Amazon’s Biggest Mistake, and the Value of Listening

Even the biggest companies can fail when they stop doing this one thing.

From a business perspective, it seems like Amazon is on the verge of conquering the world. It is expanding rapidly into new markets online, new stores off-line, and new cities for its rapidly growing office footprint. With the government seemingly disinclined to pursue any kind of anti-trust action, Amazon certainly appears unstoppable in the short term.

But even massive companies loaded with top-shelf talent can sometimes make critical errors for simple reasons, and Amazon is no different. Let’s recall the odd case of the Fire Phone, which crashed and burned (pun intended) soon after its 2014 debut.

At its earliest stages, the Fire Phone no doubt seemed like a great idea. After all, Amazon had more than enough marketing muscle; in theory, it could turn any device into a hit simply by displaying it prominently on its homepage. In addition, Amazon had a deep bench of tech talent skilled in building handheld devices, thanks to its work with the Kindle e-reader and Fire Tablet. If the necessary visionaries couldn’t be found in-house, the company also had all the money it needed to poach them from other firms.