Comments on: Amazon.com and the Gospel http://www.ubfriends.org/2013/12/02/amazon-com-and-the-gospel/ for friends of University Bible Fellowship Wed, 21 Oct 2015 04:34:18 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=4.3.1 By: Brian Karcher http://www.ubfriends.org/2013/12/02/amazon-com-and-the-gospel/#comment-11683 Mon, 09 Dec 2013 20:30:19 +0000 http://www.ubfriends.org/?p=7251#comment-11683 Here’s a great quote I just received today:

“They never talked in reactionary terms and never defined their strategies principally in response to what others were doing. They talked in terms of what they were trying to create and how they were trying to improve relative to an absolute standard of excellence.”

— Jim Collins, about what makes a great leader

]]> By: Brian Karcher http://www.ubfriends.org/2013/12/02/amazon-com-and-the-gospel/#comment-11682 Mon, 09 Dec 2013 20:29:20 +0000 http://www.ubfriends.org/?p=7251#comment-11682 There are quite a few behaviors and teachings we can learn from such people.

Jim Collins is another one. He wrote about “Level 5 leaders” for example, people who have a unique blend of “extreme personal humility with intense professional will.”

Any organization who wants to “raise global leaders” ought to learn from the teachings of such actual leaders.

]]> By: Ben Toh http://www.ubfriends.org/2013/12/02/amazon-com-and-the-gospel/#comment-11664 Thu, 05 Dec 2013 21:10:44 +0000 http://www.ubfriends.org/?p=7251#comment-11664 This is from a current pastor and former employee of Amazon from 1999-2002 (http://thomrainer.com/2013/12/04/five-simple-but-profound-leadership-lessons-from-amazon-and-jeff-bezos/#comment-186692): “Bezo’s philosophy of putting his customers ahead of profit seemed ridiculous to a lot of people but here we sit not even 20 years later and Amazon.com is one of the biggest brand names in the world. I learned a lot about leadership in my time there, about not being afraid of change (change happens DAILY in a company like Amazon), not being afraid to try new things and fail, and to have a vision that is simple, clear, and something everyone from the janitor to the CEO can articulate, understand, and buy into.”

]]> By: Ben Toh http://www.ubfriends.org/2013/12/02/amazon-com-and-the-gospel/#comment-11663 Thu, 05 Dec 2013 21:06:12 +0000 http://www.ubfriends.org/?p=7251#comment-11663 Since watching 60 min, I have been somewhat fascinated by Bezos, probably because of his phenomenal success. His unauthorized autobiography says that his employees live in fear of his exacting demands: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/shortcuts/2013/nov/06/jeff-bezos-biography-five-things-amazon-founder

Hyper-intelligent, ultra-driven, and obsessed with detail, Bezos expects everyone around him to be the same. Amazon staff are said to live in fear of his outbursts. His finest putdowns include, “Why are you wasting my life?”, “I’m sorry, did I take my stupid pills today?” and “Are you lazy or just incompetent?”

]]> By: Ben Toh http://www.ubfriends.org/2013/12/02/amazon-com-and-the-gospel/#comment-11662 Thu, 05 Dec 2013 15:01:36 +0000 http://www.ubfriends.org/?p=7251#comment-11662 Other Christians have also realized the profound leadership lessons from Jeff Bezos of Amazon: http://thomrainer.com/2013/12/04/five-simple-but-profound-leadership-lessons-from-amazon-and-jeff-bezos/

I missed point 3: “Complaining is not a strategy.”

I want to do point 1, but “the box” may be quite ingrained in me, but I think I am “throwing out the box” by God’s help.

Taking incremental steps (#4) and constantly innovating (#5) is what I want to continually do, even if I seem to be going nowhere anytime soon.

The many comments on this post is also fascinating and illuminating about the “simplicity” of those who succeed.

]]> By: Mark Mederich http://www.ubfriends.org/2013/12/02/amazon-com-and-the-gospel/#comment-11653 Wed, 04 Dec 2013 12:32:28 +0000 http://www.ubfriends.org/?p=7251#comment-11653 you must be doing somethin right if those still bound by legalism lash at you as if the antichrist:)

]]> By: Brian Karcher http://www.ubfriends.org/2013/12/02/amazon-com-and-the-gospel/#comment-11652 Wed, 04 Dec 2013 00:23:11 +0000 http://www.ubfriends.org/?p=7251#comment-11652 So here is a public service announcement (based on the recent comments on my personal blog)… Please stop calling me “Satan” or “evil” or “destroyer of people’s faith”. My soul is grated bare from such words that stick like knives. Please just buy me a beer and listen to me.

]]> By: Brian Karcher http://www.ubfriends.org/2013/12/02/amazon-com-and-the-gospel/#comment-11651 Wed, 04 Dec 2013 00:19:20 +0000 http://www.ubfriends.org/?p=7251#comment-11651 Good observations Ben. Sometime in the last 20 years or so a switch took place. Remember that “ugly, evil world”? Well “they” learned to to embrace humanity with goodness and love. Now it is Christendom who stands as “the world” and is in dire need to re-learn goodness, kindness, love and humanity.

I find that I learn much these days from certain American companies and how they reveal the gospel messages (perhaps unknowingly). I wasn’t impressed with Hunger Games this time, for now I crave the “Disney endings” such as in Frozen and Tangled. I long to encounter acts of true love, embraces of goodness and acceptance of kind, tender hearts. Such things have gone missing from Christendom.

This Christmas I pray that anyone who claims to be Christian will care more about putting Christ back into “Christ-ian” than “Christmas”.

]]> By: Mark Mederich http://www.ubfriends.org/2013/12/02/amazon-com-and-the-gospel/#comment-11649 Mon, 02 Dec 2013 19:56:10 +0000 http://www.ubfriends.org/?p=7251#comment-11649 WOW, that’s more than 13mil in few decades:) (& without tax exempt)

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