Bezos: A CEO Who Can Write (2018) • Hacker News Board

Re: Bezos: A CEO Who Can Write (2018)

#31

Post by rock_hard » Sun, Jul 28, 2019, 5:50 PM UTC

pixelmonkey wrote: post #12

I wish one of Amazon's "Principles" were openness/transparency, because I think it'd be great to see some of the internal memos Bezos writes to colleagues and how they debate their thinking in writing. Amazon has always been a "skate where the puck is going" kind of company, unrivaled for customer obsession, and I think it'd be great to see their thinking on things like the Whole Foods acquisition, the Fire flop, the…

Agree! Also add any other meaningful company to that list

What I miss the most about not being in big tech anymore are these great conversations

People on the outside don’t appreciate how challenging the problems are and how the compromise they land on and ship is remarkably good!

Re: Bezos: A CEO Who Can Write (2018)

#32

Post by BurningFrog » Sun, Jul 28, 2019, 6:06 PM UTC

b_tterc_p wrote: post #25

It always shocked me how bad most people were at writing having completed a university degree. Just a simple ability to state a claim and then explain why it is true is often out of reach.

Writing was never part of my physics/CS degree, and I wouldn't have expected it to be.

I did learn to write later by participating in internet forums like this one.

Re: Bezos: A CEO Who Can Write (2018)

#33

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Jul 28, 2019, 6:06 PM UTC

sadmann1 wrote: post #2

How can you make sure its not ghostwriting

[deleted]

Re: Bezos: A CEO Who Can Write (2018)

#34

Post by coldtea » Sun, Jul 28, 2019, 6:10 PM UTC

zaat wrote: post #10

sadmann1 wrote: post #2

How can you make sure its not ghostwriting

In 1997? when he was still riding his old battered Toyota?

Yeah, don't believe the hype. He studied at Princeton, worked for years at fintech, became Project Manager at a bank, and then V.P of a hedge fund, and he also got $300,000 from his parents to invest in his new company.

This wasn't a rags to riches story...

Re: Bezos: A CEO Who Can Write (2018)

#35

Post by pikapikamtf » Sun, Jul 28, 2019, 6:24 PM UTC

i think it is best not to idolise anyone, especially a figurehead like the subject of this article. This company's behaviour towards its employees is notorious, how did the style of writing help those people?

Re: Bezos: A CEO Who Can Write (2018)

#36

Post by jayd16 » Sun, Jul 28, 2019, 6:46 PM UTC

pixelmonkey wrote: post #12

I wish one of Amazon's "Principles" were openness/transparency, because I think it'd be great to see some of the internal memos Bezos writes to colleagues and how they debate their thinking in writing. Amazon has always been a "skate where the puck is going" kind of company, unrivaled for customer obsession, and I think it'd be great to see their thinking on things like the Whole Foods acquisition, the Fire flop, the…

I'm told that Amazon meetings are focused around a prepared white paper on the subject at hand with 10 minutes of document reading at the start of the meeting. I find this idea fairly provocative and I'd love to see some of the documents in question.

Re: Bezos: A CEO Who Can Write (2018)

#37

Post by pankajdoharey » Sun, Jul 28, 2019, 6:50 PM UTC

The article was written by the founder of BeBOX and BeOS

Re: Bezos: A CEO Who Can Write (2018)

#38

Post by klenwell » Sun, Jul 28, 2019, 6:54 PM UTC

b_tterc_p wrote: post #25

It always shocked me how bad most people were at writing having completed a university degree. Just a simple ability to state a claim and then explain why it is true is often out of reach.

As a former instructor of a composition class that was a basic requirement of the university where I taught, I'd claim that this perhaps more than anything is what distinguishes (or should) a university education from a vocation school or other certification.

(The explaining why part is left as an exercise for the reader.)

Re: Bezos: A CEO Who Can Write (2018)

#39

Post by jsty » Sun, Jul 28, 2019, 6:59 PM UTC

BurningFrog wrote: post #32

b_tterc_p wrote: post #25

It always shocked me how bad most people were at writing having completed a university degree. Just a simple ability to state a claim and then explain why it is true is often out of reach.

Writing was never part of my physics/CS degree, and I wouldn't have expected it to be. I did learn to write later by participating in internet forums like this one.

Was there no labs / project component that you needed to do lab reports or academic paper-style writeups for? I did joint Maths-Physics which was mostly theoretical and still had a fair amount of (technical) writing to do as part of my degree.

Re: Bezos: A CEO Who Can Write (2018)

#40

Post by emit_time » Sun, Jul 28, 2019, 7:06 PM UTC

One thing Tim Ferriss likes to talk about is how a difficult writing class he took lead to improved grades in all of his other classes, and he think it's attributed to the clarity in which he cultivated, and evaluated thoughts.