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Jeff Bezos

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JEFF BEZOS 2

An analysis of Jeff Bezos leadership style

Effective leadership plays a significant role in creating a healthy sustainable organization.

An organization is impacted by the presence of a leader who can determine actions and steps

necessary to propel that company forward. Dissecting the leadership styles of certain individuals

in different organizations can, therefore, give insight as to why some companies perform better

than others. This paper will explore the leadership style of Jeff Bezos who is the CEO at

Amazon.com. He is also the founder of the company and has steered the company to become one

of the best in the world. The paper will explore how effective leadership by Bezos has led the

company to great heights and what conclusion can be drawn from his leadership style.

Biography of Jeff Bezos

Jeff Bezos was born in the year 1964 on January 12 in Albuquerque, New Mexico to ted

Jorgensen and Jacklyn (nee Gise). Bezos mother remarried when he was four years old to a

Cuban who had immigrated to the United States, who was by then a mere fifteen years. Jeff

attended River Oaks Elementary school from fourth to sixth grade. The school was situated in

Houston. Most of his time he spent on his grandfather’s ranch in Texas. Jeff attended Miami

Palmetto Senior High School. During his high school studies, he attended the University of

Florida for student science training program. After the completion of this program, he received a

Silver Knight Award, which was in the year 1982. In high school, he was a National Merit

Scholar and was also a valedictorian.

Jeff attended Princeton University. He first intended to do physics but changed his mind

later and settled on computers. Jeff finally graduated with summa cum laude. He holds two

degrees one in computer science and the other a bachelor of science in electric engineering. He

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also served as the president of Princeton chapter of the students for the exploration and

development of space. After graduating, he first worked on Wall Street. He also worked at

Bankers Trust. Jeff then worked for a company known as Fitel building a network of

international trade. He finally worked for D. E. Shaw & Co on the internet-enabled business

opportunity. Later, he found Amazon in 1994 after writing the business plan while driving from

New York to Seattle. His business was first set up in a garage, and slowly it picked to become a

multinational company.

Amazon.com

Amazon.com, Inc. is an American cloud computing and electronic commerce company.

The organization’s headquarters is situated in Seattle, Washington. The company is the largest

Internet-based retailer in the US. The company first started as an online bookstore. The company

later diversified to sell CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays, audiobook, videogames, software, toys, foodstuff,

and jewelry. According to Cook (2011), Amazon.com has a stressful working environment when

compared to other organizations. It is ranked as one of the hardest working environment among

high-tech organizations in the United States. Workers have stated that Bezos normally berates

them and always speaks his mind regarding various issues. The company has lately suffered

losses despite an increase in revenue of 23%. Lately, the company is making progress as its

losses has somehow subsided.

Jeff Bezos leadership Characteristics and Philosophy

Transactional Leader

Jeff Bezos is a leader that is task oriented. Stone (2013) explains that Jeff as a

micromanager who is often uninterested in people’s opinions and has a rigorous standard. This

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kind of leadership is termed as transactional. Northhouse (2013) explains that a transactional

leader is one who can influence the subordinates positively because it his/her duty to carry out

such an action. In achieving outcomes and operational goals, transactional leaders are the most

effective. This includes creating a business which can thrive in an area that is filled with

competition. Bezos has managed to do this in an IT competitive market. The way he has steered

the company oozes a quality that can only be witnessed among great leaders.

Transformational leader

Jeff is also a transformational leader. He can be seen as a leader who wants to bring in

changes. He is innovative and that what has seen the company rise above odds to be one of the

best internet based commerce companies in the United States. According to Qu, Janssen and Shi

(2015), they found out that those leaders that exhibit transformational kind of leadership produce

extraordinary results. These kind of leaders are followers of creativity and innovation. They are

fascinated by creating a vision for the future which captures the mind and heart of people. They

drive their employees beyond ordinary possibilities. Jeff ranks high in this field, and that is what

has made Amazon.com one of the best companies in the word when it comes to internet based

companies.

Effectiveness of Jeff Bezos in a Multicultural Setting

Bezos has been effective in a multicultural setting since the company made it to the

limelight. The transformational style of leadership that Bezos possesses has resulted in Amazon

Company attaining the growth that can be seen recently. The company started as an online

bookstore to becoming a retail store. Despite the company facing competition for example from

Ebay, Bezos managed to shake the competition off to establish itself worldwide. This shows ho

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Bezos is good at different multicultural setting. The kind of leadership that he exhibits is

characterized by a strict regime. This has resulted in a stressful working environment for the

employees. The company has faced huge losses recently. Despite these challenges, he has steered

the company to attain a revenue growth of 23%. This shows how Bezos effectiveness as a leader

has helped him to grow even in a multicultural setting.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Jeff Bezos is a leader that has come across many challenges. Despite his

leadership style that has made the working environment in amzon.com stressful, he has also

managed to improve the company’s revenue growth. It can be noted that Bezos has both

transactional and a transformational leadership style. This has helped him overcome the

competition in the highly competitive Internet-based company industry. Bezos has made

Amazon to be a success story both in stock prices and sales. He, however, needs to tone down

his transactional leadership style to make the environment friendlier.

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Reference

Cook, J. (2011, June). Facebook, Amazon staffers are most stressed: Google, Microsoft are most paid.

Geek Wire. Retrieved online from www.geekwire.com

Northouse, P. G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and practice (6th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage

Publications

Qu, R., Janssen, O., and Shi, K. (2015). Transformational leadership and follower creativity: The

mediating role of follower relational identification and the moderating role of leader creativity

expectations. The Leadership Quarterly. doi: 10.1016/j.leaqua.2014.12.004

Stone, B. (2013). The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the age of Amazon. London: Transworld

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