{"id":117522,"date":"2023-11-13T09:01:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-13T13:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=117522"},"modified":"2025-09-03T16:02:44","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T20:02:44","slug":"how-amazon-became-successful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-amazon-became-successful\/","title":{"rendered":"How Amazon Became Successful By Doing Things Differently"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What explains how Amazon became successful? What did the company do differently?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Amazon became successful by creating a strong business culture based on giving value to the customer before all else. If you take a close look at Amazon\u2019s guiding principles and strategies, you\u2019ll see that many of its tools can be used in other businesses too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Continue reading to see how Amazon grew from a startup into the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-makes-a-business-successful\/\">successful business<\/a> it is today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p><em>Editor\u2019s note: This article is part of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/hub\/professional\/success-guide\/\">Shortform\u2019s guide to success<\/a>. If you like what you read here, there\u2019s plenty more to check out in the guide!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-how-amazon-established-a-culture-of-success\">How Amazon Established a Culture of Success<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>To understand how Amazon became successful, let&#8217;s compare it with other businesses. <strong>Amazon is more successful than other, more traditional businesses because they consistently do things differently<\/strong> than traditional business wisdom would dictate. Consistently doing things differently is more difficult than it sounds. As a company grows, it becomes impossible for one leader to directly ensure that workers throughout the organization persistently follow an unconventional <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/your-path-to-success\/\">path to success<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Amazon solved this problem once the company began to scale up: First,<strong> managers wrote a list of guiding principles that embodied everything effective about their unique organization<\/strong>. These are rules of thumb intended to shape employee behavior at every level of the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then, <strong>Amazon managers designed their internal business practices so employees would act in line with those guiding principles. <\/strong>In other words, they provided workers with models for how to do their jobs that required them to follow the company\u2019s principles.<strong> <\/strong>Any company can use this process to establish a productive company-wide culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Building Your Culture Around Virtues and Rules<\/strong><br><br>In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/what-you-do-is-who-you-are\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>What You Do Is Who You Are<\/em><\/a>, Ben Horowitz delves into greater detail about how leaders can establish and scale an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/strong-organizational-culture\/\">organizational culture<\/a>. Horowitz agrees that companies can find outsized success by establishing a culture that\u2019s vastly different from the industry standard. Further, he notes that doing so <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/what-you-do-is-who-you-are\/chapter-1#why-culture-matters\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">can powerfully impact the world beyond your organization<\/a>. If your unorthodox culture proves to be successful, other organizations will mimic it, potentially making your culture the new industry standard.<br><br>Horowitz offers slightly different advice for leaders who want to continue shaping their organization\u2019s culture as it grows. He refers to the guiding principles a leader must establish as virtues, modeling them after the honor code of the Japanese samurai. Unlike Bryar and Carr, he emphasizes that those virtues <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/what-you-do-is-who-you-are\/chapter-2#lesson-1-always-be-aware-of-death\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">should be meaningful and valuable beyond the success or failure of your business<\/a>. If your company went out of business tomorrow, you\u2019d still be proud that your employees embodied those virtues. Such noble virtues could include <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/personal-accountability\/\">personal accountability<\/a>, social responsibility, or the willingness to collaborate.<br><br>Horowitz offers an arguably simpler solution for reinforcing these virtues than redesigning your business practices from the ground up: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/what-you-do-is-who-you-are\/chapter-2#example-creating-a-rule-to-enforce-a-virtue\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Just set rules that directly mandate employees to apply the company\u2019s virtues<\/a>. This way, you don\u2019t need to do the hard work of engineering perfect instructions\u2014you can let employees find their ideal business practices within the constraints of your rules. For example, if you want to center your company around the virtue of \u201cwillingness to collaborate,\u201d you can make it a rule that only teams\u2014not individuals\u2014can receive praise or rewards for the success of a project.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-amazon-s-primary-guiding-principle\">Amazon\u2019s Primary Guiding Principle<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>What specific principles does Amazon use to remain such a success? Amazon\u2019s foremost guiding principle is that<strong> providing a valuable, satisfying customer experience is the company\u2019s top priority<\/strong>. Amazon\u2019s success is largely due to founder Jeff Bezos\u2019s insistence that the surest way to maximize revenue is to provide the most value to customers in the long term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In practice, <strong>Amazon employees apply this guiding principle by <\/strong><strong><em>working backwards<\/em><\/strong>\u2014first, they identify the valuable experience they want to provide to customers. Then, they seek out the resources and skills they need to provide that experience and develop a strategy to create that experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In contrast, many traditional companies <em>work forwards<\/em>: They take stock of the skills and resources they have at their disposal, then choose to pursue business opportunities that they\u2019re already prepared for. In other words, they provide customers with experiences that are easier for them to provide rather than experiences that customers want but don\u2019t yet have. Companies that work forwards have little reason to grow or innovate, limiting their potential value to the customer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Working Backwards on a Business Budget<\/strong><br><br>\u201cWorking backwards\u201d doesn\u2019t mean sketching out your entire production process in reverse. For instance, after they envisioned the Kindle user experience, Amazon employees didn\u2019t work backwards step by step (choosing what distributors would <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-sell-a-product\/\">sell their product<\/a>, then choosing what manufacturers to use, then designing the internal hardware).&nbsp;Perhaps a more intuitive way to frame the idea of working backwards is: Start by deciding what you need most and are unwilling to compromise on. Amazon approaches every business decision by deciding that they\u2019re unwilling to compromise on the customer experience.&nbsp;<br><br>In contrast, traditional companies (often by default) choose <em>their current skills<\/em> and <em>resources<\/em> as the factor they\u2019re unwilling to change or compromise on, curbing their potential growth. Thus, another way to characterize \u201cworking forwards\u201d would be <em>misplaced priorities<\/em>. If a company starts by envisioning an end product but chooses to pursue a lower-quality design because it\u2019s easier in the short term, they\u2019re still working forwards.<br><br>You can apply this logic not just to product development but also to many other tasks involved in running a business. In <a href=\"https:\/\/shortform.com\/app\/book\/profit-first\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Profit First<\/em><\/a>, Mike Michalowicz provides an example of how to do so when <em>budgeting<\/em> your business. He explains that many traditional companies <a href=\"https:\/\/shortform.com\/app\/book\/profit-first\/part-1#reason-1-business-owners-em-over-em-emphasize-growth\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">choose <em>high spending<\/em> as the factor they\u2019re unwilling to compromise on<\/a>. That is, they want to spend as much money as they can to expand their business as quickly as possible, believing that this strategy will yield greater profits much more quickly. However, this strategy leaves them vulnerable\u2014if revenue slows, the business\u2019s expenses might greatly outweigh their revenue, putting them out of business.<br><br>Instead, Michalowicz recommends <a href=\"https:\/\/shortform.com\/app\/book\/profit-first\/chapter-2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">choosing steady profits as the factor you\u2019re unwilling to sacrifice<\/a>. Decide how much money you want to save, and only spend as much revenue as you have left over. Your growth will be slower, but your business will incur significantly less financial risk.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-exercise-compare-your-organization-to-amazon\">Exercise: Compare Your Organization to Amazon<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Consider how your organization compares to Amazon with these thought exercises:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>First, think about what Amazon does better than your organization: Which of their tools would have the greatest positive impact on your organization if implemented, and why? Describe how different your organization would look after implementing this tool.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What parts in your organization work better than these tools? What could you do to better utilize or improve those strengths? (For example, maybe workers at your company are unusually familiar, trusting, and collaborative. You could leverage this strength by giving subordinates more authority to start collaborative projects.)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What aspect of your organization most closely resembles Amazon? How could you tweak that part of your organization to be even better?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What explains how Amazon became successful? What did the company do differently? Amazon became successful by creating a strong business culture based on giving value to the customer before all else. If you take a close look at Amazon\u2019s guiding principles and strategies, you\u2019ll see that many of its tools can be used in other businesses too. Continue reading to see how Amazon grew from a startup into the successful business it is today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":37911,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,79],"tags":[1327],"class_list":["post-117522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-entrepreneurship","tag-working-backwards","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How Amazon Became Successful By Doing Things Differently - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Explaining how Amazon became successful requires a close look at the values and tools the company is based on. Let\u2019s investigate both.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-amazon-became-successful\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Amazon Became Successful By Doing Things Differently\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Explaining how Amazon became successful requires a close look at the values and tools the company is based on. Let\u2019s investigate both.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-amazon-became-successful\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-11-13T13:01:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-03T20:02:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/amazon-mobile.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"981\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"535\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Becca King\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Becca King\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-amazon-became-successful\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-amazon-became-successful\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Becca King\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a98d1f6c931222c11a5c5d087f3376fe\"},\"headline\":\"How Amazon Became Successful By Doing Things Differently\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-13T13:01:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-03T20:02:44+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-amazon-became-successful\/\"},\"wordCount\":1205,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-amazon-became-successful\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/amazon-mobile.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Working Backwards\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Business\",\"Entrepreneurship\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-amazon-became-successful\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-amazon-became-successful\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-amazon-became-successful\/\",\"name\":\"How Amazon Became Successful By Doing Things Differently - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-amazon-became-successful\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-amazon-became-successful\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/amazon-mobile.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-13T13:01:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-03T20:02:44+00:00\",\"description\":\"Explaining how Amazon became successful requires a close look at the values and tools the company is based on. Let\u2019s investigate both.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-amazon-became-successful\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-amazon-became-successful\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-amazon-became-successful\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/amazon-mobile.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/amazon-mobile.jpg\",\"width\":981,\"height\":535},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-amazon-became-successful\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How Amazon Became Successful By Doing Things Differently\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"description\":\"The World&#039;s Best Book Summaries\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":74,\"caption\":\"Shortform Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a98d1f6c931222c11a5c5d087f3376fe\",\"name\":\"Becca King\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7ab8ccaa06da85a3a10dc25619d2bcb4408d48fee053d0eddb8a646960874c9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7ab8ccaa06da85a3a10dc25619d2bcb4408d48fee053d0eddb8a646960874c9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Becca King\"},\"description\":\"Becca\u2019s love for reading began with mysteries and historical fiction, and it grew into a love for nonfiction history and more. Becca studied journalism as a graduate student at Ohio University while getting their feet wet writing at local newspapers, and now enjoys blogging about all things nonfiction, from science to history to practical advice for daily living.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/becca-king\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How Amazon Became Successful By Doing Things Differently - Shortform Books","description":"Explaining how Amazon became successful requires a close look at the values and tools the company is based on. Let\u2019s investigate both.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-amazon-became-successful\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How Amazon Became Successful By Doing Things Differently","og_description":"Explaining how Amazon became successful requires a close look at the values and tools the company is based on. Let\u2019s investigate both.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-amazon-became-successful\/","og_site_name":"Shortform Books","article_published_time":"2023-11-13T13:01:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-09-03T20:02:44+00:00","og_image":[{"width":981,"height":535,"url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/amazon-mobile.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Becca King","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Becca King","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-amazon-became-successful\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-amazon-became-successful\/"},"author":{"name":"Becca King","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a98d1f6c931222c11a5c5d087f3376fe"},"headline":"How Amazon Became Successful By Doing Things Differently","datePublished":"2023-11-13T13:01:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-03T20:02:44+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-amazon-became-successful\/"},"wordCount":1205,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-amazon-became-successful\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/amazon-mobile.jpg","keywords":["Working Backwards"],"articleSection":["Business","Entrepreneurship"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-amazon-became-successful\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-amazon-became-successful\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-amazon-became-successful\/","name":"How Amazon Became Successful By Doing Things Differently - Shortform Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-amazon-became-successful\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-amazon-became-successful\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/amazon-mobile.jpg","datePublished":"2023-11-13T13:01:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-03T20:02:44+00:00","description":"Explaining how Amazon became successful requires a close look at the values and tools the company is based on. Let\u2019s investigate both.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-amazon-became-successful\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-amazon-became-successful\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-amazon-became-successful\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/amazon-mobile.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/amazon-mobile.jpg","width":981,"height":535},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-amazon-became-successful\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How Amazon Became Successful By Doing Things Differently"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","name":"Shortform Books","description":"The World&#039;s Best Book Summaries","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Shortform Books","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","width":500,"height":74,"caption":"Shortform Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a98d1f6c931222c11a5c5d087f3376fe","name":"Becca King","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7ab8ccaa06da85a3a10dc25619d2bcb4408d48fee053d0eddb8a646960874c9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7ab8ccaa06da85a3a10dc25619d2bcb4408d48fee053d0eddb8a646960874c9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Becca King"},"description":"Becca\u2019s love for reading began with mysteries and historical fiction, and it grew into a love for nonfiction history and more. Becca studied journalism as a graduate student at Ohio University while getting their feet wet writing at local newspapers, and now enjoys blogging about all things nonfiction, from science to history to practical advice for daily living.","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/becca-king\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/amazon-mobile.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117522"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117522\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":145632,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117522\/revisions\/145632"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}