The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google
by Scott Galloway
Most boards ask management: “How can we build the greatest advantage for the least amount of capital/investment?” Amazon reverses the question: “What can we do that gives us an advantage that’s hugely expensive, and that no one else can afford?” The ultimate gift, in our digital age, is a CEO who has the storytelling talent to capture the imagination of the markets while surrounding themselves with people who can show incremental progress against that vision each day.
Most boards ask management: “How can we build the greatest advantage for the least amount of capital/investment?” Amazon reverses the question: “What can we do that gives us an advantage that’s hugely expensive, and that no one else can afford?”
The ultimate gift, in our digital age, is a CEO who has the storytelling talent to capture the imagination of the markets while surrounding themselves with people who can show incremental progress against that vision each day.
As Bezos also wrote in that first annual letter: “Failure and invention are inseparable twins. To invent you have to experiment, and if you know in advance that it’s going to work, it’s not an experiment.”
From the perspective of evolutionary psychology, all successful businesses appeal to one of three areas of the body—the brain, the heart, or the genitals. Each is tasked with a different aspect of survival. For anyone leading a company, knowing which realm you play in—that is, which organ you inspire—dictates business strategy and outcomes.
What’s clear is that we need business leaders who envision, and enact, a future with more jobs—not billionaires who want the government to fund, with taxes they avoid, social programs for people to sit on their couches and watch Netflix all day. Jeff, show some real fucking vision.
"Most boards ask management: “How can we build the greatest advantage for the least amount of capital/investment?” Amazon reverses the question: “What can we do that gives us an advantage that’s hugely expensive, and that no one else can afford?”"
"The ultimate gift, in our digital age, is a CEO who has the storytelling talent to capture the imagination of the markets while surrounding themselves with people who can show incremental progress against that vision each day."
"That’s easier said than done, and most brands leverage other companies’ distribution, as distribution is expensive to build. If you’re clothing designer Rebecca Minkoff, you’re not going to build your own stores beyond a dozen flagship locations around the world; you don’t have that capital. Instead, you sell your products at Macy’s and Nordstrom’s. Even if you’re Nike, it’s much more efficient to sell through Foot Locker than to build your own stores. The Four Horsemen are vertical."
"As Bezos also wrote in that first annual letter: “Failure and invention are inseparable twins. To invent you have to experiment, and if you know in advance that it’s going to work, it’s not an experiment.”"
"it’s easy to forget that Amazon did not turn its first profit until Q4 2001, seven years after its founding,59 and has dipped in and out of profitability ever since. In the past few years, Amazon has traded on this brand equity, leveraging it to extend into other businesses, and has expanded into other, simply better (more profitable) businesses. Looking back, Amazon’s retail platform just may have been the Trojan Horse that established the relationships and brand later monetized with other businesses."
"From the perspective of evolutionary psychology, all successful businesses appeal to one of three areas of the body—the brain, the heart, or the genitals. Each is tasked with a different aspect of survival. For anyone leading a company, knowing which realm you play in—that is, which organ you inspire—dictates business strategy and outcomes."
"What’s clear is that we need business leaders who envision, and enact, a future with more jobs—not billionaires who want the government to fund, with taxes they avoid, social programs for people to sit on their couches and watch Netflix all day. Jeff, show some real fucking vision."
- →Most boards ask management: “How can we build the greatest advantage for the least amount of capital/investment?” Amazon reverses the question: “What can we do that gives us an advantage that’s hugely expensive, and that no one else can afford?”
- →Ultimately, then, why should Amazon, the king of online retail, get into multichannel retail?81 Because e-commerce doesn’t work, isn’t economically viable, and no pure e-commerce firm will survive long term.
- →As Paul Newman explained in The Sting, the key to a great con is that the victim never realizes he was conned—indeed, he believes he is about to be a big winner right up until the last moment.
- →In sum, my business strategy message boils down to “What can you do really well that is also really hard?”
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