How Amazon’s flywheel sped fulfillment from 18 to 2 hours
In Andy Jassy’s first letter to Amazon shareholders, he writes that it took 18 hours to get an order through fulfillment in the early 2000s. By 2022, the same process took only 2 hours. He explains how the company made such incredible improvements: “Going back to the pandemic, there’s no way we could have started […]
by Bill Carr
The 3 Cs test for clear, concise, consistent strategy
A great corporate strategy must meet the “3 Cs test”. It must be Clear, Concise, and Consistent. Over the past 11 years, I have met with and advised CXOs at dozens of companies across a wide spectrum of industries, development stages, and geographies. One of the most noteworthy differences is how they establish their strategic […]
by Bill Carr
From ironing shirts to earning sales: a lesson in ownership
I am preparing for a keynote speech tomorrow and found myself reflecting on my early career while ironing my shirt in my hotel room. This moment took me back to the 80s and early 90s when, like many, I wore a suit and tie to work every day. Back then, I couldn’t afford to dry […]
by Bill Carr
Align operating plans with strategy for lasting impact
In 2001, Jeff Bezos drew the Amazon flywheel. This graphic gave us the “winning strategy” for the next 20+ years. But the “winning strategy” does not automatically translate into operational success. This is where the true work begins. I wrote a post last week about finding the right strategy and how the Amazon S-Team did […]
by Bill Carr
How readers drive decisions in Amazon narrative reviews
Once a 6-page narrative has been written on Amazon, the bulk of the responsibility shifts to the document’s readers. These readers are not passive recipients; they are decision-makers, stakeholders, builders, and owners of what happens next. The role of the readers is to extract insights, identify gaps, challenge logic, propose next steps, and help the […]
by Bill Carr
Principles for Operational Decision-Making at Scale
One of the ways that Jeff and the S-Team instilled operational excellence at Amazon was through disciplined, data-based decision-making. Most CXOs don’t have a method to ensure their organizations make high-quality decisions. Below is my take on a set of principles and processes to operationalize good decision-making: 1. Timely – “Last Responsible Moment” (LRM): The […]
by Bill Carr
Amazon S-Team: execution-focused goal review process
Many people are surprised that the Amazon S-Team does not spend their meetings talking about big picture or high-level strategy issues. Jeff Bezos explained exactly why this is the case: “We’ve already done the hard work of identifying what we need to do for the year in our annual planning process. Our job as the […]
by Bill Carr
Focus on inputs, not stock price for long-term growth
About once a year, Jeff Bezos would spend a few minutes discussing Amazon’s stock price with the entire company at one of our quarterly All-Hands Meetings. It went something like this: “You may have all noticed that our stock price has gone up about 30% over the last month. While this is great, I would […]
by Bill Carr
Disagree and commit: when to speak up and support decisions
“Disagree and commit” is Amazon’s most misunderstood and misused Leadership Principle, both within and outside the company. Let’s break this down phrase by phrase. First, here is the complete description of the principle: “Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit Leaders are obligated to respectfully challenge decisions when they disagree, even when doing so is uncomfortable or […]
by Bill Carr
How executives should structure a recurring calendar
How executives spend their time is an underrated concept. People talk about time management, but they think about it on a day-to-day or even week-to-week basis when they should consider it comprehensively. As an executive at Amazon, I learned how to set my schedule of recurring and one-off meetings on a weekly, monthly, quarterly, and […]
by Bill Carr