Whom can I trust? This one simple question underlies all our relationships be they personal or business. Trust in this sense means confidence in and reliance on another person’s good qualities: fairness, truth, honor, or ability.

     Sort of “old fashioned” – perhaps.  But within this burgeoning impersonal interactive digital business world, developing trust is a challenge for both management and marketing. Without trust there is no engagement, no loyalty from either customers or employees.

     The heart of activating a new level of engagement — regardless of generations — lies within these two facts. Employees are engaged when they fully accept the organization’s core values and understand how to fulfill them. Customers are engaged when these core values are reflected in the service received.

Amazon’s Impact

     On Monday, Dec. 27, 1999 TIME magazine selected Jeffrey Preston Bezos, CEO and founder of Amazon.com, as Person of the Year. They noted, “E-business is rapidly replacing the traditional kind for almost any purchase you can imagine. By the time the ribbons are off the packages this week, Americans will have spent $5 billion online for holiday gifts – more than twice as much as last year.”

     Ten years ago, TIME accurately predicted Amazon.com’s impact upon retailing: “If it is a sign of an e-world yet to come, a place in which technology allows all of us to shop, communicate and live closer together, then Jeff Bezos has done more than construct an online mall. He's helped build the foundation of our future.”

     Just ten years later, Amazon.com alone in expected to sell some $24 billion online. They offer millions of unique new, refurbished and used items in a fast growing range of product categories. While shopping at your computer, the real power of the Amazon brand becomes apparent. Customers find excellent value; prices are low, delivery fast. Customers are encouraged to swap experience by rating products purchased. It’s a unique website alive with countless varieties of insight, innovation and brainpower. The amazon.com shopping experience creates trust.

     Retailing’s market analysts classify two retailers separate from all others: Amazon.com and Wal-Mart. On Thanksgiving Day, Wal-Mart was the top visited retail website. But on Black Friday, Amazon.com took over the top spot.

Compelling Engagement

     Bezos says, “At Amazon.com, we believe that innovation has the power to change the world. As we strive to become Earth's most customer-centric company, we constantly look for new ways to innovate on behalf of our different customers: individuals who shop our global websites, merchants who sell on our platform, developers who use our infrastructure to create their businesses, and creators of the books, music, films, games and other content we sell through our websites.”

     Core values form the bedrock of Amazon.com’s character; they are the foundation of the company’s purpose and worth. Amazon.com makes decisions as a company, and as individuals, based on these six core values: customer obsession, innovation, bias for action, ownership, high hiring bar and frugality. 

     These six core values focus Amazon.com's operational strategies: achieving and maintaining an effective competitive advantage; encouraging employee and corporate performance.

 A note for your To-Do file:
No organization, small or large, can win
over the long run without engaging
both their customers and employees. 

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