During the July 4th weekend of 1994, while riding in a 1988 Chevy Blazer with his wife at the wheel, a computer engineer named Jeff Bezos laid the groundwork for a retail revolution. Back then, the Internet was an insider's tool, largely limited to government and academic circles. But after months of careful observation of its usage, Bezos envisioned a dramatic expansion of this network, one that would bring it into the daily lives of ordinary people. In the car, he sketched out a business plan for a project that would realize his vision: the Internet, he understood, could boost the efficiency of mail-order businesses, starting with books.

In a risky move, Bezos and his wife, Mackenzie, left lucrative jobs in New York's financial sector to build an Internet-based bookseller based in Seattle. They called it “Amazon,” after the interminable South American river and its many branches. After a few months of testing and without any advertising, the company started racking up $20,000 weekly in sales. In just a few years Amazon was worth billions. Bezos forever changed how people purchase goods and made a lasting impact on the business world.

3 Comments

1. 1. stanislavf 04:08 PM 6/7/12

   It is very hard for me to give this article any credence, when it starts out so innacurrately on the interpretation of both Bezos and the Internet.
   
   This is somehow equating BUSINESS success with creativity. Bezos was not successful because of his vision as to the Internet and how to do shopping. He was successful because his genius was convincing investors to accept a long term strategy in profitability and a growth versus profit strategy. Size mattered. Amazon was not profitable, in the sense of TOTAL money spent versus total money brought in, until VERY recently (approximately 4 to 5 years ago). His genius was in persuading investors to wait and pay too much for the stock (too much in traditional thinking terms, too much in similar ways that people paid too much for Facebook).
   
   The concept of online and selling books was NOT invented by Bezos. In fact, using the Bezos story as a metaphor the analysis should have been that for every BUSINESS success there are 100 people who had the idea before him, the creative part, but screwed up the business side. Even companies that had great ideas screw up the implementation from a business and marketing perspective.
   
   Microsoft had many people working on interactive television in 1992. Fundamentally, from the "creative" technology perspective it was Netflix, way before Netflix (disclaimer, I was in that group at Microsoft and I have worked at Amazon). Really, the Bezos type of creative genius is more of an "engineering" (I might quibble as to whether Bezos was ever a practicing computer engineer, but that is a side note). Engineering is taking the existing pieces and assembling them together. The real creativing is done before, and the business engineer, with the power of persuasion is the one who wins.
   
   This takes nothing away from the genius of Bezos, but it is not the creativity this article implies. He is ruthless when necessary and learned business persuasion and power from his roots in Wall Street. I hesitate to call this creativity as we know it, or it is very, very focused. His is the creativity of assembly, not the creativity of basic creation.
   
   Finally, I question whether Bezos has ongoing creativity or had one great business concept. Amazon is learning to deal with multiple customers now, where a customer is also their former competitor and/or business partner. The concept of treating your "customer" as king is falling apart for Amazon in this scenario. You have two different customers at odds. Is Bezos creative enough to change.

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2. 2. gesimsek 05:15 PM 6/7/12

   The begining of creativity is to start thinking of humanity rather than our own selfish needs.

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3. 3. anumakonda 04:46 PM 7/15/12

   Good book on Creativity.
   Creativity is the generation of new ideas or new combinations of
   existing ideas
   E.PAUL TORRANCE
   
   Innovation:
   
   Is taking what exists and making it better.
   
   ROBERT ALAN BLACK
   
   • It is the tension between creativity and skepticism that has
   produced the stunning and unexpected findings of science.
   CARL SAGAN
   • It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be
   wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.
   EDWARD DE BONO
   
   • The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas.
   LINUS PAULING
   Creativity is needed at every level and every dimension within an organization.
   
   Creativity is the responsibility of each functional discipline, each team, each manager and each and every individual.
   
   "... Thomas Edison was more responsible than any one else for creating the modern world .... No one did more too shape the physical/cultural makeup of present day Civilization....Accordingly, he was the most influential figure of the millennium...."
   
   The Heroes Of The Age: Electricity And Man
   
   What Made Edison Innovative?
   
   • 1093 Patents
   
   • Last at age 83 – never stopped
   
   • Perseverance – over 1000 tries for light bulb
   
   • Understood where ideas come from!
   
   A good idea is never lost. Even though its originator or possessor may die without publicizing it, it will someday be reborn in the mind of another....
   
   Results? Why, man, I have gotten lots of results! If I find 10,000 ways something won't work, I haven't failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is often a step forward....
   Surprises and reverses can serve as an incentive for great accomplishment. There are no rules here, we're just trying to accomplish something.
   
   While the elements of innovation are stepping stones in the innovative process, innovation is incomplete without forethought.
   
   DISCOVER INNOVATION
   
   Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore(AP),India
   E-mail: anumakonda.jagadeesh@gmail.com
   

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