The Strategy Skills Podcast: Strategy | Leadership | Critical Thinking | Problem-Solving

503: Ex-Amazon Executive: How Leaders Win by Making Big Bets

Nov 25, 2024

John Rossman, an early Amazon executive and senior advisor at T-Mobile and the Gates Foundation, shares his insights on strategic leadership and innovation. He emphasizes the importance of making 'big bets' while thoroughly testing ideas before full commitment. Rossman discusses the value of focus in decision-making to avoid costly failures and highlights how creating a fun team atmosphere can enhance performance. He advocates for balancing ambitious goals with celebrating small victories, fostering a mindset open to innovation and learning from failure.

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ADVICE

Test Before Committing

Persecute ideas and experiment on a small scale before committing resources.
This helps avoid costly mistakes and ensures a clearer path forward.

INSIGHT

Defining Big Bets

Big bets are strategies with high ambition and multi-sided risks, unlike incremental projects.
They require an agile, experimental approach due to dependencies and unknown unknowns.

INSIGHT

Big Bets vs. Operations

Big bets differ fundamentally from regular operations because their future state is unclear.
This makes accurate forecasting and path creation difficult, necessitating a different approach.

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Welcome to Strategy Skills episode 503, where we are doing round 2 with John Rossman. John was an early Amazon executive and senior innovation advisor at T-Mobile & the Gates Foundation. He is the co-author of Big Bet Leadership and a keynote speaker and advisor.

In this episode, John Rossman discusses the insights from his recent book, Big Bet Leadership, on how companies can manage major strategic initiatives ("big bets") that involve significant risks. He explains why organizations need to test ideas before making big commitments and stay focused on key priorities. John describes how companies can adapt to increasing digitalization through careful planning and controlled experiments.

John Rossman is an author, executive advisor and keynote speaker on digital transformation, leadership, and business reinvention. With a career spanning consulting roles at renowned brands like Novartis, Gates Foundation, Microsoft, Walmart, and T-Mobile, he brings extensive expertise in solving complex business challenges and driving customer-centric solutions. As an early Amazon executive, Rossman played a pivotal role in launching the Amazon Marketplace in 2002, shaping its transformative impact.

Rossman is the author of four influential books on leadership and business innovation, including the bestseller “The Amazon Way” and his recent release “Big Bet Leadership.” He served as senior innovation advisor at T-Mobile and senior technology advisor to the Gates Foundation, where he honed his strategic acumen in driving organizational change and creating enduring enterprise value.

Today, Rossman is a sought-after keynote speaker renowned for his insights into leadership for innovation and transformation. His work focuses on practical applications of Amazon’s Leadership Principles to foster innovation, drive growth, and navigate digital disruption effectively.

Get John’s book, Big Bet Leadership, here: https://shorturl.at/XLpaB

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