在那樣的年紀,我會找任何借口做些估測或者小算術(shù)。我會計算油耗還有雜貨花銷等雞毛蒜皮的小事。我聽過一個有關(guān)吸煙的廣告。我記不得細節(jié)了,但是廣告大意是說,每吸一口香煙會減少幾分鐘的壽命,大概是兩分鐘。無論如何,我決定為祖母做個算術(shù)。我估測了祖母每天要吸幾支香煙,每支香煙要吸幾口等等,然后心滿意足地得出了一個合理的數(shù)字。接著,我捅了捅坐在前面的祖母的頭,又拍了拍她的肩膀,然后驕傲地宣稱,"每天吸兩分鐘的煙,你就少活九年!"
在我還是一個孩子的時候,我的夏天總是在德州祖父母的農(nóng)場中度過。我?guī)兔π蘩盹L車,為牛接種疫苗,也做其它家務(wù)。每天下午,我們都會看肥皂劇,尤其是《我們的歲月》。我的祖父母參加了一個房車俱樂部,那是一群駕駛Airstream拖掛型房車的人們,他們結(jié)伴遍游美國和加拿大。每隔幾個夏天,我也會加入他們。我們把房車掛在祖父的小汽車后面,然后加入300余名Airstream探險者們組成的浩蕩隊伍。我愛我的祖父母,我崇敬他們,也真心期盼這些旅程。那是一次我大概十歲時的旅行,我照例坐在后座的長椅上,祖父開著車,祖母坐在他旁邊,吸著煙。我討厭煙味。
Cleverness is a gift, kindness is a choice.
There are two kinds of companies, those that work to try to charge more and those that work to charge less. We will be the second.
In the old world, you devoted 30% of your time to building a great service and 70% of your time to shouting about it. In the new world, that inverts.
If you're not stubborn, you'll give up on experiments too soon. And if you're not flexible, you'll pound your head against the wall and you won't see a different solution to a problem you're trying to solve.
All businesses need to be young forever. If your customer base ages with you, you're Woolworth's.
We've had three big ideas at Amazon that we've stuck with for 18 years, and they're the reason we're successful:Put the customer first. Invent. And be patient.
The one thing that offends me the most is when I walk by a bank and see ads trying to convince people to take out second mortgages on their home so they can go on vacation. That's approaching evil.
Life's too short to hang out with people who aren't resourceful.
I strongly believe that missionaries make better products. They care more. For a missionary, it's not just about the business. There has to be a business, and the business has to make sense, but that's not why you do it. You do it because you have something meaningful that motivates you.
If you never want to be criticized, for goodness' sake don't do anything new.
There'll always be serendipity involved in discovery.