Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon by Colin BryarMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Hooter: A senior leadership insight into the Amazonian way of success from a culture and best practices perspective
For two senior leaders of Amazon who saw it all happen up close next to Jeff provides for interesting insights into how Amazon tackled everyday challenges in their way right from growing problems that any start up would face - how do you keep culture consistent when you scale up and senior most leadership loses the direct touch into all day to day aspects. There is background to the things that worked and didnt work and how some of the gospels of Amazon's business practices were work in progress and transformed over the years and not overnight brainwaves that revolutionised their world. It goes back to the adage of success is to do ordinary things in an extraordinary way. The emphasis on client focus, working backwards, the PR-FAQ, the bar raiser , the narrative are all concepts under different names are becoming industry standards and the history of how they evolved make for an interesting insight.
Amazonians probably have this part of drinking their own kool-aid but this makes for good reading for people in leadership roles to understand the thought process behind some of the practices that they could leverage in their organisations beyond the frameworks that are now common place. Very practical a setup with some case studies about AWS, Kindle, Prime as some game changer innovations in their own right.
Single threaded leadership made for a good read - the best way to fail at inventing something is to make it someone's part time job. A rich mix of business insights with real life anecdotes making it for a smooth reading as a business book.
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