![]() But as a company experiences growth, they also tend to become more complex. It’s much easier in a dynamic start-up environment-there are fewer layers of communication and corporate hierarchy to navigate. But you also need to be able to make those decisions quickly and at scale. All companies strive to make high quality decisions. The other 10% comes from being close enough to customers that we can invent on their behalf when they don’t, or can’t, articulate those needs.Ī critical aspect of maintaining a Day 1 culture is how a company approaches decision-making as it grows. “Yesterday’s ‘wow’ quickly becomes today’s ‘ordinary.’ ” Customers can provide endless ideas and inspiration to innovate, and their needs and desires will drive you to invent on their behalf.Īs an example, at AWS, around 90% of the features developed come directly from hearing about what our customers need. “One thing I love about customers is that they are divinely discontent,” Bezos wrote in his 2017 Letter to Shareholders. By digging into their experiences and frustrations and deeply understanding the context behind them, we avoid inventing in isolation, or producing a solution in search of a customer. We start with the customer and work backwards from their needs. Although leaders pay attention to competitors, they obsess over customers.” “They work vigorously to earn and keep customer trust. “Leaders start with the customer and work backwards,” it states. While there is no official order or hierarchy to them, it is also no coincidence that the first Leadership Principle is Customer Obsession. For us, the most important one-the bedrock upon which Amazon’s culture rests-is customer obsession.Īmazon has 16 Leadership Principles that we use to guide our actions and the decisions we make every day. There are many aspects of maintaining an agile, Day 1 start-up mentality. While we do not believe Amazon’s approach is the only or best one, many of our customers ask us to share the lessons we’ve learned as we’ve grown, as well as some of the mechanisms we employ to ensure that it’s always Day 1 at Amazon. And that is why it is always Day 1.” To avoid Day 2 culture, a company must be hyper-vigilant, remained focused on its customers, and stave off practices that hamper its ability to rapidly innovate. Followed by excruciating, painful decline. ![]() When asked “What does Day 2 look like?” Bezos, in his 2016 Shareholder Letter, answered: “Day 2 is stasis. If left unchecked, a Day 2 mentality can manifest. This doesn’t happen overnight it can creep in gradually, and manifest in small ways which on their own are not immediately alarming, or even readily apparent. The danger is that as this happens, decision making can slow down, and the company can become less agile, moving further and further away from the customer as it rotates focus towards internal challenges rather than external customer-centric innovation. Contrast this to a “Day 2” mentality: as a company grows over time, it needs to adjust its approach to effectively manage the organization as it scales.
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