The Gazelle Project. That’s what Amazon called its initiative to cajole book publishers into giving them better deals. According to The New Yorker, CEO Jeff Bezos said “that Amazon should approach these small publishers the way a cheetah would pursue a sickly gazelle.”
A cheetah can sprint 70 miles per hour, accelerating faster than a Ferrari Enzo. Bezos’s company moves at a similar clip. Amazon has grown at breakneck speed over the past decade and brought in nearly $75 billion last year, thanks to the unconventional, daresay ruthless style of its chief executive. Here are five strategies that Bezos used to build the Amazon empire.
1. Be like the Godfather: Make them an offer they can’t refuse.
2. Don’t give up information unless absolutely necessary.
3. Keep teams small enough that members can be fed with two pizzas.
4. Stop talking so much.
5. Get adversarial.
