meeting culture, his key lessons for early-stage founders, and lots more. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode, Colin Bryar meets with Patrick to talk about being customer-obsessed, constantly finding and fixing defects, and growing faster than the competition. Colin joined Amazon in 1998 -- four years after its founding -- and spent the next 12 years as part of Amazon's senior leadership team as Amazon grew from a domestic (US-only) seller of books to a global, multi-dimensional powerhouse and innovator. Colin served as a Vice President at Amazon, and for two of his years he was "Chief of Staff" to Jeff Bezos, AKA "Jeff's shadow", during which he spent each day attending meetings, traveling with, and discussing business and life with Jeff. Colin documented this experience in Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon.

How product managers can work backwards to amazing products In a few weeks, the name of this podcast will be changing to Product Masters Now. You don't need to do anything to keep listening, but I want you to know the name change is coming. If your player is like mine that lists podcasts alphabetically, […]

Colin Bryar was Jeff Bezos's shadow (AKA right hand man) inside of Amazon. In this revealing chat, he explains to host Tim Reid Amazon's process of working backwards, in which every new idea starts with the customer front and centre. Notebook at the ready! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on "The Communicators", longtime Amazon executives Colin Bryar and Bill Carr talk about their book "Working Backwards" which breaks down the online retailer's approach to culture and leadership.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, we talk to Colin Bryar (Co-founder of Working Backwards LLC) as we discuss his new book, his time at Amazon under Jeff Bezos, and the work he and his co-founder Bill Car do at Working Backwards, LLC.  Purchase his book Working Backwards here **More On Colin** Colin Bryar joined Amazon in 1998 — four years after its founding —  and spent the next 12 years as part of Amazon's senior leadership team as Amazon grew from a domestic (US-only) seller of books to a global, multi-dimensional powerhouse and innovator. Colin served as a Vice President at Amazon, and for two of his years was "Chief of Staff" to Jeff Bezos, AKA "Jeff's shadow", during which he spent each day attending meetings, traveling with, and discussing business and life with Jeff. After Amazon, he and his family relocated to Singapore for two years where Colin served as Chief Operating Officer of e-commerce company RedMart, which was subsequently sold to Alibaba. Colin is co-founder of Working Backwards LLC where he coaches executives at both large and early-stage companies on how to implement the management practices developed at Amazon. Hectic is an all-in-one business management software built specifically for freelancers who arejust getting started or looking to take their freelance business to the next level. Sign up at gethecticapp.com/thestartuplife Follow The Startup Life Podcast Facebook Page Want gear from The Startup Life? Check out our gear! Check out other great podcasts from The Binge Podcast Network. Written by: Dominic Lawson  Executive Producers: Dominic Lawson and Kenda Lawson Music Credits: **Show Theme**  Behind Closed Doors - Otis McDonald  **Break Theme** Cielo - Huma-Huma 

Colin Bryar, Co-Founder of Working Backwards and former Amazon VP, talks about his book "Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon." Host: Carol Massar. Producer: Doni Holloway. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

Before Amazon became one of the world's largest retailers, it was simply an online bookstore shipping items within the U.S.  But even in its early days, founder and CEO Jeff Bezos had a vision to build earth's most customer-centric company.  That mentality still holds strong today and is a driving force behind Amazon's continual success.  Colin Bryar joined Amazon in 1998, just four years after it was founded. Of his 12 years on the Amazon leadership team, he spent two of them working as Bezos' Chief of Staff, where he had an inside view of what it takes to build a customer-centric company.  The early days of Amazon weren't smooth sailing, but instead of focusing on stock price or what the press was saying, Bezos encouraged his employees to look at customer experience data. Focusing too much on stock price was a roller coaster—it could go up 30% one month and make you feel 30% smarter, but then drop 30% the next month and make you feel 30% dumber. Instead, the mentality at Amazon was to stay focused on the customer. Employees knew that if they did right with the customer, things would work out.  From the company's beginning, customers came first. Bryar tells the story of how the customer service experience became even more customer-centric.  All leaders at Amazon spend a few days every two years in the contact center, listening to calls, responding emails and eventually answering phone calls. On one occasion, Bryar and Bezos were listening in on a call from a customer who had received damaged lawn furniture. The call center agent asked for the product number, and as the customer was looking for it, looked at Bezos and Bryar and guessed exactly which product it was of the millions Amazon sold. The agent was right and explained that they had received multiple calls about that particular set arriving damaged—clearly, there was an issue with the packaging.  Amazon's typical process for that type of issue was to have the call center agent file a report, which would then be forwarded to the feedback manager for that area. But with the calls coming so spread out, it would be difficult for the manager to notice a pattern and take action to solve the problem.  Instead, Amazon took a page from Toyota's book to create an Andon Cord. In manufacturing, anyone on the assembly line can pull the cord if they detect a problem. Bezos created a virtual Andon Cord for the call center. If a customer service agent notices multiple calls for the same item, they can press a big red button that immediately removes the option to buy that product on Amazon. Bryar explains that it is better for customers to not be able to buy something no matter how painful the revenue loss is for Amazon than to send a defective product and have to deal with it later. Once the issue is addressed, the product is able to be sold on Amazon.  The idea of the contact center Andon Cord seems simple, but it shows how Amazon is working to operational excellence, even in its early years.  Bryar believes that focusing on customers, especially the example set by Jeff Bezos, is what has propelled Amazon to such great success. The company shows that no matter the industry or size, putting customers first always pays off. Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future. Sign up for her new course here. For regular updates on customer experience, sign up for her weekly newsletter here. 

Bill Carr - entrepreneur, executive coach, author, and former Vice President of Digital Media at Amazon - discusses practical, proven methodologies that Amazon invented to bring products and business to market successfully (including the Narrative-based approach to communication, the PR/FAQ document to guide product development, and the Bar Raiser program for hiring). In this conversation, Bill shares insights and perspectives gleaned from both successes and failures during his 15 years at Amazon. He talks about his reasons for writing Working Backwards (with co-author and former Amazon executive Colin Bryar), the creation of the digital media business at Amazon, the role that Amazon Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos played as the “Chief Slowdown Officer,” Amazon's use of time as a competitive advantage, the way the company puts into practice its 14 Leadership Principles, and the exemplar organizations Amazon itself looks to in order to improve its own processes and operations. Bill punctuates the narrative with candid and honest stories of his own intrapreneurial experiences as a leader who played key roles in developing Amazon Music, Prime Video, and Amazon Studios. How do you make decisions as an executive? What does it really mean to start with the customer and work backwards? What can you learn about the applicability to your organization of Amazon's successes across so many different categories of GDP? How do you design products and services to ensure success?Guest Bio:Bill Carr joined Amazon in 1999, where he spent more than 15 years. As Vice President of Digital Media, Bill launched and managed the company's global digital music and video businesses, including Amazon Music, Prime Video, and Amazon Studios. After Amazon, Bill was an Executive In Residence with Maveron, LLC, an early-stage, consumer-only venture capital firm. Bill later served as the Chief Operating Officer of OfferUp, the largest mobile marketplace for local buyers and sellers in the U.S. Today Bill is co-founder of Working Backwards LLC where he coaches executives at both large and early-stage companies on how to implement the management practices developed at Amazon.  Building Blocks:Think about what kind of mechanism your organization could employ to slow down now to move fast later. Maybe it is the written narrative or the PR/FAQ. Maybe there's a piece around how you evaluate talent, which Bill hit on today in which he talks about in his book. But maybe those things inspire you to think of something different that you want to go build. It could be a tool or a process or a way to help your teams get more of a competitive advantage out of their time, like we talked about with Bill today.Helpful Links:Colin Bryar & Bill Carr's book, Working Backwards: https://www.amazon.com/Working-Backwards-Insights-Stories-Secrets/dp/1250267595/Working Backwards LLC: https://www.workingbackwards.com/Additional advice on applying Amazon's Working Backwards PR FAQ process: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/applying-amazons-working-backwards-process-leaders-ian-mcallisterForbes article about how Amazon encourages intrapreneurship: https://www.forbes.com/sites/innovatorsdna/2017/08/08/how-does-amazon-stay-at-day-one/?sh=44e97d0b7e4dA16Z's podcast featuring Colin Bryar and Bill Carr: https://a16z.simplecast.com/episodes/working-backwards-amazon-bezos-memos-releases-narratives-innovationTomas Chamorro-Premuzic, Harvard Business Review, on the value of being an intrapreneur: https://hbr.org/2020/03/why-you-should-become-an-intrapreneurAmazon Leadership Principles: https://www.amazon.jobs/en/principlesAbout the Andon Cord: https://kanbanzone.com/resources/lean/toyota-production-system/andon/

Sanibel FL Chief of Police Interview starts at 12:47 and ends at 49:04 Links “Amazon Expands Secretive Trucking Program” by Paris Marineau at The Information - January 25, 2021 “One Tale from an Amazon Seller” by Shira Ovide at The New York Times - January 27, 2021 Sanibel Police Department Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon by Colin Bryar and Bill Carr, available for pre-order, with release on February 9, 2021 “Why (and How) Amazon Created the Kindle and Changed the Book Industry Forever” at Entrepreneur - January 27, 2021 Morning Journal flash briefing for Alexa If you'd like brief daily updates on technology, books, marriage, and puppies, you can follow along with my Morning Journal flash briefing. From your Echo device, just say, “Alexa, enable Morning Journal.” Then each morning say, “Alexa, what's my flash briefing?” I post a five-minute audio journal each day except Sunday, usually by 8:00 am Eastern Time.  The Kindle Chronicles is now available at Audible Podcasts. The only thing missing are ratings! If you have time, please consider leaving one in order to help others learn about the show.  Right-click here and then click "Save Link As..." to download the audio to your computer, phone, or MP3 player.