August 21: An interview with Jeff Wilke
A look at how failing big can lead to some of the greatest successes.
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7feaa372-df1a-457d-9bad-5c2b59be49a2_800x1326.jpeg)
Source: Wall Street Journal
Published: October 2017
An interview with Jeff Wilke
Question: Amazon encourages employees to fail big. Tell us about a big, fall-on-your-face failure.
Answer: When we were deciding whether to do Kindle, Jeff Bezos presented his idea to Amazon’s board of directors. I thought that we should not do it because we were a software company that did not know anything about hardware. At the time, Jeff Bezos said it is the right thing to do for customers. I disagreed and committed, and I’m very glad I did.
Question: What would you say to people who say that Amazon is too big?
Answer: I think there’s a big difference between horizontally breadth and vertical depth. Across our businesses we face incredible competition. We think our job is to keep inventing for customers.
How he works:
How many unread emails are in your inbox? Probably 70.
The one trait you look for in a hire is? Competence.
What is your favorite email list? Fact of the Day 1 (… okay we may have added this one. #aspirational)
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Did you enjoy the fact today?