An Interview With Eric Seufert About Apple, Facebook, and Mobile Advertising⁠↗

I’ve written about Apple and Amazon’s organizational designs on various occasions, including Apple’s Organizational Crossroads and The Amazon Tax. What is fascinating is that the two companies are polar opposites of each other: Apple is extremely centralized and focused, befitting its obsession with being the best, while Amazon is extremely decentralized and independent, befitting its obsession with experimentation. It’s why Apple is known for multiple groundbreaking products, while Amazon is known for multiple groundbreaking businesses. I think, though, the fact they are so drastically different speaks to why Bezos and Jobs rank so highly as CEOs: the only way you end up on the extreme end of the organizational structure axis is via clear intent and purpose from the leader. Meanwhile, the vast majority of companies, even extremely successful ones, end up somewhere in the middle in terms of their organizational structure; they may build great products, particularly as long as their founders are leading the way, but in the very long run products are downstream from organizations. Meandering to the middle is a recipe for mediocrity and malaise in the very long run, and Bezos and Jobs, more than any tech leader that I have studied, worked tirelessly to attack this sort of decay at its root.