{"id":3758,"date":"2010-08-17T09:06:30","date_gmt":"2010-08-17T16:06:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/?p=3758"},"modified":"2016-11-14T03:55:29","modified_gmt":"2016-11-14T08:55:29","slug":"focus-on-the-inputs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/focus-on-the-inputs\/3758\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeff Bezos Focus on Controllable Inputs"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"a296a24fa2fc69ef5487857f02f111e8\" data-index=\"9\" style=\"float: none; margin:10px 0 10px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Single Post readerboard -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:inline-block;width:728px;height:90px\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-8207522353004717\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1144967431\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<!--powerpress_player--><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_flv\" style=\"margin-bottom: 1px !important;\">Podcast: <a href=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/media\/leadership\/jeff-bezos-video-amazon-zappos.flv\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/?powerpress_pinw=3758-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/media\/leadership\/jeff-bezos-video-amazon-zappos.flv\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"jeff-bezos-video-amazon-zappos.flv\">Download<\/a><\/p><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_subscribe_links\">Subscribe: <a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/shmula.com-lean-leadership\/id930098243?mt=2&amp;ls=1#episodeGuid=https%3A%2F%2Fstaging.opexlearning.com%2Fresources%2F%3Fp%3D3758\" class=\"powerpress_link_subscribe powerpress_link_subscribe_itunes\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Subscribe on Apple Podcasts\" rel=\"nofollow\">Apple Podcasts<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/feed\/podcast\/\" class=\"powerpress_link_subscribe powerpress_link_subscribe_rss\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Subscribe via RSS\" rel=\"nofollow\">RSS<\/a><\/p><p>In the April 2010 Letter to Shareholders, Jeff Bezos tells <a title=\"pete abilla, shmula\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/?tag=sixsigma09-20\" target=_new>Amazon.com<\/a> shareholders about their focus on inputs, the customer, and their purposeful lack of discussion around financial metrics:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Senior leaders that are new to Amazon are often surprised by how little time we spend discussing actual financial results or debating projected financial outputs. To be clear, we take these financial outputs seriously, but we believe that focusing our energy on the controllable inputs to our business is the most effective way to maximize financial outputs over time. Our annual goal setting process begins in the fall, and concludes early in the new year after we&#8217;ve completed our peak holiday quarter. Our goal setting sessions are lengthy, spirited, and detail oriented. We have a high bar for the experience our customers deserve and a sense of urgency to improve that experience.<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;ve\u00a0been using this same annual process for many years. For 2010, we have 452 detailed goals with owners, deliverables, and targeted completion dates. These are not the only goals our teams set for themselves, but they are the ones we feel are most important to monitor. None of these goals are easy and many will not be achieved without invention. We review the status of each of these goals several times per year among our senior leadership team and add, remove, and modify goals as we proceed.<\/p>\n<p>A review of our current goals reveals some interesting statistics:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>360 of the 452 goals will have a direct impact on customer experience.<\/li>\n<li>The word revenue is used eight times and free cash flow is used only four times.<\/li>\n<li>In the 452 goals, the terms net income, gross profit or margin, and operating profit are not used once.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Taken as a whole, the set of goals is indicative of our fundamental approach. Start with customers, and work<br \/>\nbackwards. Listen to customers, but don&#8217;t just listen to customers  also invent on their behalf. We can&#8217;t assure you that we&#8217;ll meet all of this year&#8217;s goals. We haven&#8217;t in past years. However, we can assure you that we&#8217;ll continue to obsess over customers. We have strong conviction that that approach  in the long term  is every bit as good for owners as it is for customers.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>In a world where there is much talk of gross margin, etc., Bezos and Amazon focus on the long-term health of the company and the customer experience.<\/p>\n<p>A key lesson here is this: focus on the controllable inputs &#8211; this is a key tenet in Lean Thinking. When we focus on the controllable inputs, then the outcome will follow.<\/p>\n<p>Such a simple and clear lesson, yet so many people and organizations fail to see.<\/p>\n<p>Below is Jeff Bezos speaking about their acquisition of <a title=\"pete abilla, shmula\" href=\"http:\/\/www.zappos.com\">Zappos<\/a>, where he shares some of the lessons as described in the April 2010 Letter to Shareholders.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3759 aligncenter\" title=\"bezos-amazon-letter-april-2010\" src=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/bezos-amazon-letter-april-2010.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"485\" height=\"297\" srcset=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/bezos-amazon-letter-april-2010.jpg 606w, https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/bezos-amazon-letter-april-2010-600x367.jpg 600w, https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/bezos-amazon-letter-april-2010-300x183.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 485px) 100vw, 485px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<!--CusAds0-->\n<div style=\"font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0px; margin: 0; padding: 0; clear: both;\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSSIn the April 2010 Letter to Shareholders, Jeff Bezos tells Amazon.com shareholders about their focus on inputs, the customer, and their purposeful lack of discussion around financial metrics: Senior leaders that are new to Amazon are often surprised by how little time we spend discussing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12327,"featured_media":9934,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[131],"tags":[338],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Jeff Bezos Focus on Controllable Inputs<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"jeff bezos teaches a lesson on focus on the inputs and the results will follow; he discusses customer obsession and how amazon&#039;s focus is on the long-term health of the company and the customer experience\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Jeff Bezos Focus on Controllable Inputs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"jeff bezos teaches a lesson on focus on the inputs and the results will follow; he discusses customer obsession and how amazon&#039;s focus is on the long-term health of the company and the customer experience\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/focus-on-the-inputs\/3758\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"OpEx Learning\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/get.shmula\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-08-17T16:06:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-11-14T08:55:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/input-output-lean-six-sigma.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"360\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"287\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Uday Kawar\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@shmula\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@shmula\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Uday Kawar\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/focus-on-the-inputs\/3758\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/focus-on-the-inputs\/3758\/\",\"name\":\"Jeff Bezos Focus on Controllable Inputs\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/focus-on-the-inputs\/3758\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/focus-on-the-inputs\/3758\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/input-output-lean-six-sigma.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-08-17T16:06:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-11-14T08:55:29+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/#\/schema\/person\/9335b5223b67189b35bda7d6be11c3fd\"},\"description\":\"jeff bezos teaches a lesson on focus on the inputs and the results will follow; he discusses customer obsession and how amazon's focus is on the long-term health of the company and the customer experience\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/focus-on-the-inputs\/3758\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/focus-on-the-inputs\/3758\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/focus-on-the-inputs\/3758\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/input-output-lean-six-sigma.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/input-output-lean-six-sigma.jpg\",\"width\":360,\"height\":287,\"caption\":\"jeff bezos, input, output, lean six sigma\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/focus-on-the-inputs\/3758\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Leadership\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/leadership\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Jeff Bezos Focus on Controllable Inputs\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/\",\"name\":\"OpEx Learning\",\"description\":\"Lean Six Sigma. Simplified.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/#\/schema\/person\/9335b5223b67189b35bda7d6be11c3fd\",\"name\":\"Uday Kawar\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Jeff Bezos Focus on Controllable Inputs","description":"jeff bezos teaches a lesson on focus on the inputs and the results will follow; he discusses customer obsession and how amazon's focus is on the long-term health of the company and the customer experience","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Jeff Bezos Focus on Controllable Inputs","og_description":"jeff bezos teaches a lesson on focus on the inputs and the results will follow; he discusses customer obsession and how amazon's focus is on the long-term health of the company and the customer experience","og_url":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/focus-on-the-inputs\/3758\/","og_site_name":"OpEx Learning","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/get.shmula","article_published_time":"2010-08-17T16:06:30+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-11-14T08:55:29+00:00","og_image":[{"width":360,"height":287,"url":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/input-output-lean-six-sigma.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Uday Kawar","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@shmula","twitter_site":"@shmula","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Uday Kawar","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/focus-on-the-inputs\/3758\/","url":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/focus-on-the-inputs\/3758\/","name":"Jeff Bezos Focus on Controllable Inputs","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/focus-on-the-inputs\/3758\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/focus-on-the-inputs\/3758\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/input-output-lean-six-sigma.jpg","datePublished":"2010-08-17T16:06:30+00:00","dateModified":"2016-11-14T08:55:29+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/#\/schema\/person\/9335b5223b67189b35bda7d6be11c3fd"},"description":"jeff bezos teaches a lesson on focus on the inputs and the results will follow; he discusses customer obsession and how amazon's focus is on the long-term health of the company and the customer experience","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/focus-on-the-inputs\/3758\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/focus-on-the-inputs\/3758\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/focus-on-the-inputs\/3758\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/input-output-lean-six-sigma.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/input-output-lean-six-sigma.jpg","width":360,"height":287,"caption":"jeff bezos, input, output, lean six sigma"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/focus-on-the-inputs\/3758\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Leadership","item":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/leadership\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Jeff Bezos Focus on Controllable Inputs"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/#website","url":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/","name":"OpEx Learning","description":"Lean Six Sigma. Simplified.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/#\/schema\/person\/9335b5223b67189b35bda7d6be11c3fd","name":"Uday Kawar"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3758"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12327"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3758"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3758\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}