What does the heart tell you? The question asked by Jeff Bezos, founder and president of Amazon and, according to Forbes, the richest man in the world, the basis for making decisions in life.
Following a path
It is what he himself raised 25 years ago when he decided to give up the security of a good and very well paid job to follow the path that instinct marked him.
He left his job at a Wall Street investment bank, crossed the whole country and from the garage of his parents’ house in Seattle he founded Amazon.
In an emotional speech before the graduates of 2010 in Princeton, his alma mater, Bezos gave the keys that explain how was that process that led to the creation of what is now the largest e-commerce company in the world.
When success knocks the door
The founder and president of Amazon reached in 2018 the select group of those who have more than US $ 100,000 million. Since then, said the businessman, has not lost sight of the importance of giving priority to the choices we make over the talents that are given to us.
Born in New Mexico in 1964, Bezos was a good student who, like many of his friends and colleagues, made his debut in the workplace working in a McDonald’s.
Graduated with honors in computer science and electrical engineering from Princeton University (New Jersey), Bezos only needed eight years to become vice president of D.E. Shaw & Co., the Wall Street investment bank where he worked when he decided to turn his life around.
In his hands fell a report that said the Internet was growing at a rate of 2,300% a year. “I had not seen or heard anything like it, and the idea of founding an online bookstore with millions of titles, something that could not exist in the physical world, was very exciting for me”, said Bezos.
A dream about to begin
Bezos received a loan of US $ 300,000 from his parents to start his dream. The entrepreneur was then 30 years old.
“I was not going to regret trying something and failing, but I would be haunted by the decision not to try. I took the less safe path to follow my passion. And I’m proud of that choice”.
Time has shown that Bezos was successful with this bet, it has diversified its business and it has spread to other industries beyond the sale of online books.
Today, Amazon controls 42% of the paper book market, 88.9% of the electronic book market, and half of all online sales in the US.
Talent and choice, in this case, proved to be more useful when they go hand in hand.
Also published on Medium.