Inside the head of Jeff Bezos - 6 Minute English

Hello. This is 6 Minute English from

BBC Learning English. I'm Neil.

And I'm Georgina.

If you've ever done shopping online,

then you may well have used

internet giant, Amazon.

From its origins as an online bookstore,

Amazon has grown into grocery deliveries,

TV and music streaming and even space

exploration, making its founder, Jeff Bezos,

the richest person on Earth.

Amazon is so successful it affects how

many of us live our lives, so in this

programme we'll be taking a look

inside the brain of Jeff Bezos to

find out how he thinks.

When Jeff Bezos's friends talk

about him, three words they

often use are: invention, risk-taking

and long-term vision.

These are qualities which Bezos

admired in his grandfather, Lawrence,

who from an early age taught Jeff that

by careful thinking, any

problem can be solved.

As a boy, Jeff and his grandfather

repaired an old, broken down truck.

When interviewed today, Bezos

sometimes compares Amazon to

that truck: very heavy, but impossible

to stop when it rolls downhill - which

is exactly what accidentally

happened one day!

But do you know how the story ends,

Georgina? That's my quiz question.

What happened when the young Jeff

Bezos s car accidentally rolled

downhill? Was it: a) Jeff jumped in

and pulled the handbrake?, b) Jeff's

grandad lost a thumb?

or, c) Jeff's hair fell out?

Well, Jeff Bezos is bald so maybe

it's c) his hair fell out.

OK, Georgina. We'll find out later.

As a company, Amazon has been

remarkably strong: it survived the

dot com crash of 2000 and saw

profits jump during the Covid

pandemic as more and more

people started shopping online.

Retail analyst, Natalie Berg, thinks

Amazon's success is due to its customer

strategy as she explained to BBC

Radio 4 programme, 'Seriously':

Jeff Bezos applied this concept to

Amazon by relentlessly focusing on

customers, by putting them at the

heart of the businesses - that would

attract more customers, more traffic

to its site which would in turn attract

more sellers, which would mean

a greater selection for customers,

which again would enhance

the customer experience.

Natalie thinks that Amazon put

customers at the heart of their

business - in other words, they

make customers the

most important part.

This improves Amazon's customer

experience - a customer's total

perception of their experience with a

business, which includes such things

as the quality of service and support

if something goes wrong.

Customers can write reviews on

Amazon's website and happy customers

mean more web traffic - the number of

people visiting a particular website.

In the difficult years following the dot

com crash, Jeff Bezos started

Market Place where other sellers

compete with Amazon's own

products. More sellers brought

more customers which in turn

brought down prices.

Then in 2013, Bezos bought

The Washington Post. And in

2019 he launched his space

exploration company, Blue Origin,

to explore mineral resources on Mars.

Most recently, Jeff Bezos has set his

sights on even bigger things -

saving the future of the planet!

Bezos chose Tom Rivett-Carnac of

the environmental group, Global

Optimism, to help Amazon meet

Climate Initiative goals aimed at

slowing climate change.

Here is Tom Rivett-Carnac telling

David Baker, presenter of BBC

Radio 4 s, Seriously, about his

conversation with Jeff Bezos:

It did seem to me that it was a

legacy issue for him, that he

wanted to be on the right

side of history.

And you don't think it's just

greenwashing in the end?

How do you define that? Would you

define greenwashing if you said

somebody got into this issue 'cos

they wanted to improve a reputation

of company or an individual?

Actually, that is fine. Right?

As long as they do something

meaningful and deliver a major outcome.

Protecting the planet is part of

Jeff Bezos s legacy - the

achievements of his life that will

continue after he dies.

In other words, Bezos wants to be

on the right side of history - judged

to have acted correctly or morally

by future generations.

Ultimately though, it's real action

on climate change that counts, not

just greenwashing. Do you know

this new expression, Georgina?

Well, I know that 'whitewashing'

means trying to hide the truth

about something.

Right - so greenwashing means

trying to make people believe that

your company is doing more to

protect the environment than it really is.

Well, with so many achievements already

behind him, I'm sure Jeff has made

his grandparents very proud - which

reminds me of your quiz question, Neil.

Ah yes, I asked Georgina what happened

when the car Jeff Bezos and his grandad,

Lawrence, were fixing accidentally

rolled downhill.

I thought it was c) that Jeff lost

all his hair. Was I right?

No, you were wrong, I'm afraid

Georgina. The correct answer was

b) - that his grandfather lost his thumb.

OK, Neil, let's recap the vocabulary,

starting with customer experience -

a customer's feelings about their

experience with a business.

If you put something at the heart

of things, you make it the

most important part.

Web traffic is the number of people

visiting a website.

Your legacy means all your life

achievements that will continue

after your death.

Someone who is on the right side

of history will be judged positively

by future generations.

And finally, greenwashing is when

you pretend that your company is

doing more to protect the

environment than it really is.

That's all for our peek inside the

brain of Jeff Bezos, the world's

richest man. Join us again next time

when we'll be discussing another

trending topic. Bye for now!

Goodbye!