Full transcript
0:00everyone at Sam Evans here and on to
0:03shoot this quick video if you guys today
0:04to talk about Amazon's
0:08leaders to shareholders so what these
0:11are is quite honestly it's probably the
0:13best piece of content that I've ever
0:16found if it discovered ever reared in my
0:19entire life ever and you know I've read
0:22quite a lot of stuff and I'm constantly
0:24looking for really good information and
0:26really good things to learn from but I
0:28have never found anything better than
0:30this free or paid this is the best and
0:34what I want to do in this video is
0:37explain what these are how you can read
0:40them what I've learned from them and
0:42also my five key takeaways from these
0:47leaders so first of all like if you're
0:51going to learn from someone you want to
0:52make sure that you're learning from
0:53people who are really successful and
0:56Jeff Bezos is pretty much as successful
0:58as you can get I mean right now Amazon
1:01stock is worth I think it's 750 million
1:04somewhere around there and you know
1:06multiple times it's been the most come
1:08the most valuable company on planet
1:10earth ever and so that's a start and
1:13also chief Bezos is at the moment the
1:16richest man on planet Earth
1:18so he's extremely successful and you
1:21definitely can learn a lot from him and
1:23if there's anyone you want to emulate
1:24model and learn from Chief Bezos is one
1:28of them and what I like what I like
1:31about you know success is that it always
1:33leaves clues whenever there's a great
1:35success if you look carefully you can
1:37always find little clues of little bread
1:40crumbs all over the place that explain
1:43how that company got to be where it is
1:45right now you know it's impossible to be
1:47in business for that long make that
1:49transformation and not leave some
1:51evidence somewhere and the cool thing
1:53about Amazon is because it's a public
1:55company all of the letters to the
1:59shareholders every single year from 1997
2:02to 2018 all of these clues a keV clearly
2:07articulated and explained from Jeff
2:10Bezos himself
2:12he gives away all of it and these
2:13leaders right here so the cool thing
2:16about reading these letters is that you
2:18get to hear what Jeff Bezos is doing at
2:22each time like because the these letters
2:24are written year by year so this isn't
2:26some book that's written in hindsight we
2:29you know anyone can sound smart and tell
2:30a good story in hindsight but the cool
2:33thing about these letters is that Bezos
2:35has written them each year at the end of
2:37each year so he can't you know if he's
2:40making predictions and saying he's gonna
2:42try and do this thing or he predicts
2:43this thing was gonna come true
2:45like he's saying that ahead of time and
2:47it's documented that he said that ahead
2:51of time and what's fascinating when you
2:53read these things is that he is right
2:55about so many things it's amazing like
2:58the the things he says he's gonna do in
3:00the very first letter in 1997 he stuck
3:04to and never deviated from and actually
3:06did and is still doing now today in 2018
3:10so on this video today I want to share
3:15with you these letters so what I've done
3:17is there's a whole bunch of them 1997 to
3:202017 I've compiled all of them into one
3:23easy to read PDF there are only about
3:26three pages per year so you're reading
3:29in three pages Amazon's story and
3:32learnings in progress in just three
3:35pages per year so you get a full history
3:37on the company in this many pages and
3:39more than that well first of all I'm
3:43going to share the link to the PDF to
3:45the letters beneath this video so right
3:47now if you scroll down you'll be able to
3:49see there's a link to download the
3:51latest issue holders click that link
3:53download that PDF and then read these
3:55letters from start to finish
3:57you'll see I've circled tons of stuff
3:59I've made you know I've made a ton of
4:01notes on these things and then what I
4:03actually did is I made even more notes
4:06on them like I made pages and pages of
4:09notes on these things and I studied
4:11these things like furiously for dates
4:14because it was the best content I'd ever
4:16got my hands on and so what I've done is
4:19instead of just give you you know I'm
4:22first of all I'm giving you the actual
4:23letters
4:24and you've got to read those yourself
4:26it'll be the best business reading you
4:28ever read no exaggeration and then what
4:31I've done is I've taken one of my notes
4:33and really boiled it down and distilled
4:35it in it to five key things five key
4:39things that I learned from reading Bezos
4:41as leaders to shareholders and then what
4:43I've done is I've created a PDF here
4:47called top five learnings from Jeff
4:49Bezos as leaders and this here is four
4:52pages of what I've learned and I've
4:56going to give you the the link to
4:58download that PDF beneath this video too
5:01so what I want you to do right now
5:02scroll down download the leaders to
5:04shareholders download my top five
5:07learnings from reading the leaders
5:08tissue holders and now what I'm going to
5:10do in this video is jump over to my
5:12laptop and walk you through my top five
5:16learnings in this report myself one by
5:19one and explain you know what I learned
5:21and why I think it's beneficial so let's
5:24jump onto my laptop and do that right
5:25now alright so here we are on my laptop
5:29and I've got opened up here at the top
5:32five learnings from Jeff Bezos --is that
5:34is to Amazon shareholders now again this
5:37is available for download beneath this
5:38video video just find the link and
5:40you'll be able to grab the PDF so let's
5:44jump in and I'll skip this little intro
5:46piece let's just jump in right here and
5:48go straight to the five things that I
5:53really took away from reading this so
5:55number one it's all about the long term
5:58so Bezos constantly stresses the
6:01importance of long term thinking and
6:02most people make decisions based on
6:05instant gratification things like
6:07Facebook Likes praise from their friends
6:09or social circles or enjoyment from
6:13going to a party and getting drunk or
6:15eating some bad food or something but
6:17that's how most people live they just
6:19live for instant gratification that's
6:21going to come immediately or within the
6:23day or maybe the longest term most
6:26people think is is this week and these
6:30activities make you feel good in the
6:31short term but they harm you in the long
6:33term because what's good for you right
6:35now is often not what's good for you in
6:37five years from now ten years from now
6:39or later and Bezos makes all of his
6:43decisions based on something called the
6:45second third and fourth and fifth order
6:48consequences of his immediate decisions
6:51and actions today and what these second
6:54third fourth the thought of consequences
6:56are is this is thinking ahead thinking
6:58about hey if I make this decision now
7:00sure this immediate things going to
7:02happen but what does that what are the
7:04second and third-order things that are
7:06going to happen and I'll give you an
7:07example to make it real simple like say
7:09right now I'm going to go out and party
7:12and get really drunk right well right
7:15now that's my decision and if you're
7:17short-sighted you might just say oh it's
7:19just you know it's just I'll just be a
7:21day behind it might be a little bit
7:22hungover or whatever but if you're
7:23considering the second third fourth or
7:25Consequences well some of them might be
7:28will you know you might put off a day of
7:31working on your business or working
7:33towards your dreams but that day's work
7:35might mean that you know you could
7:38actually get into business faster you
7:40know that one day that one day of work
7:42could have got you into business like
7:44that day you could have missed out on
7:46your first client and that first client
7:48could have led to you having enough
7:49money to hire somebody and then that
7:52could have led to that person working
7:56for you inside your business and them
7:57getting you the best client ever and
8:00then that best client ever could lead to
8:03you getting mentioned in the Wall Street
8:04Journal and then that leads to you being
8:07like knowing all across the industry and
8:09getting tons of clients right well
8:12that's taken it pretty far that's
8:14exaggerating it a bit but that's the
8:17second third fourth order consequences
8:19you know instead of just thinking about
8:20right now and going out and partying I
8:22mean you want to think about the true
8:24opportunity cost that you could be
8:26giving up to do that and that's what
8:30second third fourth order thinking is
8:32all about and when it comes to be sauce
8:34you'll notice that you know he's like a
8:36grandmaster chess player who is making
8:39moves now that nobody can understand
8:41because the payoff and the grand plan
8:44and the big picture scheme which he's
8:45working on no one can understand it
8:47because it probably is not going to come
8:48together and make sense
8:50and reward him for like another 10 years
8:53this is how long-term Bezos thinks and
8:57there was to really help you understand
9:00this play in your own life and
9:02everything there was the study done at
9:04Stanford called the marshmallow
9:05experiment and they gave children the
9:08option to have one marshmallow now or
9:10delay getting a marshmallow for a period
9:12of time around 45 minutes and then that
9:14they could get two marshmallows instead
9:16and the children who chose the delayed
9:19option
9:20oh and all the children the ones who
9:22chose it now and the ones who chose the
9:24delayed option they they were trapped
9:26for the remainder of their lives and
9:28what they noticed is that they performed
9:31better in all the aspects of life from
9:33health and fitness relationships
9:35academic achievements and financial
9:37performance so this again this is not
9:40what's mentioned in the latest issue
9:42holders but this marshmallow experiment
9:44it's all about long-term thinking - it's
9:47taking into consideration the second
9:48third fourth order consequences and if
9:51you can do this then you know the proof
9:53is really there that you'll have a
9:54better life I mean it all leads to
9:56having a better life in all aspects not
9:57just money but health and fitness and
9:59everything else - and so with each one
10:02of these sections I've wanted to really
10:03say the main point and then explain it
10:07and then tell you how you can improve
10:09from this yourself because you know it's
10:11all very well learning stuff but that's
10:12not really what we're here for we're not
10:14just here to learn and become smarter
10:16because there's no real benefit from
10:17just being smart I'm gonna show you also
10:19how you can apply it to your life so you
10:21can you know make it better right now
10:23and so how can you improve from this
10:25long-term thinking well every day in
10:27business in life you have to make
10:29choices and your life will ultimately be
10:31the sum total of these everyday choices
10:33so think to yourself what's best for me
10:37long-term and don't be short-sighted
10:39with instant gratification think two or
10:41three four moves ahead so every day when
10:44you're making all of these different
10:45choices pause for a moment before
10:47deciding in think out long term think
10:49how Jeff Bezos would that's a key
10:52takeaway that I got from this and I
10:54thought that I was kind of a lot like
10:57long sighted and long-term thinking but
10:59after reading this I realized that
11:01I don't even really know what I'm doing
11:03like Bezos takes us to a whole nother
11:05level now the second one is customer
11:08obsession I'm gonna explain what this is
11:11right now so there's many ways to seem
11:14to a company you can be competitive
11:15focused personally focused on yourself
11:18or the founder tech focused sand more
11:20and most businesses are competitive
11:23focused and the eyes always fixated on
11:26the competition an Bezos runs with a
11:29laser-like focus on his customers and
11:33when decisions are made at Amazon it's
11:35easy to find an answer because they use
11:37a universal principle which they all
11:40hold and they all use so a universal
11:43principle of customer obsession and
11:46whenever they make a decision they
11:48decide based on what's best for the
11:50customer and most people run their
11:52businesses with principles that are all
11:54about themselves like what's going to
11:55get me more money what's going to
11:57improve my life what's going to get me
11:59more stuff and more cars right now and
12:01they care more about themselves in their
12:04satisfaction in their profit then they
12:06do their customers experience but Bezos
12:09is unlike any other businessman that
12:12I've ever seen and he doesn't take
12:13profit margins personal gains or
12:16profitability into consideration when
12:18making decisions he decides based on
12:21what's best for the customer and that's
12:23the end of discussion and you might
12:26think well how can you run a business
12:27without caring about profit and
12:29obviously taking profit into
12:31consideration is important because you
12:33need to survive but Bezos doesn't give
12:35away things for free you know he's not
12:38running a charity but he takes customer
12:40obsession as far as he possibly can
12:42while still being financially
12:44responsible and ensuring the survival of
12:47Amazon so you know don't think that you
12:51know if he was taking customer obsession
12:53to the absolute extreme or he'd just
12:54give you everything away for free but
12:55then he wouldn't have a business and
12:57then he's not helping anyone at all
12:59really
12:59so you know make sure you take this
13:02within context he takes customer
13:03obsession as far as he possibly can
13:05given the restraints of still making
13:08money in keeping his business alive and
13:11this is a smart long-term play because
13:14Bezos knows that in
13:15and if you treat customers well they
13:18will treat you well in return and Bezos
13:21is now collecting the dividends for his
13:23loyal customer obsession which has been
13:25invested in since Amazon's inception you
13:28know he's like the richest man on earth
13:29right now but you know Amazon was
13:32started like 1995 I think and maybe 1994
13:37went public first year 1997 and you know
13:41now we're in 2018 so you know he's being
13:43customer obsessed since day one every
13:46day and you know we didn't really see
13:48those rewards early on but now it's
13:50really come to its fruition and that's
13:53the power of being customer focused so
13:56how can you take this away and benefit
13:58from it how can you improve your life
14:00from this well when running your
14:02business it's important to have guiding
14:03principles and these are some basic
14:06rules that you live by and treat as your
14:09company's founding religion and this
14:12makes decision-making easy because you
14:14know the best way to look at things you
14:16simply choose the option most aligned to
14:19your founding principles and when you
14:21choose your founding principles
14:25understand that in the long term nothing
14:28beats true customer obsession and you
14:31may sacrifice some profit margin and
14:33some personal income in the short-term
14:34but long-term you will be king so you
14:37know this is really important really
14:39successful people in business and in
14:41life and everything they have principles
14:44and it's almost like they make their own
14:47religion
14:47you know like religion you know you've
14:50got different religions and they all
14:51have their different books and their
14:52books contain their different rules and
14:54whatever and you know they abide by
14:56those and that's how they have a sense
14:58of belonging and all of this but really
15:00good businesses they have their own so
15:03like Amazon it has they have their own
15:05principles they have their own Amazon
15:07Bible if you want to call it that and
15:08they all whenever they were living life
15:11and taking action Amazon they're trying
15:13to align everything to those principles
15:15so that they can all be true to them and
15:17you want to do this too within your
15:20business you want to create like a mini
15:21philosophy a mini paradigm worldview
15:24religion whatever you want to call it
15:25inside your own company and I strongly
15:28recommend making
15:29customer obsession one of them because
15:31all business really is is helping
15:33customers and at the end of the day the
15:36person who helps the customer the most
15:38they're going to win and so by making
15:40customer obsession one of your
15:42principles it is just it's always going
15:45to trump everyone else's there is the
15:47probably one of the most powerful
15:48principles you can have and Emmas on
15:51takes that to the extreme so let's talk
15:54now about the third one
15:56a Benjamin Graham worldview so there's
16:02lots of different ways to measure the
16:03performance of a business there's growth
16:05revenue profit cash flow and more and
16:07when it comes to measuring the
16:09performance of Amazon Bezos takes a
16:12radically different view of things
16:13instead of focusing on profit or
16:16short-term market reactions Bezos
16:18focuses on long-term of future cash
16:20flows and don't worry if you don't know
16:22what that isn't gonna explain it and
16:23just as it so this means that Bezos is
16:26always thinking about what's going to
16:28produce the most cash flow for Amazon
16:31ten years into the future instead of
16:34thinking about what's going to make
16:35Amazon the most profit this quarter or
16:38this financial year and this is
16:40something Bezos learned from Benjamin
16:42Graham's book the Intelligent Investor
16:43and I highly recommend reading this the
16:46Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham
16:48Warren Buffett said it was the book that
16:51got him started and it's his favorite
16:53book of all time probably more
16:55billionaires have recommended this book
16:56than in any other book so it highly
16:59recommended and bezos's obviously built
17:01it into his little religion and most
17:05business owners run their businesses
17:07with the annual profit measuring stick
17:09and they care about how much profit they
17:11their business makes this year you know
17:14that's how most people run and they
17:16think all right year to year measuring
17:18yearly returns and profits going to be
17:20the measuring stick in the upside of
17:22this is that you'll make more profit
17:24this year and you'll improve your
17:27shareholders and you'll impress your
17:29shareholders this year if you've got Shi
17:31holders or if you're your own
17:32shareholder you will you'll impress
17:33yourself but the downside is that taking
17:37excessive profits now can hurt profits
17:39in the future
17:41and in the early days of Amazon for
17:43years the stock market hated them and
17:45they got picked on you know they got
17:47called like Amazon's scam they got
17:49called a scam they got called like all
17:51sorts of different things they all you
17:54know they picked on them and it's
17:55amazing to look back and see it now like
17:57it's now the most valuable company on
18:00earth and it got called like all sorts
18:02of bad things in the beginning but this
18:03is how most good businesses start you
18:06know when you're trying to radically
18:07shift something a lot of the the layer
18:09guards and a lot of the people that
18:11cling to things because they're too
18:12afraid of change they attack you and
18:14everything and that's what happens I
18:16mean it's kind of a sign that you're
18:17doing the right thing and that's what
18:19happened with Amazon - and they couldn't
18:21understand how a business was worth
18:23anything but Amazon they couldn't
18:25understand how it was worth anything
18:26when it didn't make a profit because it
18:28was losing money back then and if I was
18:30like this is just some Internet company
18:31that's losing money and Bezos held out
18:34during those early years and waited for
18:37his long-term strategy to flourish so
18:39even in the face of rejection and
18:41getting hammered on he's Bezos stuck to
18:43his guns that's one thing that you'll
18:45notice about him when you read the
18:47letters he doesn't deviate he doesn't
18:49falter
18:49he can take a hammering he'll just stay
18:51focused and now he is the most valuable
18:55company on planet earth and well how can
18:58you learn from this well instead of
19:00thinking about personal profits in the
19:02short term think about long term future
19:05cash flows and think to yourself what is
19:08the best decision I can make today so
19:11that I make the most money ten years
19:13from now and it's important to think
19:15short-term to ensure your survival or
19:19the survival of your business but once
19:20survival is covered you want to play the
19:22long game to win big because you know
19:25obviously you can't play super long game
19:27and forget about short-term because if
19:29you can't survive the short-term well
19:31you won't be around to collect the
19:34long-term payoff so obviously it's a
19:36balance you want to just cover survival
19:38in the short term and then play the long
19:40game as much as possible and I highly
19:43recommend there and it was Benjamin
19:46Graham that said you know the value of a
19:48company should be is really the future
19:52value of
19:54it's cash flows that's that's how a
19:56stock is valued and Bezos really
19:58he didn't just read that in a book and
20:00think oh that's a cool statement he
20:01built it until his religion and so you
20:05know he read that and he took that away
20:06and he implemented it to the extreme and
20:09that's one thing I notice about him
20:10he'll read something he will find that
20:12it's something he wants to build into
20:14his worldview he'll do that and then he
20:16will just hammer on it harder than
20:18anyone else does and just obsess over it
20:20and he did that with Benjamin Graham's
20:23worldview now number for a radical
20:28cult-like culture so all great companies
20:33have a strong culture that's unique and
20:35helps differentiate them from the
20:36competition
20:37and when it comes to culture at Amazon
20:39Bezos lays it on thick and many
20:42employees and outsiders have referred to
20:44Amazon's culture as cult-like and
20:46radical in some of Emma's ons principles
20:49and memos have been referred to as
20:51Scripture like his his letters to
20:53shareholders have been considered
20:55mandatory reading and people call it
20:57Scripture and Bibles and all of that
20:59messages from the Messiah and just funny
21:01things like that when whenever he
21:04produces it and that's because that's
21:05how rabid and powerful and potent his
21:09culture is and I've noticed this trend
21:12among all great companies and people
21:15refer to their cultures as cults and
21:17their leaders as gods gurus and kings
21:20and people referred to Steve Jobs is a
21:22guru like figure and Apple is a cult and
21:25is even actually a website called cult
21:27of matcom that like they you know it
21:30really does act and behave like a cult
21:32or religion and they said the same about
21:34Ray Dalio
21:36at bridge at Bridgewater too and his
21:40books really good principles by Ray
21:43Dalio I highly recommend it
21:44they called him a cult-like leader as
21:46well and some people might think that
21:48this is wrong or too extreme that
21:52history shows that this is the right
21:53thing to do you know all great people
21:55all great companies all do this and
21:57developing a cult-like culture at your
21:59company is essential if you want to
22:01attract the right people and motivate
22:03them to act as a whole instead of
22:06individuals
22:07and culture allows people to give up
22:09their individual egos and adopt a hive
22:12mind consciousness where they think work
22:14and act as one and Bezos was able to
22:17instill a radical cult-like culture
22:19Amazon since day one and it's still
22:21strong today because when you do this
22:23you know when you've got a bunch of
22:24individuals worried about themselves and
22:26their own personal gain and what other
22:28people are thinking about them and all
22:29of that crap it's so dysfunctional it
22:32doesn't work not only for the individual
22:34when they're thinking like that they're
22:36not going to be performing and for a
22:38group to end of for a group to breathe
22:40the sum total of individuals thinking
22:42like that it's going to be chaos so
22:45really for all good for all teams and
22:47companies and cultures to really perform
22:49everyone needs to give up the individual
22:52you know sense of ego and everything and
22:54care and act and think like one big
22:58organism one mind and Amazon's culture
23:04is one of workaholics and people work
23:07seven days a week in 12 hours a day and
23:10when somebody doesn't they're capped and
23:12you know they're very straight up about
23:14that they are honest about it and
23:15everything they're not embarrassed
23:16that's just how it is that's one of the
23:18things that builds you know their
23:20culture and their frugal with money even
23:22the executive team has to fly economy
23:24class or pay for business out of their
23:27own pocket and they don't think
23:29conventionally they are encouraged to
23:31constantly reject the status quo and try
23:34things without the fear of failure or
23:36embarrassment and this one's funny it
23:39says the only law that Bezos I read in
23:42somewhere on the internet or in the
23:44letters that said you know the only laws
23:47that Bezos will abide by as the laws of
23:51physics everything else is up for
23:52negotiation and they have a shared
23:56hatred of meetings and communication
23:58which is really interesting to hear like
24:01you know meetings meetings aren't to be
24:04held to Amazon and same with
24:06communication they actually view
24:07communication as a distraction and
24:10something not to do and which is very
24:13interesting it's very counterintuitive
24:14and they focus on achieving the goal and
24:17no meeting is to be held without
24:20somebody writing
24:21seven page press release stating how
24:23this would benefit customers and only
24:26once that's complete a meeting can be
24:28held and there's a lot to learn about
24:30this the seventh page press release
24:32because their customer obsessed they
24:35only want to work on things that are
24:37going to help the customer you know if
24:39it's just a feature or a new new
24:41innovation that's going to help Amazon
24:43make more money or something they don't
24:44care about that they only care about the
24:46customer so this is a really really
24:50really smart way to do it Bezos made it
24:52mandatory that if someone wants to hold
24:54a meeting they have to write seven page
24:56press release and the press release is
24:59written in the point of view that it's
25:02going to be published in like the Wall
25:03Street Journal or something and a
25:05customer is reading it and they've got
25:07to think does this help me or not
25:08so that's how they've got to write it as
25:11if it's going to be out in the world
25:13like here's a piece of news customers
25:15are eating it and what do they think and
25:17only if it's really impressive and it
25:20makes customers gasp with me like wow
25:22this is awesome is that even allowed is
25:25that even really allowed for the meeting
25:26to be held
25:27that's how extreme you know all of the
25:31views and discipline and practices are
25:33Amazon is amazing so how can you improve
25:37from this yourself well when starting
25:40and growing your business ask yourself
25:42what are our founding principles and
25:44even for you if you're just yourself
25:46right now and you don't have a team and
25:48you haven't even started a business well
25:51you know what are your founding
25:52principles as a person what are you
25:55going you know what are the rules that
25:56you're going to operate by and what you
25:59want to do is if you've got a if you've
26:02got a business and a team and and what
26:03not a culture you want to constantly
26:05step back and observe the business
26:08you've grown to see how the culture is
26:10morphing and taking shape and if it's
26:12evolving along a trajectory that you see
26:14is troublesome or boring step in and
26:17make the necessary changes so that it
26:18doesn't go too far and culture is
26:21extremely important because you can't be
26:23there to observe all of your employees
26:25all hours of the day and you know like
26:28Amazon is like 300 or 400 thousand
26:31employees right I've got like 50
26:34and I I don't know what a lot of the
26:37names are because you know it's it's
26:39constantly moving people like people
26:41more people are coming every day it's
26:43hard to like be close friends and
26:45understand everyone at the number 50
26:47even with the number 20 imagine having
26:49300 thousand there's no way so how are
26:53you going to oversee them how are you
26:55going to trust that that they know what
26:56to do and they know what decisions to
26:58make you can't you cannot be there you
27:01cannot discipline or police people to do
27:02that and so that's why you need to trust
27:06them to make the right decisions
27:08themselves and that's that only comes
27:10with a great culture that's like you
27:13know a great cult-like culture like a
27:15religion because then people know the
27:18principles they need to follow so that
27:20they operate the right way that's the
27:22only way to really implement like mass
27:26control and make sure that most people
27:29are doing exactly what's best for
27:31customers and therefore best for the
27:33Amazon all right now let's talk about
27:38number five the Darwinian reality of
27:42surviving in nature so in nature if some
27:48bugs have brown shells sorry hold on a
27:51sec so in nature if some bugs have brown
27:54shells and others have green shells and
27:56a bird that eats bugs has a preference
27:59for green shells the bird will eat the
28:02sorry this is a little mistake the bird
28:04will eat the green bugs and they will
28:08eventually become extinct while the
28:11brown bugs live on all right because if
28:14there's an environment and there is you
28:18know brown and green bugs the bird just
28:19constantly keeps eating the green ones
28:22will you know they're going to be taken
28:25out that's what happens that's the
28:27reality of it and this is what Charles
28:30Darwin observed in nature when he came
28:32up with his theory of evolution and
28:34natural selection and to summarize it in
28:38a quick little point I mean natural
28:40selection is the process whereby
28:42organisms better adapted to their
28:44environment tend to survive and produce
28:47more
28:47offspring and you're probably wondering
28:50how the hell did I get into talking
28:52about bugs well
28:55Darwin's theory applies directly to
28:58business - and businesses compete
29:01against each other for resources within
29:03ecosystems within markets within niches
29:05within the economy and then within the
29:07world and they must adapt and change so
29:10that they can survive in the ever in the
29:12ever-changing environment and if they
29:15can't they will be wiped out and they
29:16will become extent and this is what this
29:19is what Darwin calls survival of the
29:21fittest and I'll give you some examples
29:24just to really see me at this point so
29:27I'm sure you remember video stores and
29:28CD stores like Blockbuster and whatever
29:31well you'll probably remember going to
29:34them to rent movies I remember doing it
29:37and even to buy CDs and you know you'd
29:41go there check out the CD buy it bring
29:44it home listen to it write that that was
29:45how it worked but very quickly they
29:47became extinct when online streaming
29:50became available and this change in the
29:53environment caused an apocalypse where
29:56the business is who failed to adapt to
29:59change got wiped out in a new species of
30:02business reigns supreme so we saw you
30:06know here that the apex predator in this
30:09environment was really iTunes I mean
30:13that came in and just absolutely napalm
30:17all of the CD stores the video stores
30:20and everything and then we've got
30:22companies like Netflix Spotify and stuff
30:24they came in they were better adapted to
30:27the environment they took over now it's
30:31clear that Bezos has a solid
30:34understanding for Darwin's theory and he
30:37takes it to a level that I've never seen
30:39before in business and most businesses
30:42compete for resources within an
30:43ecosystem against each other they worry
30:46about their competitors right there's
30:48how most people run a business they're
30:50trying to fight off the competitors
30:52adapt to change better than their
30:54competitors so that they can win out
30:59and Bezos makes every single team at
31:04Amazon compete against each other
31:06for resources and really what he did is
31:09he created an ecosystem within an
31:11ecosystem and by doing this Bezos makes
31:14all the teams in all people at Amazon
31:17compete against each other without being
31:19shielded from the outside world like
31:21corporates tend to do and if a team at
31:25Amazon can't survive against if it can't
31:28fight its way against the other teams if
31:30there's other teams that are adapting
31:32faster and being more efficient then
31:35they're going to get all the resources
31:36and the ones that aren't efficient they
31:38just get cut it happens to people and it
31:40happens to teams and Bezos is relentless
31:42at doing it and if a team excels well it
31:47gets given the resources from the team
31:48that got cut so if there's ten teams and
31:52one of them is doing the best and the
31:55other nine aren't will instead most
31:58corporates what they'll do is they'll
32:00start looking at the nine that aren't
32:01and then though they'll say odd the team
32:04that is excelling sorry budgets limited
32:07to this and then they'll be evenly
32:09pulling the budget out totally different
32:11this is what I mean by most corporates
32:14kind of shielding their internal people
32:19and their internal teams against the
32:21harsh environment you know they kind of
32:23shield them and and try and let people
32:27live in this in these delusions but at
32:30Amazon they've got to fight it out and
32:33if they can't Excel they'll get cut in
32:35the resources from the cut ones will be
32:37given to the top ones and so this is
32:40amazing this is like one of the most
32:41intelligent things we've seen and then
32:46by doing this Bezos has been able to
32:49accelerate the timeclock of innovation
32:51at Amazon so that it's constantly ahead
32:53of the market because the internal
32:55ecosystem is far more challenging than
32:57the actual ecosystem itself so you know
33:01most companies worry about being able to
33:03compete with the outside competitors and
33:04all that well people at Amazon worry
33:07about competing against people at Amazon
33:09and so if they can win the
33:12the survival of the fittest race within
33:14Amazon then chances are Amazon as a
33:16whole is going to kick everyone's ass in
33:18the fight for survival of the fittest
33:21and that's how he's been able to have
33:24such a huge company you know usually
33:26when companies get that big they get all
33:28slow and sluggish and corporate like but
33:31not with Amazon it's a beast it's huge
33:34but it has the agility and the
33:36savageness of is like a three-man
33:38startup so how can you improve from this
33:41well first of all if you're not familiar
33:43with the Darwin's theory of the
33:45evolution ice trolling I strongly
33:48recommend you dive into it headfirst
33:49because you know you want to learn about
33:51this because it's true in nature it's a
33:54fascinating thing to learn about
33:55yourself and about the world but more
33:58than that all of Darwin's observations
34:01about nature are still true today and
34:02they draw parallels in the world of
34:04business too and in life and business
34:07you want to constantly think how is the
34:09market changing and what traits are
34:12favored for survival in the ecosystem
34:14now and what traits are likely to be
34:17favored for survival in the future and
34:19by constantly thinking like this you
34:23will notice when your business needs to
34:24adapt to change and when you get good at
34:27it
34:28you'll see what's coming ahead of time
34:30allowing you to constantly be ahead of
34:32the curve
34:32you know most companies don't see the
34:35writing on the wall until it's too late
34:36and they're wiped out and extent that's
34:39because they don't understand this you
34:42know it's it's a very powerful business
34:44lesson to learn and you know what Amazon
34:48they they're able to see the writing on
34:51the wall before anyone else because of
34:53how they adapt to change and because of
34:55how they really you know really what
34:56Bezos does is he simulates a Darwinian
35:00really out a Darwinian reality within
35:02Amazon which is fascinating and that's
35:07pretty much it that's pretty much my
35:08five biggest takeaways from breeding
35:11Bezos as leaders to shareholders now I
35:13highly recommend that you download the
35:16leaders in full which you can do at the
35:18top of this PDF here or the link beneath
35:20this video in the blog post
35:23and read them in full take lots of notes
35:26you're going to learn a ton you know
35:28these are my five takeaways but there's
35:31obviously a lot more to learn and now
35:34what I want you to do is if you're
35:37watching this video anywhere else other
35:38than my blog we'll head over to
35:40consulting comm and that's where more
35:43videos like this are and that's where
35:45you'll be able to find the transcript
35:47from this video the mp3 and also you'll
35:50be able to find all of these resources
35:51and downloads so consulting.com go over
35:54there and if you liked this video click
35:57the like button share it with your
35:58friends whatever and then leave me
36:00something in the comment section you
36:03know I'm gonna check all of the comments
36:04myself personally so you know leave me
36:06something in the comments let me know
36:08what you thought and then if you're
36:11interested in starting and growing your
36:13own business quickly well I recommend
36:15you check out this free webinar which
36:18I've got running here and I've left a
36:20link in the bottom of this PDF here what
36:22you can click and register for a free
36:24webinar we're going to talk more about
36:25how to study business so that's it for
36:28this video thanks for watching and I'll
36:29see you in the next one soon