In the 90s, Jeff Bezos hoped his employees would wake up on the wrong side of the bed – for the greater good, or at the very least for the customer.
Today marks the anniversary of the former online bookstore going public in 1997 with an initial IPO price of $18 per share, almost immediately catapulting Bezos to millionaire status. NOW, Amazon actions cost $185.99 each at market close, Bezos is worth more than 200 billion dollarsand the company sells almost everything under the sun (including, but not limited to, books).
A quarter of a century ago, in 1999, when Bezos was CEO, he revealed his emerging strategy of hard-nosed leadership with CNET’s Wendy Walsh. Two years after Amazon went public, Bezos was already a billionaire, sharing his perspective on what built his booming e-commerce business. Praising his employees for being “the hardest-working, most talented, most passionate, most customer-focused group of people,” Bezos really hammered home the customer service part.
Going further than guaranteed satisfaction, he apparently suggested that if workers don’t wake up in abject fear of disturbing their customers, they’re doing it wrong. “I asked everyone here to wake up terrified every morning, their sheets drenched in sweat,” he said. The stated goal was not to dehydrate staff in Silicon Valley offices, but to ensure that no one rests on their laurels.
Of course, he implored employees to “be very specific about what scares them,” instead of waking up in wet sheets for, presumably, fun.
“They should not be afraid of our competitors; they should be afraid of our customers because these are the people we have relationships with,” Bezos said. “These are the people who send us money,” he added.
In the interview, Bezos noted that things could always change on a moment’s notice for Amazon.com. Acknowledging that the company was not yet sustainable, it could “still lose our entire opportunity to write this little piece of history” if it did not “obsessively focus on the customer.”
Bezos’ fixation on his clients is reminiscent of an unrequited crush, fueled by the knowledge of the other playing hardball or being temperamental. “I believe our customers are loyal to us until the second someone else offers them better service,” he said. Even current Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has spoken out about Bezos’ demands on his workers.
“Looking at Jeff, I’ve never seen anyone with higher standards,” Jassy told The wealth World Economic Forum in Davos this year.
This customer esteem seems to come with a price, or at least some controversy. Some workers have called Bezos and Amazon over difficult conditions. Bezos’ mindset has since come under fire as his business and net worth have grown. In 2015THE New York Times published an explosive report on Amazon’s high standards, which sometimes included working past midnight, a tense company culture and simply a lack of work-life balance in the name of high pay and belief in the mission.
Years later, in 2023, three Amazon drivers filed a class-action lawsuit against the company, claiming they experienced “inhumane conditions” and were unable to stop work to use the bathroom. Problems persist in warehouses, as the US Department of Labor announced in the same year that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration found workers were exposed to unsafe conditions.
“They’re more concerned about profit,” said Michael Verrastro, a former Amazon warehouse worker. The Guardian regarding employee safety.
In Bezos’ words, they care about the customer.
Amazon did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
