If you’re a die-hard Amazon fan, you might remember that the company started out as an online bookseller, and only later expanded into the behemoth online marketplace it has become since it was founded in 1994. Now the business not only sells a staggering amount of products, it also produces popular consumer electronics like the Kindle ereaders and Fire tablets. And if that wasn’t enough, it’s also offers one of the largest cloud infrastructure services, which has attracted the likes of Netflix and Instagram.
So what are the corporate values that have helped Amazon grow to what it is today in such a short time? Well, perhaps unsurprisingly, the first core value on Amazon’s list of leadership principles is “customer obsession.” According to Amazon, “leaders start with the customer and work backwards,” so while leaders are aware of competitors, they are always more interested and focused on the customer. After this customer-centric view, Amazon encourages ownership, simplicity, a sense of being right, strong hiring practices and high standards. As a company, Amazon also wants employees to think big, be decisive, stay frugal, foster trust and be able to admit when things need to change.
Amazon is one of the only companies that lists frugality as a core value and it also has a unique focus on staying detail-oriented. Meanwhile, it shares a desire to stay speedy with Google and, like Apple, Amazon focuses on simplicity, courage and ownership.