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A few key insights from Chapter 1:

When Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, started his company, it was so small that he was able to be with his employees every step of the way. He was guiding them into following his leadership principles, monitoring every decision they had to make.

In 2004, when the company had grown far beyond its initial size, Robin Andrulevich from human resources began compiling a list of Amazon’s most important leadership principles. She interviewed the most valuable and successful leaders the company had, and ended up compiling 14 principles.

The first principle is Customer Obsession: leaders must cater everything to the customers’ needs, thus earning their trust. The next principle is Ownership: leaders are able to treat the company as their own, working towards long-term success.

Invent and Simplify is the third principle. Leaders are open to inventions instead of rejecting them, and they simplify their ideas for accessibility. The fourth principle, Are Right, A Lot, is a reminder that leaders are usually the ones who are right because they have exceptional instincts.