Support Structure

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/amazons-jeff-bezos-looks-to-the-future/

Nothing worth doing is worth doing alone.

For this very reason, you must make every effort to support your faith with goodness, and goodness with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with endurance, and endurance with godliness, and godliness with mutual affection, and mutual affection with love.  - 2 Peter 1:5-7

This may not sound like a business strategy, but I think it is good advice for anyone looking to make a difference in the world.  Success depends on a good support structure.

I was watching an interview on 60 Minutes with Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon, and I was struck by the similarities between Amazon's business model and Peter's message.

Bezos thinks of Amazon as a living, breathing entity that is totally dependent on others, not just its employees and suppliers, but predominantly on its customers.  Everything Amazon does, it does for its customers, and it includes its customers in the decision process.

OK, you might say, that's nice, but it would be a stretch to say a 25 billion dollar business demonstrates godliness and love.

You'd be right there, but don't toss that thought aside completely just yet.  If a company like Amazon can exercise constraint and self-control, by keeping its profit margins very low, focusing on delivery to its customers and acting with fairness, isn't that a positive sign for the future of big business?

Bezos acknowledged that Amazon's very size is a factor in its ability to make a difference in the marketplace, but he points to an important factor in addressing that competitive nature.  The marketplace is changing.  Amazon isn't the engine that drives change, but the very astute implementor of those changes.

There is a lesson here for all of us, whether our product is digital, spiritual or material.

How we do what we do matters.

It isn't enough to have a good message, product or service.  We have to live it.  If our method of delivering on our promise is based in godliness and love, it will be received, accepted and put into practice.

Amazon isn't a perfect example, but Bezos may be on the right path.  At some point, he says, something will change that will cause Amazon to stumble or topple, like every giant, but he is hoping that doesn't happen while he is still around.

So, for me, Peter's advice is a call to action, to focus on the way I work, the way I live, and the purpose I bring to all I do.  It is good to know or think that the right support structure can help me weather changes, like Amazon.  Who knows?  It may not be too late to do something spectacular.

More to come...