Jeff Bezos steps down as Amazon boss on Monday – 27 years after he founded the company. Bezos himself has become known for some particular approaches to work and business, with many ex/workers from Amazon revealing what goes down in Amazon boardrooms. Some think that Bezos’ principles are exactly what is wrong with Big Tech. ‘Customer obsession’ has become a staple of any Amazon/Jeff Bezos/Big Tech conversation. 

For Bezos, making the customer happy at any cost is the priority. Profit was a long term aspiration, even though this has led to the accumulation of several critics. An article published last month claimed to have revealed how Bezos paid no tax in 2007 and 2011. This is just one story relating to other claims of monopolistic behaviour and ruthlessness. 

On the flip side, many who worked with the richest man alive stated that this characterisation isn’t very accurate. Bezos is very much portrayed as a business visionary who created a work philosophy which resulted in the creation of a company worth around $1.8trn. 

Bezos allegedly likes small teams (calling this the two-pizza rule), hates powerpoint presentations and tries to avoid dominant personalities getting too much say on projects. Another principle of Bezos states that leaders should not compromise for the sake of social cohesion. Some workers still however reported to have felt as cogs-in-a-machine and being constantly monitored. 

The retirement comes as Bezos is set to take a space flight on July 20th aboard the New Shepard. The rocket ship was made by his space company, Blue Origin. Mark Bezos, Jeff’s younger brother, is set to join the trip. Multiple petitions have been signed to try and keep the richest man alive from coming back down to Earth. If that does not speak of the many feelings people have about the former Amazon CEO, nothing will. 

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