5 Takeaways From Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' Talk At Smbhav Bezos talked about various things such as his entrepreneurial journey, climate change and others at the event in India
By Tahira Noor Khan •
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In a fireside chat with Amazon India country head Amit Agarwal, founder and CEO of the world's largest online retail company, Jeff Bezos, spoke about various issues at Smbhav, a two-day event organized by Amazon India for small and medium businesses.
The billionaire also made the announcement that Amazon will invest $1 billion on small, medium businesses in India and will be exporting $10 billion worth of "Make in India' goods by 2025.
Here are the five most interesting aspects Bezos talked about.
1. 21st century will belong to India
Bezos claimed the 21st century is going to be the "Indian century" and that the most important alliance of the 21st century is going to be between the US and India. "It is going to be an alliance between the world's largest democracy (India) and the world's oldest democracy (India)," said Bezos.
2. Today's SMBs can be tomorrow's Amazon
Bezos claimed that when he started 25 years ago, he never thought that Amazon would become as huge as it is today. He further added that he gave up his lucrative job just to pursue an idea without knowing where it will take him. Bezos said he asked himself the question that when he turns 80 and looks back "will I regret not trying" and took the plunge.
Bezos also said that Amazon is focusing on SMBs as they are working and "you should double down on things that are working".
3. Amazon is the best place in the world to fail
Bezos said, "One success and one winner can pay for dozens and dozens of failure. And that's why you should fail." He stated that Amazon has a culture that "supports failure".
Bezos also categorized failure into two types—one, experimentation failure and two, operational and excellence failure. He called failing while experimenting as "glorious" as it allows for innovation and invention. In this failure, a person tries working on new things and should be celebrated.
While an operational or excellence failure should always be avoided and cannot be celebrated. He said at Amazon in the past, he has experienced failure in both the departments but has always learnt his lessons.
4. Climate change is real
Bezos said, "Anybody today who is not acknowledging that climate change is real and that we humans are affecting this planet in a very significant and dangerous way, those people are not being reasonable."
He said fighting climate change would require a collective effort from industrialists, small businesses, governments of various nation states and individuals. He talked about Amazon's Climate Pledge, which aims to reach the goals of the Paris Accord 10 years earlier.
5. Entrepreneurial systems in the space are the future
Talking about Blue Origin, his aerospace company, Bezos said Dynamic Entrepreneurial Systems in the Space is the future. He said, "Earth is finite and we as a civilization have to make a choice."
"All polluting industries will be off the Earth to different planets," Bezos predicted for the future.
