JEFF BEZOS

Jeff Bezos was born on January 24, 1964. He is an American engineer, technology, retail
entrepreneur, philanthropist, investor and last but not the list the founder, chairman & CEO of
Amazon.com. Because of his leadership qualities, skills and styles Amazon.com has become the
world’s largest online shopping retailer. Amazon.com first began its business as an internet
merchant of books and later it has expanded to a wide variety of products and services. When he
was a child, Jeff Bezos spent his summers by fixing windmills and repairing equipment in his
grandparent’s ranch in Texas. Today Bezos credits those summers repairing with ranch equipment
for his penchant for experimentation. Amazon.com went public in 1998. He sold over 1 million
shares of his online company, making him $532 million richer and the 5th richest man in the world
in 2015. As of 2017, Bezos is currently the third-richest person in the world having estimated net
worth of US$79.3 billion. He possesses many leadership qualities, skills, and styles that made him
one of the greatest & successful leaders in the world.

LEADERS STRATEGY
Prioritizing Customer Service: This is one of his unique quality of his leadership. According to
2012 Forbes article, Jeff Bezos is known for his empty chair tradition. When staff meetings held,
he pulls an extra chair into the conference room. that chair reminds him of a person who is a
customer. This quality helps him and his team to be conscious how the customer would feel and
react to their decision. According to Forbes, Amazon tracks its performance against about 500
measurable goals, and 80% of them are customer related.

Being a Little Crazy: Jeff Bezos is known for thinking outside the box, or re-shaping the box, or
throwing it away altogether. He has said, “Often times invention requires a long-term willingness
to be misunderstood.” According to him, crazy decisions lead to innovations which are often an
element of successful leadership.

Having a Small Group or Team: Bezos’ style of leadership is creating a team of ve to seven
members who are assertive and provide new ideas of their own instead of a large group. He came
up with the unique two-pizza rule, which is if the food served on a meeting exceeds two boxes of
pizza, this means there are too many people in the team. He prefers to stick with the two-pizza
rule.

Customers Should Come First: Bezos’ one of the best leadership style is to focus on the
customers rather than on his competitors. He pays his attention to customer satisfaction instead of
wasting his time to formulate plans to have leverage over other business. He sees customers as
invited guests to a party and it is his job to make every important aspect of the customer experience
a little bit better. To him, his target market comes rst and he has a public email where customers
can send their complaints directly to him.

Think Long Term: His another quality is to think long term. When Jeff Bezos started his
Amazon.com business, he had a long term thought of making this business great in the whole
world and he successfully succeeded. He made it possible because he knew the importance of the
internet at that time and he knew the internet will play vital roles in human lives.

Take Risks for Market Leadership: It took Amazon three times to get its business platform off
the ground. “Given a 10 percent chance of a 100-times payout, you should take that bet every
time,” Bezos wrote in his very first annual letter (1997). He also stated that “Failure and invention
are inseparable twins. To invent you have to experiment, and if you know in advance that it’s going
to work, it’s not an experiment.” From his bold decisions it is clear that even if they don’t work
out, you’ll learn something for the next time.
Make Employees Think like Owners: His other leadership skill is he can make employees think
themselves like owners. When Bezos wrote this in the first Amazon annual letter, Bezos had 614
employees. Now it has 230,000 employees. Bezos wrote in the 1997 letter, “We know our success
will be largely affected by our ability to attract and retain a motivated employee base, each of
whom must think like, and therefore must actually be, an owner.”

Three Big Ideas: Bezos another great quality of leadership personality is to stick up with three
big ideas at Amazon. The first idea is to put the customers first, then the second idea is to invent
and the third idea is to be patient. He is stuck with these ideas for almost 18 years.

His other leadership qualities and skills are:

• Have Perseverance and Resilience

• Always do Experiment
• Become an Inventor
• Give Customers an Option
• Know Your Passion and Wait for The Right Time
• Take on New & Unique Experiences
• Focus on Process, not Failure
• Build a culture that’s right for your company
• Base your strategy on things that won’t change
• Determine what your customers need, and work backward

LEADERSHIP STYLE OF JEFF BEZOS

If we look at his leadership styles, we will see his leadership styles are unconventional and unique.
His style of leadership includes Autocratic Leadership as he monitors everything on his own. He
also possesses Strategic Leadership by which he delivers special and unique strategies that make
his organization successful. Team leadership style also being possessed by Jeff Bezos. With the
help of this style, he can set the future of his business and sets the direction and purpose as well.
Since he has lots of employees to work, he also possesses Cross-Cultural Leadership style. He also
possesses both Charismatic and Visionary leadership styles.
LEADERSHIP THEORIES
Leadership theories are schools of thought brought forward to explain how and why certain
individuals become leaders. The theories emphasize the traits and behaviors that individuals can
adopt to boost their own leadership abilities.

1. Great Man Theory

According to the Great Man Theory (which should perhaps be called the
Great Person Theory), leaders are born with just the right traits and abilities for leading –
charisma, intellect, confidence, communication skills, and social skills.
The theory suggests that the ability to lead is inherent – that the best leaders are born, not
made. It defines leaders as valiant, mythic, and ordained to rise to leadership when the
situation arises. The term “Great Man” was adopted at the time because leadership was
reserved for males, particularly in military leadership.
2. Trait Theory
The Trait Theory is very similar to the Great Man Theory. It is founded on the
characteristics of different leaders – both the successful and unsuccessful ones. The theory
is used to predict effective leadership. Usually, the identified characteristics are compared
to those of potential leaders to determine their likelihood of leading effectively.
Scholars researching the trait theory try to identify leadership characteristics from different
perspectives. They focus on the physiological attributes such as appearance, weight, and
height; demographics such as age, education, and familial background; and intelligence,
which encompasses decisiveness, judgment, and knowledge.
3. Contingency Theory
The Contingency Theory emphasizes different variables in a specific setting that determine
the style of leadership best suited for the said situation. It is founded on the principle that
no one leadership style is applicable to all situations.
Renowned leadership researchers Hodgson and White believe that the best form of
leadership is one that finds the perfect balance between behaviors, needs, and context.
Good leaders not only possess the right qualities but they’re also able to evaluate the needs
of their followers and the situation at hand. In summary, the contingency theory suggests
that great leadership is a combination of many key variables.
 4. Situational Theory
The Situational Theory is similar to the Contingency Theory as it also proposes that no one
leadership style supersedes others. As its name suggests, the theory implies that leadership
depends on the situation at hand. Put simply, leaders should always correspond their
leadership to the respective situation by assessing certain variables such as the type of task,
nature of followers, and more.
5. Behavioral Theory
In Behavioral Theory, the focus is on the specific behaviors and actions of leaders rather
than their traits or characteristics. The theory suggests that effective leadership is the result
of many learned skills.
Individuals need three primary skills to lead their followers – technical, human, and
conceptual skills. Technical skills refer to a leader’s knowledge of the process or technique;
human skills mean that one is able to interact with other individuals; while conceptual skills
enable the leader to come up with ideas for running the organization or society smoothly.

Conclusion
So, it is clear that Jeff Bezos has carved a name for himself as a business leader by creating
sustained growth in his organization. At the end of the day, Jeff Bezos will be remembered most
for his visionary and innovative leadership style. Bezos showed how leadership plays a vital role
in creating healthy and sustainable organization. “The best customer service is if the customer
doesn’t need to call you, doesn’t need to talk to you. It just works” – Jeff quoted.
 JAIN UNIVERSITY
CMS Business School
Batch 2018-20 -Semester 4

Subject – CORPORATE STRATEGY

Assignment No - 1
Submitted to – Dr Bidhi Kashyap
Section- CF2

Submitted by:
Students name: Registration No:

ASHUTOSH BEHERA 18MBAR0563