Jeff Bezos Once Said The Universe Wants You To Be 'Typical,' But There Is A Price To Pay For Being Yourself As Well: 'Not Easy Or Free'
Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos used his final letter to shareholders as chief executive to deliver an unusually personal warning that companies and people only survive if they fight the powerful pull to become "typical."
Biology Lesson Becomes Blueprint For Corporate Originality
Published April 15, 2021, the letter's centerpiece section, titled "Differentiation is Survival and the Universe Wants You to be Typical," draws on a passage from biologist Richard Dawkins' The Blind Watchmaker describing how living organisms must constantly expend energy to stay different from their environment.
If they stop, they drift into equilibrium and "cease to exist as autonomous beings," Bezos notes, arguing the same is true for corporations and careers.
Bezos Warns World Constantly Pulls You Toward Normal
Bezos turns that biology lesson into a manifesto for originality. "The world wants you to be typical – in a thousand ways, it pulls at you. Don't let it happen," he writes, urging Amazonians to "work to maintain your distinctiveness" even when conformity would be easier.
"You have to pay a price for your distinctiveness, and it's worth it," he adds, calling the "fairy tale version of ‘be yourself'" misleading because being yourself is "not easy or free."
The letter also reiterates a theme Bezos has voiced for years, which is to value creation over consumption. "If you want to be successful in business (in life, actually), you have to create more than you consume," he wrote elsewhere in the 2020 shareholder message, telling investors their goal should be to create value for "everyone you interact with."
Messages On Distinctiveness Echo Other Business Giants
Bezos' defense of "distinctiveness" echoes other business stalwarts who frame individuality as a core asset. Warren Buffett has repeatedly told investors that "the best investment you can make is in yourself," while Charlie Munger stressed disciplined, non-copycat thinking as the foundation for a good life and sound investing.
Bezos, whose net worth stands at $254 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, ranking him as the world’s fifth-richest individual, stepped down as Amazon’s chief executive officer in 2021, but continues to serve as the Executive Chair of the company’s board of directors and remains its largest shareholder.
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