Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos briefly claimed the “Richest Person on Earth” title at the end of July before Bill Gates reclaimed it back again as Amazon’s stocks fell. Bezos is known to have an energetic personality and he isn’t afraid to take risks. Under his leadership, Amazon currently dominates the cloud market and is also one of the world’s most successful online retailers.
But who is Jeff Bezos behind his public persona? Here are some unknown facts regarding the Amazon CEO:
1. Amazon customers can email him directly in case of a problem
While most CEOs leave customer queries to their staff, Jeff is so much concerned about customer satisfaction that he lets them email him directly if there is a problem. He simply forwards the email to the relevant person with “?” and then they have to explain why the problem was there in the first place.
2. He has appeared in “Fifty Great Leaders of the World” for three straight years
Jeff Bezos has appeared consistently in Fortune’s “Fifty Great Leaders of the World” list for three years in a row. He was also listed as “Businessperson of the Year” in 2012 by the same magazine.
3. His current home was previously a museum
You ain’t a billionaire if you don’t have a huge mansion! Jeff’s current home in Medina Washington was previously a textile museum and it is now worth over $25 million.
4. He’s a huge fan of Star Trek
The Amazon CEO is a huge fan of Star Trek and he even said that Alexa, the company built AI virtual assistant was inspired from the movie. He also considered renaming Amazon to MakeItSo.com after Next Generation’s Captain Picard’s catchphrase.
5. He has a “Two Pizza Rule” for Meetings
If you notice that an average meeting has more members than it should have, then you aren’t the only one. Jeff believes that meetings should have smaller groups and he has a rule for it. Basically, if two pizzas are enough to feed the members of the meeting then it is too big. There should be fewer members so that even the shy persons in the team can have their input in the discussion.
6. He has banned PowerPoint presentations in his office
In order to encourage critical thinking, Jeff has banned PowerPoint in his office. His staff has to submit six-page proposals instead. If you are interested in getting a job at Amazon, work on your writing skills.
7. He has donated $45 million to various philanthropic projects
Bezos Expeditions has donated around $20 million in various education projects including the research of neural circuit dynamics at Princeton University and a center for innovation in Seattle. He has also donated $25 million for research to combat cancer at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
8. He is the owner of The Washington Post
Aside from Amazon and several other ventures, Jeff is also the owner of The Washington Post. He acquired the publisher in 2013 in $250 million deal.
9. He is a fierce competitor
The Amazon CEO isn’t afraid of taking risks when it comes to taking out competition. He put up ground-breaking discounts in order to compete with Quidsi, an e-commerce platform, and later on, that company was acquired as their profits fell.
10. He gets at least 8 hours of sleep
Unlike CEOs who work late nights to make their companies successful, Jeff makes no such compromise and always tries to get at least 8 hours of sleep. He also needs no alarm clock to wake up early in the morning.
