Radical Outcomes

13Activate Radical Outcomes

We've had three big ideas at Amazon that we've stuck with for 18 years and they're the reason we're successful: Put the customer first. Invent. And be patient.

—Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon

“Heads up, Olivia.” The stage manager stuck his head around the door to the green room. “10 minutes. Need anything?”

“All set, thanks,” replied Olivia, taking a swig of water from the bottle on the table. She checked herself in the mirror for what seemed to be the hundredth time, then walked the perimeter of the room, which had several couches at one end, and dressing tables with lighted mirrors on the other. One of the couches had an end table on each side, and Olivia stopped at one of the end tables to look at a printed booklet that had been left behind, perhaps by a speaker who'd occupied this same room the night before. Or a musician? She picked up the booklet, thumbed through it, and smiled. The cover of the booklet showed a group of musicians floating in what appeared to be a zero‐gravity chamber. She'd heard of this group – more like performance art, the musicians would produce crazy videos that seemed impossible to make. “Cool,” she murmured, thinking what a great example it would be to reference in her speech.

She crossed back to the dressing table side of the room and looked at a collection of papers – slide printouts, with slick photographs and brief, elegant‐looking text – all stuck to the wall in a sequence. Okay, let's just go through the flow ...