Here’s this week’s 200 word idea from The Everything Store by Brad Stone…
While Apple relied on its inspirational founder to relentlessly disrupt industries and cannibalize its own profits, Jeff Bezos characteristically followed a book. Clayton Christensen’s book – “The Innovator’s Dilemma” – pointed out that companies who successfully disrupted themselves created separate autonomous entities and staffed some of their best people to lead the venture.
After watching Steve Jobs disrupt music, Bezos realized that he had to do the same for books. Just as Jobs, a die-hard music lover, had an understanding of music, Bezos understood books and knew the future would be carrying digital libraries in one hand.
So, in 2004, Bezos pulled out Steve Kessel, who was heading Books (one of Amazon’s most coveted divisions) and placed him as Head of Digital – a new department. Under Kessel’s watch, Amazon started a separate company in the San Francisco Bay Area- Lab 126 – which consisted of a small group of hardware hackers who were tasked to disrupt Amazon. After a few initial proposals and ideas, they began working on an e-reader that would revolutionize the industry. The result was “The Kindle.”
Source and thanks to: Amazon.com
‘If you’re competitor-focused, you have to wait until there is a competitor doing something. Being customer-focused allows you to be more pioneering.’ | Jeff Bezos
A Learning a Day 