40: What is not going to change?

A question from Jeff Bezos

The questions we ask ourselves in business and our personal determine where we are going. This example from Jeff Bezos may be one of the most powerful examples of how a small change in the framing of a question can lead to vastly different answers and paths forward.

I very frequently get the question, “What’s going to change in the next ten years?” And that is a very interesting question; it’s a very common one. I almost never get the question, “What’s not going to change in the next ten years?” And I submit to you that that second question is actually the more important of the two, because you can build a business strategy around the things that are stable in time.

In our retail business, we know that customers want low prices, and I know that’s going to be true ten years from now. They want fast delivery; they want vast selection. It’s impossible to imagine a future ten years from now where a customer comes up and says, “Jeff, I love Amazon, I just wish the prices were a little higher,” or, “I love Amazon, I just wish you’d deliver a little more slowly.” Impossible.

And so the effort we put into those things, spinning those things up, we know the energy we put into it today will still be paying off dividends for our customers ten years from now. When you have something that you know is true, even over the long term, you can afford to put a lot of energy into it.

This change of frame on the question seems so simple that, in passing, it's quite easy to miss the magnitude of its implications. As I continue to study successful leaders, a common theme I am spotting more and more is their ability to detach and ask the simple questions that seemingly elude the rest of us.

What questions are I prioritizing? And am I detached enough to evaluate if that question should be the priority?