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Advice from Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk.

Wisdom from great entrepreneurs and two of the richest people in the world: Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk.   

Greater Detail, Expanded from Above:

Wisdom from Jeff Bezos

1. Focus on the Long Term

  • Bezos is famous for emphasizing long-term thinking. He advises businesses to avoid focusing solely on short-term gains and instead prioritize decisions that will pay off in the future.

2. Be Customer-Obsessed

  • Bezos believes that customers are the most important stakeholder. His philosophy is to always listen to customer feedback and focus on improving the customer experience.

3. Take Bold Risks

  • Bezos encourages taking risks and embracing failure as part of innovation. He believes that companies should experiment frequently and push boundaries, even if it means failing occasionally.

4. Innovate on Behalf of Customers

  • Rather than relying solely on customer feedback, Bezos suggests that companies should invent and innovate for their customers, even if customers don’t know they need it yet (like Amazon’s Kindle or Alexa).

5. Maintain a Day 1 Mentality

  • Bezos often speaks about the “Day 1” mindset, which means acting as if your company is still in its early stages—energetic, adaptable, and hungry for growth. He warns against the complacency of “Day 2,” which leads to stagnation.

6. Hire the Best Talent

  • Bezos advises hiring people who are not only skilled but also raise the bar for the company’s culture and performance. He believes in surrounding himself with talented individuals who bring something new to the table.

7. Be Stubborn on Vision, Flexible on Details

  • While it’s important to stick to a bold vision, Bezos stresses the importance of being flexible in the way you achieve it. He often adapts strategies while remaining focused on his long-term vision.

8. Focus on What Will Never Change

  • Bezos suggests that businesses should focus on things that remain constant, like customers wanting lower prices, faster delivery, and better selection. Building around unchanging truths allows for long-term strategies.

9. Be Relentless and Resilient

  • Bezos encourages persistence, stating that challenges and setbacks are inevitable, but resilience and determination will allow you to overcome them and achieve long-term success.

10. Think Big

  • Bezos is known for thinking big and advises others to do the same. Whether it’s expanding into new markets or launching innovative products, he believes that being bold and thinking on a large scale can lead to breakthrough successes.

Wisdom from Elon Musk

1. Focus on Solving Big Problems

  • Musk advises focusing on meaningful problems that have a significant impact on humanity. His ventures like SpaceX and Tesla are centered around solving existential challenges, such as space exploration and transitioning to sustainable energy.

2. Work Super Hard

  • Musk is a big proponent of extreme work ethic. He often emphasizes the importance of putting in long hours to outwork competitors, famously saying, “Work like hell. If others are putting in 40 hours a week, you should be putting in 80 or 100.”

3. Take Risks While You’re Young

  • Musk encourages taking risks, especially when you’re young and have less to lose. He believes that this is the best time to start a business or try something ambitious, as you can recover from failures more easily.

4. Constantly Seek Feedback

  • Musk believes that continuously seeking critical feedback is key to improvement. He advises entrepreneurs to actively seek input from trusted sources and even harsh critics, as it can help refine ideas and avoid mistakes.

5. Think Big, Think Bold

  • Musk is known for his grand vision, from colonizing Mars to revolutionizing transportation. His advice is to think big and aim for bold goals that seem impossible, as this kind of vision can inspire others and lead to breakthrough innovations.

6. Embrace Failure and Learn from It

  • Musk advises not to fear failure but to embrace it as part of the learning process. He has experienced numerous setbacks with Tesla and SpaceX but has used them as learning opportunities to drive future success.

7. Pursue Your Passions

  • Musk stresses the importance of following your passions. He believes that passion is a key driver for motivation, perseverance, and creativity, and it’s essential to work on projects that you’re truly passionate about.

8. Focus on the Fundamentals

  • Musk advises going back to first principles thinking—breaking things down to the most basic truths and building up from there. Instead of copying existing solutions, this approach allows for innovative breakthroughs by rethinking problems from the ground up.

9. Surround Yourself with Great People

  • Musk believes that who you work with is crucial to success. He advises surrounding yourself with talented, driven individuals who share your vision and can contribute to achieving the company’s ambitious goals.

10. Don’t Be Afraid of the Unconventional

  • Musk encourages challenging conventional wisdom and thinking differently. He has often defied traditional industry norms, whether by developing reusable rockets or creating electric cars at a time when few believed in them.

Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk Quotes

  • “All businesses need to be young forever. If your customer base ages with you, you’re Woolworth’s.” ~Jeff Bezos
  • “The supply chain stuff is really tricky.” ~Elon Musk
  • “We need big failures in order to move the needle. If we don’t, we’re not swinging enough. You really should be swinging hard, and you will fail, but that’s okay.” ~Jeff Bezos
  • “What to do about mass unemployment? This is going to be a massive social challenge.  There will be fewer and fewer jobs that a robot cannot do better [than a human].  These are not things that I wish will happen.  These are simply things that I think probably will happen.” ~Elon Musk
  • “In the old world, you devoted 30% of your time to building a great service and 70% of your time to shouting about it. In the new world, that inverts.” ~Jeff Bezos
  • “Worth reading Superintelligence by Boston. We need to be super careful with AI. Potentially more dangerous than nukes.” ~Elon Musk
  • “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

Advice from Top CEOs

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