When I was at Amazon in the early 2000s, I attended a recruiting dinner with 150 prospects seated at tables of 10. Jeff Bezos sat at my table and pitched Amazon, then moved on. 2 hours later I overheard him pitching the final table with the exact same message. Consummate salesman
Salesmanship is the most underrated skill required of a CEO. It’s not as much fun as strategy, product development, culture, etc. But it’s critical to building a company. Repetition polishes a story like a soft stone. We’ve all heard Bezos tell the same stories over and over...
Great CEOs are like politicians, they understand the importance of repetition and stump speeches. Don’t change your message to keep yourself entertained, most people in the audience are hearing it for the first time. Find your story and share it generously.
