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Working Backwards

Insights, Stories and Secrets from Inside Amazon

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Working Backwards

By: Colin Bryar, Bill Carr
Narrated by: Bill Carr, Colin Bryar, Robert Petkoff
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About this listen

Working Backwards gives an insider's account of Amazon's approach to culture, leadership, and best practices from two long-time, top-level Amazon executives.

In 2018 Amazon became the world’s second trillion dollar company after Apple: a remarkable success story for a company launched out of a garage in 1994. How did they achieve this? And how can others learn from this extraordinary success and replicate it?

Colin started at Amazon in 1998; Bill joined in 1999. Their time at Amazon covered a period of unmatched innovation that brought products and services including Kindle, Amazon Prime, Amazon Echo and Alexa, and Amazon Web Services to life. Through the story of these innovations they reveal and codify the principles and practices that have driven the success of one of the most extraordinary companies the world has ever known, from the famous 14-leadership principles, the bar raiser hiring process, and Amazon’s founding characteristics: customer obsession, long-term thinking, eagerness to invent, and operational excellence.

Through their wealth of experience they offer unprecedented access to the Amazon way as it was refined, articulated and proven to be repeatable, scalable and adaptable. Working Backwards shows how success is not achieved by the genius of any single leader, but rather through commitment to and execution of a set of well-defined, rigorously executed principles and practices that you can apply at your own company, no matter the size.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2021 Colin Bryar and Bill Carr (P)2021 Macmillan Audio
Economics Investing & Trading Workplace & Organisational Behavior Workplace Culture Business Success Inspiring Innovation Management Leadership

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Critic reviews

"Essential for any leader in any industry." (Kim Scott, best-selling author of Radical Candor)

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Lot's of interesting insights and valuable lessons. Much easier to work on the long term goals if you have deep pockets.

Well worth reading

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I really recommend this as a business book. This was the first non-fiction book I was able to finish. The narrative is really good and makes for an easy but informative listen.

A surprisingly easy listen

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Thin on detail, but states it is an overview. Still interesting book to listen to.

Interesting

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Great book and narration of Amazon ways of working and working backwards with the customer experience at the centre of everything

Amazing book on Amazon thought process

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Amazon is one of the most admired and also misunderstood companies. Hearing from senior executives as two co-authors (Bill & Colin) how many strategy & product decisions were made are remarkable case studies on decision making and operational excellence.

Outstanding and very useful

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