Postcards
Power Point: Extend beyond your skill set
June 1, 2009: 6:51 PM ET"You can always do what you should do if you're willing to put in the time and energy to develop a new set of skills. If you only extend into places where your skill sets serve you, your skills will become outmoded."
- Amazon.com (AMZN) CEO Jeff Bezos in "Amazon's Next Revolution," the Fortune cover story that hits newsstands today. My colleague Jeff O'Brien uses Bezos' newest big venture, the Kindle, to get inside the brain of this durable entrepreneur who has an overriding sense of adventure, an unusual attraction to non-linear growth, and a perpetual willingness to fail. "The thing that allows for all the teams to come together after a failure is the recognition that this is just a first failure [for the project]," Bezos says. "After every failure, we ask ourselves, 'Do we still believe in the vision?' If we have conviction, that gives us energy to pursue [another] approach."
Kindle competition is coming fast and furious. Google (GOOG) intends to enable publishers to sell digital books direct to consumers, according to the New York Times. The Google retail program would allow consumers to read books on any Internet device.
For now at least, I'm content with my Kindle 2. The e-books are cheap, at $9.99 or less. Though the Fortune cover story suggests that a profit-building model, perhaps ads, will likely come.
-
Scenes from the Kindle DX press conference
When I arrived at Pace University at 9:30 this morning in lower Manhattan, the line was already snaking down the side of the building. The crowd, gathered to witness the announcement of a third version of Amazon's (AMZN) Kindle electronic reader, was feverishly tapping at gadgets galore and every so often stepping out of line to take camera phone shots of the assembled group. It seemed their excitement had gotten MORE
Jessica Shambora, Writer-Reporter - May 6, 2009 3:57 PM ETPosted in: Amazon, AMZN, blogging, CEOs, Jeff Bezos, Kindle, media, Postcards, publishing, Silicon Valley, technology -
Amazon: thinking beyond the Kindle
We love companies that underpromise and overdeliver. Apple (AAPL) is one. Another is Amazon.com (AMZN). Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos thrives on overdelivering.
I had my own Jeff Bezos multimedia experience last night as I sat in my living room and played with my new Kindle 2 while watching Bezos on the Charlie Rose show. (Click here to see the show from late February--yes, I was playing DVR catchup.) The Amazon MORE
Patricia Sellers - Mar 30, 2009 3:07 PM ETPosted in: Amazon, CEOs, consumer goods, Hearst, Jeff Bezos, Ken Bronfin, Kindle, media, Microsoft, Postcards, publishing, retail, Sony, technology -
Power Point: Read faster
"This does not attach directly to my brain?"
-- Jon Stewart to Amazon (AMZN) CEO Jeff Bezos on Tuesday's Daily Show on Comedy Central (VIAB). Amazon's Kindle 2 began shipping today to customers, many of whom have been waiting for months. The device sold out before Christmas for the second year in a row. When Bezos told Stewart he could download any book in 60 seconds or less, Steward feigned misunderstanding MORE
Jessica Shambora, Writer-Reporter - Feb 24, 2009 6:53 PM ETPosted in: Amazon, AMZN, CEOs, entertainment, Jeff Bezos, Jon Stewart, Kindle, Postcards, Power Point, technology -
Power Point: Amazon introduces Kindle 2
"It isn't as though the two things—books and the Kindle—are in conflict. It's like peanut butter and chocolate. When you put them together, you get a whole new taste treat."
-- Best-selling author Stephen King at a press event announcing the Amazon Kindle 2 in New York City on Monday. King's comments underscore what Amazon.com (AMZN) CEO Jeff Bezos has said since the Kindle, an electronic book reader, was introduced in MORE
Jessica Shambora, Writer-Reporter - Feb 9, 2009 6:27 PM ETPosted in: Amazon, CEOs, consumer electronics, electronic reader, Jeff Bezos, Kindle, Postcards, Power Point, Stephen King, technology -
Back from Brainstorm Tech and MPWomen
I'm just back from three weeks away. I vowed to keep Postcards up to date while I was gone, and with the help of the incomparable Jessica Shambora, the enterprising reporter we hired in June, we did it! We're posting twice a day--including a daily Power Point, which is a piece of career advice or strategic insight that might help you navigate your career and even your life. At least, MORE
Patricia Sellers - Jul 28, 2008 4:13 PM ET -
Tech trends: Simplicity wins
Simplicity wins. This is the message that I'm taking away so far at Fortune's Brainstorm Tech here in Half Moon Bay, California.
To frame the themes of this year's powwow -- which opened Monday afternoon with Michael Dell (DELL) and Amazon (AMZN) CEO Jeff Bezos (pictured right) -- my colleague David Kirkpatrick asked participants what is the most exciting technology innovation of the last 12 months. The most popular answer: the iPhone. That MORE
Patricia Sellers - Jul 22, 2008 2:44 PM ETPosted in: Amazon, Apple, Brainstorm Tech, CEOs, Cisco, David Kirkpatrick, DDB, Don Smith, iPod, Jeff Bezos, Joost, Keith Reinhard, Kindle, Leadership by Geoff Colvin, management, Michael Dell, Mike Volpi, Mitel, Nicholas Negroponte, Nintendo, One Laptop per Child, Postcards, simplicity, technology, Wii
For the latest on the most influential women in business, philanthropy, government, and the arts, like us on Facebook. 
Fortune Most Powerful Women
Sheryl Sandberg:
Gina Bianchini
In her first public interview since taking on the CEO gig at Yahoo, Marissa Mayer outlines her priorities both in and out of the company. Watch
Brenda Barnes famously quit a big job to be with her kids. Years later, a massive stroke nearly killed her--and her daughter returned the favor. Watch
Fortune senior editor at large Pattie Sellers has written some of Fortune's most talked-about cover stories, including "Marissa Mayer: Ready to Rumble at Yahoo," "Oprah's Next Act," "Can Meg Whitman Save California?" "The $100 Billion Woman" (Melinda Gates), and "Remodeling Martha" (Martha Stewart). She has helped oversee Fortune's "Most Powerful Women in Business" package every year since its launch in 1998. Pattie is Executive Director of the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit, the preeminent gathering of women leaders in business and beyond. She oversees MPW programs that enable women leaders to extend their influence and empower the next generation—such as Fortune MPW Entrepreneurs and the Fortune-U.S. State Department Global Women Leaders Mentoring Partnership. Beyond her Fortune duties, she is also developing Live Content across Time Inc. Pattie grew up in Allentown, PA, graduated from the University of Virginia, and started at Fortune in 1984. Her blog, Postcards, is about how power players lead, manage others, and navigate their careers.
Subscribe: RSS feed | email newsletter
The Fortune/U.S. State Department Global Women Leaders Mentoring Partnership brings rising-star women from countries around the world to the U.S. for three-week mentorships with participants of the annual Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit - among them Ursula Burns of Xerox, Laura Lang of Time Inc., Marissa Mayer of Yahoo, and Tory Burch.
Read more
