Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com's Founder, Explains the Secrets Of Creating a Great Business

1. Obsess over customers - all activity and strategy within any business should be driven by what your customers want. A lot of companies pay lip service to being customer focused, but few are genuinely obsessed with creating a fantastic customer experience
2. Invent - when faced with an either/or decision try to invent a new way of doing things that satisfy both needs. Continual invention and re-invention is critical to very businesses long-term survival
3. Think long term - spend time planning for the future and implement things today which will pay off in five to seven years time. Daily pressures and short term targets mean most businesses look less than a year ahead. This is no way to ensure a company's long tern success
4. Unique culture - Not explicitly one of Bezos points, but he clearly believes that a strong culture, built around clear values, is an important part of a building a business
5. It's Always Day 1 - Every business should believe that every day is day 1. All the opportunity that businesses have is in front of them and every day should be treated as the start of creating a better organisation