4 ms·

The interviewer is an asshole, "Your handlers said I could only talk to you about Kindle but that you wouldn't give specifics on its sales. That sounds paranoi

by omouse 18y ago

The interviewer is an asshole, "Your handlers said I could only talk to you about Kindle but that you wouldn't give specifics on its sales. That sounds paranoid." "Amazon has about 6 percent of all U.S. sales online. That's huge. Why muck it up with all the other businesses you've added, like manufacturing [the Kindle] and your new customer-service software?" Totally unprofessional and if I were the editor I would be embarrassed to publish this piece of shit. Just publishing Bezos's answers would be better than seeing the way SmartMoney's interview asked the questions.

aswanson 18y ago
Bezos took it in stride, he seemed to remain calm despite the idiotic line of inquiry.
sachinag 18y ago
I totally disagree. This was a smart interviewer setting the tone early - one, the interviewer appealed to Bezos' ego to get the PR handler's rules dismissed (win - Jeff answered questions about AWS) and made it clear that PR answers wouldn't be acceptable (fail - Jeff was remarkably on message). Interviewers are supposed to get interesting answers out of their subjects. Being combative and having a point of view are tactical decisions, not a sign of being unprofessional. (As an aside, Sarah Lacy's fawning over Zuck was a tactic that failed. It also might have worked if it wasn't up on stage in front of everyone. Different tactics work for different interviewers and different subjects in different settings and times.)
- jamiequint 18y ago
  Bezos is a remarkably good PR bot, his speech at Startup School last year was a 30 minute long worthy PR spiel for AWS and probably the least informative talk ever given at Startup School.
- bootload 18y ago
  "... I totally disagree. This was a smart interviewer setting the tone early ..." Nice observations on 'people hacks' sachinag. These are not things you can learn from 'books'. Where did you learn them? Negotiating in market places?
many 18y ago
For "hacker news", this place sure gives you the young republican kicks.

by omouse 18y ago

aswanson 18y ago

Bezos took it in stride, he seemed to remain calm despite the idiotic line of inquiry.

sachinag 18y ago

I totally disagree. This was a smart interviewer setting the tone early - one, the interviewer appealed to Bezos' ego to get the PR handler's rules dismissed (win - Jeff answered questions about AWS) and made it clear that PR answers wouldn't be acceptable (fail - Jeff was remarkably on message). Interviewers are supposed to get interesting answers out of their subjects. Being combative and having a point of view are tactical decisions, not a sign of being unprofessional. (As an aside, Sarah Lacy's fawning over Zuck was a tactic that failed. It also might have worked if it wasn't up on stage in front of everyone. Different tactics work for different interviewers and different subjects in different settings and times.)

jamiequint 18y ago
Bezos is a remarkably good PR bot, his speech at Startup School last year was a 30 minute long worthy PR spiel for AWS and probably the least informative talk ever given at Startup School.
bootload 18y ago
"... I totally disagree. This was a smart interviewer setting the tone early ..." Nice observations on 'people hacks' sachinag. These are not things you can learn from 'books'. Where did you learn them? Negotiating in market places?

many 18y ago

For "hacker news", this place sure gives you the young republican kicks.