The Bezos Blueprint

Workbook
A leader can have the greatest idea in the world, but truly transformative leaders have sharpened
the rare ability to persuade others to take action on those ideas. They inspire teams, motivate
employees, attract customers, and convince partners and investors to join them on their journey.
They know that having a good idea isn’t good enough it they can’t sell it. In The Bezos Blueprint,
I show how to leverage advanced leadership and communication skills to stand out and get
ahead. It provides the tools and techniques to transform your team, company, or career. The
Bezos Blueprint Workbook contains ideas and activities to help you apply the techniques that
helped fuel Amazon’s success.

The hybrid workplace requires that leaders communicate effectively across channels,
geographies, and time zones. While communication is the heart of leadership, strategy, and
mission-driven success, keeping teams aligned and motivated has become more difficult—and
more critical. The ideas in The Bezos Blueprint offer practical insights and valuable lessons that
business professionals can put into action right away. It’s the first book to examine the writing
and communication strategies that Jeff Bezos pioneered at Amazon: techniques that fueled the
company’s astonishing growth. Former Amazonians who worked directly with Bezos leveraged
these communication tools as blueprints for leadership when they started their own companies.

The Bezos Blueprint teaches you how to future-proof your career by reimagining the way you
write, speak, present, and sell your ideas. This Workbook mirrors the three parts of The Bezos
Blueprint, builds off of the coaching drills featured in the book, and helps put your ideas into
action.

I am passionate about leadership and communication. You have a story to tell and I’m here to
help you unleash it. Please email me at carmine.gallo@gallocommunications.com to share your
feedback and success stories.

Your communication coach,

Carmine Gallo

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 It’s Always Day One

Day One isn’t a strategy; it’s a mindset. In his first shareholder letter in 1997, Bezos wrote that
today is “Day 1” for the Internet and Amazon.com.
For the next two decades, he used the catchphrase “I’m often asked who, of the people
as a metaphor for creating and sustaining a culture living today, I would consider to be in
of innovation no matter how large a company the same league as those I have written
becomes. The Day One mindset isn’t about the about. All were very smart, but that’s
skills you failed to learn yesterday; it’s about not what made them special. What
learning new skills to avoid failing in the future. counts is being creative and
Day One will set you up to succeed for what imaginative. That’s what makes
promises to be the most transformative decade in someone a true innovator. And that’s
human history. The Bezos Blueprint will help you why my answer is Jeff Bezos.”
stay in the Day One mindset. -Walter Isaacson

How to “Future-Proof “Your Organization:

A McKinsey survey of 18,000 people in fifteen countries identified the skills required to future-
proof your career. The 2021 Report was one of the most comprehensive studies to take into
account changes in a post-
Covid workplace along with
advances in artificial
intelligence, automation,
and digital technologies.
While “digital fluency” is a
skill set that tomorrow’s
employers find desirable,
most of the top skills
required to future-proof a
career fall under
communication in all forms.
https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/how-to-future-proof-your-
organization

The Bezos Blueprint is divided into three parts:

Part I: Set the Foundation Part II: Build a Story Structure Part III: Deliver the Plan
Great presentations start Storytelling is your competitive Practice, repeatable mission
with great writing. advantage. Persuasive statements, symbols, humanized
Writing that is clear, communication is often built in data, and messaging templates
simple, and memorable. narrative form and includes help you deliver a story that is
several story elements. memorable and inspiring.

This workbook features ideas and activities that complement each of the book’s three parts. Let’s
start with the persuasive power of the written word…

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 Part I: Set the Foundation

Simple is the New Superpower

Great communicators and leaders

speak in clear, conversational
language. Simple words with fewer
syllables make a stronger impact.

Erik Larson, author of The Splendid

and the Vile, told me that Winston
Churchill put a lot of care into the
words he chose to communicate to
the public. In a memo titled,
“Brevity”, Churchill urged
government administrators to
replace lengthy “woolly phrases”
with single words that were more
conversational. “The shorter words of
a language are usually the more
ancient,” according to Churchill. “Their meaning is more ingrained in the national character, and
they appeal to greater force.”

“I pretend that I’m talking to my sisters. I have

According to Warren no trouble picturing them: though highly
Buffett, when writing his intelligent, they are not experts in accounting or
annual letters finance…They will understand plain English, but
to Berkshire Hathaway jargon may puzzle them. My goal is simply to
shareholders… give them the information I would wish them to
supply me if our positions were reversed.”

Examples of Formal vs Informal Phrases:

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Examples of concise wording Jeff Bezos used in his shareholder letters, compared with a
hypothetical “wordy” version:

Year Wordy Concise (Bezos)

2018 “An interesting point to note—third-party “Third-party sellers are kicking our
sellers in our industry are out-performing first-party butt. Badly.”
us as first-party sellers by a noticeable
margin, so much so that there is a 8 words; only 1-2 syllable words
substantial difference.”
30 words

2007 “During this next part of the presentation, “I’ll highlight a few of the useful
I would like to review some of the dynamic features we built into Kindle that go
features of the Kindle, a device we beyond what you could ever do
recently released with the intent to with a physical book.”
maximize this market that can execute
more tasks than would be possible to 24 words; mostly 1-2 syllable words
execute reading physical books.”
46 words

2015 “Before I review the year and get into the “This year, Amazon became the
details, I’d guess I should mention that fastest company ever to reach $100
Amazon reached $100 billion in annual billion in annual sales.”
sales. What’s really impressive about that
accomplishment is that we reached that 15 words; only 3 multi-syllable
number at a faster pace than any other words
company has been able to achieve.”
48 words

How do you decide when to pick a

short word instead of a long one?
The answer is simple. Use short
words to talk about hard things: a
crisis, a complex idea, or a big idea
that you want listeners to
remember.

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 Activity: Rewrite a Wordy Example

Rewrite the content below in fewer words.

Can you get it under 30 words?

“Well, I can think of three basic models and, and I’m going to walk through the three models.
This is not to say these are the only three models, these are just the ones that come to mind
when I think about it. The first model, uh, actually, I’ll tell you all three, uh, at least a name
for each so that, so that we can correspond them. The first one is what some people would
call the product model. Second is what I’m going to call the budget model. And the third is
the objective model.” (97 words)

Answer key on page 29

“A foundational skill was my ability to simplify complex problems and communicate them
effectively.”
–Indra Nooyi, former CEO of PepsiCo

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 Writing that Dazzles, Shines, and Sparkles

“Writing, invented thousands of years ago, is a grand whopper of a tool, and I have no doubt that
it changed us dramatically.”
–Jeff Bezos
______________________________________________________________________________

Dwayn Johnson’s Instagram text (to the right) is sweet

and gracious. I was one of the fifteen million people who
“liked” it. I think it’s perfect, but grammarians would
find plenty wrong with it. I ran Johnson’s text through
grammar software and found that it violated several of
those pesky rules. Some examples include:

 A comma should be added after the word

beautiful because the next word, and, is a
coordinating conjunction in a compound
sentence.
 The sentence that starts with the subordinate
phrase to carry about my #1 goal of complete
privacy contains a dangling modifier and should be rewritten.
 The phrase no wedding planners or outside resources were hired should be rewritten in
the active voice.
 The word end in the phrase the end results is redundant and should be eliminated.
 There should be a comma afer spectacular because, once again, it separates a
coordinating conjuction in a compound sentence.

Johnson’s post doesn’t follow several “rules” and yet I wouldn’t change a thing. Yes, rules serve
a purpose, and you should understand the grammar rules of a language to develop your writing
skills. But rules imply that there’s a right answer and a wrong one. The most effective method of
expressing your ideas is the method that works. And what works might break some of the formal
“rules”. So let’s replace rules with tools…

3 Tools for Effective Writing in Business:

 Write in the Active Voice
 Avoid “Weasel” Words
 Use Parallel Structure

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Write in the Active Voice
In an active sentence, the subject of the sentence performs the action (subject + verb + object).
In a passive sentence, the subject receives the action of the verb. Your writing will be stronger if
you make the subject perform an action.

Example: Joe kicked the ball. (Active)/ The ball was kicked by Joe. (Passive)

“Two pages of the passive voice—just about any business document ever written…make me want
to scream.” -Stephen King

Avoid Weasel Words

Weasel words are words that are vague and often used as filler words. They create the impression
of meaning but actually weaken the message. According to Danny Sheridan in Write Like an
Amazonian, here are some examples of weasel words to avoid:

 “Might bring clarity”  “Significantly better”

 “Should result in benefits”  “Arguably the best”

List of “weasel words” and their concise replacements:

If you wrote the following… Replace it with:

A number of Some, few, many
At this point in time Now
Due to the fact Because
During the course of During
Final result, final outcome Result, outcome
In proximity to Near, nearby
Make a decision Decide
Meet with each other Meet
Perform an analysis of, an evaluation of Analyze, evaluate
Prior to Before
Utilize Use
Visible to the eye Visible
Wide variety Variety
According to our data We find
Take into consideration Consider
Regardless of/despite the fact that Although
It is often the case that Often
A majority of Most
In an effort/In order to To

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Use Parallel Structure
Parallel structure means using the same pattern of words to show that two or more words or
ideas are of equal importance. Words and phrases within a sentence should not only match in
structure, but also in tense. Single words should be balanced with single words, phrases with
phrases, clauses with clauses.

Example from a public Apple presenation.

“John, Paul, George, and Ringo” is more pleasing to the ear

than “John, Paul, George, and that dummer who wears the
rings.”

“Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
-Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln

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 Part II: Build a Story Structure

Some of the best business presentations are structured in three acts like many successful
Hollywood movies. Below is how Steve Jobs structured the iPhone presentation in 2007. He told
an epic story in three acts:

Epic Storytelling in Three Acts

All great stories (and presentations) should have a 3-Act Structure:

“Telling effective stories is not easy. Yet when it succeeds, it gives Sapiens immense power,
because it enables millions of strangers to cooperate and work towards a common goal.”

-Yuval Noah Harari, author of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

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Essential Scenes or “Beats”
The difference between a good story and a great one lies in a story’s scenes or “beats.” Essential
scenes or “beats” are events that drive a story forward, and are often built into one of the three
parts in a 3-Act story structure. They create the suspense, tension and excitement that audiences
adore. By building the following four beats into your pitches and presentations, your audience
will be riveted to every word:

Catalyst: In screenplay writing, the catalyst is often called the “inciting incident”, an event that
disrupts the status quo, starts the adventure, and drives the story forward.

Debate: Even heroes have their doubts. They need to do some soul searching
or confer with other characters before choosing to embark on their journey.
Change is scary. Since most people prefer the status quo, we can relate to
others who want things to stay the same. But we love to see those outliers who
find the courage to follow their dreams and seek a life of adventure.

Fun and Games: This is the fun part of a screenplay or business presentation.
These beats are easy to spot and necessary to break up the tension. We don’t
always want to see the main character struggle. We crave lighter moments.
These scenes are quirky, surprising, or funny escapades.

All is Lost: In a movie, this is the scene when two star-crossed lovers lose all hope that they’ll
ever be together, or the heroes are inches away from being killed. The main character is as far as
possible from achieving their dreams—or so it seems. How they climb out of the “dark night of
the soul” is what gives a story its power to inspire.

Look at your own content for your next presentation. Can you build a 3-Act Story Structure
around your product, service, company or idea? What beats can you incorporate? The more your
message reads like a great story, the more inspired your audience will be to take action. On the
next page, you’ll find examples of beats in famous movies and in business to spark ideas…

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Beat Hollywood Example Business Example

Catalyst In Notting Hill, Anna (Julia Roberts) Starbucks CEO Howard Shultz visited a
and William (Hugh Grant) bump into café in Milan, which inspired him to
each other on a street corner. William reimagine Starbucks. That story is an
spills orange juice on the front of interesting piece of Starbucks history. If
Anna’s blouse but, conveniently, his something happened that prompted
apartment is nearby. The sparks fly you to think the way you do in your
and the adventure begins. business, share it with your audience.

Debate Thirty-five minutes into Star Wars, Netflix co-founder Marc Randolph told
after seeing a very cool hologram from me that the most common reaction he
Princess Leia asking for help, Luke received when he told people about his
Skywalker has no intention of joining idea was, “That will never work.” He
Obi-Wan Kenobi on the adventure. began to think that maybe they were
Once Luke learns the full evil of the right. But his passion for problem-
Galactic Empire; however, he changes solving, confronting real problems, and
his mind. He wants to learn the ways testing solutions kept him motivated.
of the Force and become a Jedi like his
father. There’s no turning back.

Fun & Fun & games appear in every Harry Spanx founder Sara Blakely, tells a
Games Potter film. For example, when Harry founder story in her presentations
arrives at Hogwarts, Harry is sorted about how she cut the feet out of a pair
into Gryffindor, where he explores the of pantyhose to wear to a party when
castle and plays on the house she couldn’t find the right
Quidditch team. undergarment for her outfit.

All is Lost Iron Man Tony Stark barely survives a James Dyson frequently tells the story
mission after getting attacked by of “failing” 5,126 times before he
enemies. The accident leaves him with successfully built the first bag-less
a chest full of bomb fragments and a vacuum, a product that would make
car battery attached to his heart. He him a billionaire. The odds were
invents a way to use the battery to stacked against him. He was running
power him, and escapes the cave he out of time and money. But with every
was stuck in. This all of lost moment is failure, Dyson learned something that
turned around and Iron Man is born. brought him closer to his goal.

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 Origin Stories

Every business has a story of how it started and why it exists, and that story connects you or your
company to your audience. The best origin stories follow a 3-Act Structure. Successful
entrepreneurs tell origin stories to educate customers, raise money, pitch ideas, build trust, and
wow their audiences.

“It’s really important to bring your personal story into the brand
identity. People associate the brand with a human being and that
person’s story. It adds tremendous meaning and value to them.”

-Kara Goldin, founder and CEO, Hint

Allbirds is a shoe company with an origin story its co-founder Tim Brown shares with investors
and customers. It mirrors the values and vision of the brand. Tim was a professional athlete on
the New Zealand football team and with a passion for finding the most comfortable, sustainable
shoe. Partnering with Joey Zwillinger, a biotech engineer and renewable materials expert,
Allbirds was launched in 2016. The company went public in 2021, has dominated the sustainable
shoe market, and has been coined, along with Adidas, as maker of “the world’s most eco-friendly
shoe.”

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 Activity: Identify the Three Acts

Identify the three acts in the Warby Parker origin story below.

Warby Parker was founded in 2010 by a group of entrepreneurs who had a vision to disrupt the
traditional eyewear industry. Order eyeglasses from the company, and you’ll find a cleaning cloth
in the case. It doesn’t have the company logo; it has a story instead. The story fits on the cloth
because it’s under 100 words:

Once upon a time, a young man left his glasses on an airplane. He tried to buy new glasses.
But new glasses were expensive. “Why is it so hard to buy
stylish glasses without spending a fortune on them?” he
wondered. He returned to school and told his friends.
“We should start a company to sell amazing glasses for
non-insane prices,” said one. “We should make shopping
for glasses fun,” said another. “We should distribute a
pair of glasses to someone in need for every pair sold,”
said a third. Eureka! Warby Parker was born.

Act I:

Act II:

Act III:

Answer key on page 29

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 The Narrative Information Multiplier

“You can recognize truth by its beauty

and simplicity.”

-Richard Feynman

The process of writing narratives allows you to refine, clarify, and articulate your ideas. Best of
all, anyone can do it. Here are 4 strategies to help you draft narratives around your ideas:

Four Strategies for Great Narratives:

 Focus on Narrative, Not ‘Six-Pagers’

The key to adopting and benefiting from Amazon’s six-pager is to keep the focus on where it
belongs: the narrative. A narratively structured memo requires “topic sentences, verbs, and
nouns-not just bullet points. The ‘six-pager’ refers to a unique format that fits the needs of
Amazon’s decision-making process in senior leadership meetings. There’s no rule that a
narrative memo must be six pages. In many cases, a one-page memo does the job.

 Stick to Headings and Subheadings

Richard Feynman popularized a technique for learning new things: write the concept on a
sheet of paper in your own words, the words you would use to explain the topic to someone
else. Write the explanation in complete sentences with nouns and verbs—not bullet points.

 Don’t Rush It
A good narrative takes time and practice. Don’t expect to become a writing expert overnight.
Bezos compared writing a memo to learning how to do a handstand. Most people think they
can figure it out in a few hours or days. In reality, it could take months of practice. You can’t
rush narratives because you can’t rush clear thinking. The biggest mistake narrative writers
make is not spending enough time writing. According to Bezos, if you put in the time to make
it great, your idea will be brilliant, thoughtful, and have “the clarity of angels singing.” There’s
no higher praise.

 Collaborate to Communicate
The tradition at Amazon is to submit six-pagers with no names on them. It sends the signal
that good writing is a team effort and that no one author is solely responsible for writing a
document. Although great writing is hard to describe, Bezos says there’s no question that
teamwork elevates a document's quality. Do you need to be an extremely skilled writer to
write a world-class memo? “In my view, not so much,” says Bezos. As long as you work as a
team, he adds. “The football coach doesn’t need to be able to throw, and a film director
doesn’t need to be able to act. But they both do need to recognize high standards for those
things and teach realistic expectations on scope. Even in the example of writing a six-page
memo, that’s teamwork. Someone on the team needs to have the skill, but it doesn’t have to
be you.”
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 Working Backwards to Get Ahead

“Before we write a line of code, we start with the press release.”

-Amazon CEO, Andy Jassy

When a company launches a product

or service, it typically distributes a
press release to announce the new
offering. In most organizations, the
press release is a function delegated
to marketing and public relations.
Bezos flipped the script, challenging
A PR/FAQ should answer:
his executives to work backwards
from the customer’s perspective and 1) How will customers
to ask themselves why their
customers will love the product or
interact with the product?
service.
2) How is it different?
The working-backwards document at
Amazon became known as the 3) What features are the
PR/FAQ. Here are just a few products most appealing?
or ideas that evolved from a PR/FAQ:
4) Why will customers love
 Amazon Prime it?
 Prime Video
 Amazon Echo and Alexa
 KINDLE

“Writing ideas and proposals in complete narratives results in better ideas, more clarity on the
ideas, and better conversation on the ideas.”

-John Rossman, former Amazon executive

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Apply the PR/FAQ concept to your own content. Answer the following for questions about your
product, service, company or idea:

1. How will my product, service, company or idea improve people’s lives?

2. How is it different?

3. What features or benefits are most appealing?

4. Why will customers love it?

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 Part III: Deliver the Plan

“Practice is not something you do because you’re bad. Practice is something

you do because you’re good.”
-Carmine Gallo

The key to becoming an authentic and charismatic communicator is not to

change who you are. Embrace the attributes that make you unique. Celebrate
your strengths and abilities. We all have them. They are variables that won’t
change. Build on them. Save your efforts for the two variables you can
sharpen: message/content and practice time. Great communicators put in
practice time because time is what makes communicators great.

If you focus on these three factors, you will improve your delivery and AMP your presentations:

Ability (Constant) To gauge what your natural abilities might be, ask:
Have you always been comfortable speaking in front of
It reflects your individual others? Are you creative with words or have great content
strengths and natural talents knowledge? Do you have a resonating vocal tone? Are you
that often don’t change. comfortable incorporating humor into your presentations? Do
Strengths are noticeable at all you have athletics or performing arts experience that make
stages of your presenation skill your posture and body language more dynamic?
development, and you express
them without effort.

Message (Not Constant) Your message is a variable you can change and develop. To
gauge how strong and impactful your message is, ask:
The written and visual content Is your content emotionally resonant? Do you have a clear
of your presentation; includes theme? Lists of three? Relevant examples? Is your content
word choice, stories, slides and understandable? Do you tell stories behind the data? Are your
any other content-based assests stories relevant to your topic or audience? Do your slides
of your presenation. complement your message? Are they visually appealing?

Practice (Not Constant) The amount of time you invest in this variable is adjustable. To
customize your practice efforts, ask:
The time you spend How much time have you dedicated to internalizing your
internalizing content and presentation material so you can communicate in a
deliverying it in from start to conversational style without relying too heavily on your
finish. Extensive practice slides? If you are using props or giving a
enables you to put less demo, have you given yourself time to go
attention on mechanics and through the motions? Do your stories run
more on listeners. too long? Do you advance your slides at the
appropriate point in your delivery?

18
Identifying your natural strenghts first helps you determine how much time you should devote
to crafting the perfect message and practicing your delivery. This firgure shows an example of
how two different individuals, one with strong natural abilities and one with fewer natural
abilities, can both become great presenters by investing the right amount of time in crafting a
strong message and praciticing delivery.

A person with MORE natural Ability as a speaker still needs to have a great Message and some
Practice time to refine the delivery of that message.

A person with LESS natural Ability also requires a great Message, and much more Practice time.

Anyone can become a great presenter. Great communicators are not born, they are made.

19
 Video Analysis

In Chapter 12, I included video samples of Bezos through his career. He consistently showed
natural strengths such as creativity, humor and topic knowledge each time he presented. What
stood out was how his word choice improved with practice and message refinement over the
years:

1998 Lake Forest Keynote 2019 Blue Origin Keynote

Bezos is long winded during many parts of Bezos’ delivery is sharp, tight and concise. He
the presentation, he reads from notes, and appears comfortable and unhurried. He
often stumbles or pauses when he loses his pauses for dramatic effect and delivers well-
place: crafted lines:

 “So let’s see [looks down at notes]. I tried  “You don’t choose your passions. Your
to actually pick more the interesting passions choose you.”
anecdotes” [scans notes for stories].
 “Look at Earth. Earth is incredible.”
 “So, we, which was basically the way,
May of, I guess, ’96, it took them about a  “It’s time to go back to the moon. This
year from that point to launch a website.” time to stay.”

 “Finally, it’s a, it’s a win for…I can’t  “It will be a beautiful place to live. It will be
remember who I did already” [refers to a beautiful place to visit. It will be a
notes and tells the audience he’s trying to beautiful place to go to school.”
remember what he already used].
 “We’re going to build a road to space, and
then amazing things will happen.”

Video is a simple, valuable tool to help you assess your natural abilities and identify areas for
improvement your messaging. Here are questions to ask when reviewing video of yourself
practicing a speech or presention:

 What natural strengths do you notice?

(e.g., storytelling, humor, strong writing, well-designed slides, good posture, strong vocals)
 Is your theme—logline—clear? Do you reveal it right away and deliver it consistently
throughout?
 Are you using too many words to get your point across? What sentences or phrases can you
eliminate the next time you practice?
 Do you have too much text on your slides? Do you have a plan for how you will direct
listeners to focus on data heavy slides?
 Do you use filler words like “uh” or “um”? Do you begin your sentences with repetitive
“empty” phrases like “again”, “as I said before”, or “if you recall”? Do you end your sentences
with extraneous words or phrases like “you know”, “right,” or “does that make sense”?

20
 Make the Mission Your Mantra

“The best CEOs create a game-changing vision for their company and mobilize employees around
it. The most inspiring vision of all is so clear that a leader doesn’t have to do anything but get out
of the way.”
–Carolyn Dewar, McKinsey Partner, co-author CEO Excellence

According to a report by Deloitte Consulting, “purpose-oriented organizations” have 30% higher

levels of innovation and 40% greater workforce retention. Deloitte’s research found that leaders
and organizations who fail to articulate the company’s purpose to customers, employees,
partners, and investors “run the risk of failing behind or failing entirely.”

Repeatable Mission
A successful strategy starts with a clear and compelling—and repeatable—mission. The words
matter. Words define your actions and your actions define your outcome. Use precise words and
conversational language that you feel comfortable repeating over and over. If your mission is
over 10 words, it’s too long. Amazon is one of America’s biggest companies whose mission is
expressed in five words: Earth’s most customer-centric company. Many of the world’s most
successful brands are driven by leaders who articulate the company’s overarching purpose
clearly, consistently, and frequently. Here are examples:

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 Symbols that Convey Big Ideas

“Symbols can be very powerful.” –Jeff Bezos

Communication comes in different languages and symbolism is an important language. Yes,

money motivates. But researchers are finding that meaning is a powerful motivator as well.

3 Types of Symbols:

Visual Symbols are images or objects that people can see and touch. Coins and
flags are visual, as are empty chairs and door desks.

Auditory Symbols are what you hear. Stirring music or a group cheer are auditory
symbols. In Amazon’s early days, a ringing bell signified a sale. It
was motivating at first when the company had half a dozen orders per day. As the
company’s sales soared, the bell went from inspiring to annoying. The symbol had
a short life.

Spatial Symbols are places and space that carry

special meaning. Buildings and spaces tell a story.
At Amazon, Bezos worked in a building named “Day
1.” When he moved buildings, he took the name
with him. The simple phrase captures the
emotional vitality of a startup and serves as a
reminder to have a beginner’s mind, no matter
how large the organization grows.

22
 Humanize Data

“Everybody likes numbers. It’s just a matter of giving people a strong enough reason to
appreciate them.” -Malcom Gladwell

IDC estimates that the sum of the world’s data,

compounding at an annual rate of 60 percent, will
grow from 33 zettabytes in 2018 to 175 zettabytes
by 2025. With no context, there’s no way to get
your mind around such a number. Put it this way:
175 zettabytes is the equivalent of a trillion
gigabytes. Still confused? Let’s try it another way:
If you could store 175 zettabytes on DVDs, the
stack of discs would circle the Earth 222 times.

3 Ways to Humanize Data:

Size: Size and weight comparisons are

common because they work. Bezos is fond of
such comparisons and began using them
early and often in his shareholder letters and
public presentations.

Distance: Using
distance measures is
another way to make
data relatable.
Example: The Sagan
Planet Walk in Ithaca,
New York, was built
to put the mind-
bending distances of
space into context
the average person
could understand.
Stone obelisks
represent the sun
and planets—the space between them has been reduced in size by a factor of five billion. Visitors
walk about nine yards to get from the Earth to the sun but must hike 15-minutes to reach Pluto.
The exhibit expanded considerably with the addition of a stone representing Alpha Centauri, the
nearest star to our sun, which shines 4.3 light-years away. The star’s obelisk, reduced to scale,
sits 5,000 miles away at the Imiloa Astronomy Center in Hawaii.

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 Time: Bezos also loves making time comparisons, especially
when he can relate data to how much time the consumer
saves. Example: “Consumers complete 28% of purchases on
Amazon in three minutes or less,” Bezos wrote in the 2020
shareholder letter. Left alone, those two numbers—28 and 3—
don’t mean much. That’s why Bezos adds the following
explanation: “Compare
that to the typical shopping
trip to a physical store—
driving, parking, searching
store aisles, waiting in the
check-out line, finding your car, and driving home. Research
suggests the typical physical store trip takes about an hour. If
you assume a typical Amazon purchase takes 15 minutes and
that it saves you a couple of trips to a physical store a week,
that’s more than 75 hours a year saved. That’s important.
We’re all busy.”

Activity: Put This Number into Context

Brainstorm how to put the statistic below into human terms. Make the number relatable so it
memorable and has the most impact:

The inflation rate is at 8.5% in the US as of March 2022. This is a 40-year high.

Identify a key statistic that is prominent in your industry, or one you use in your
communication. Repackage that number in a way that is understandable and memorable.

Answer key on page 29

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 The Gallo Method: Sell Your Ideas in 15 Seconds
At Gallo Communications Group, we’ve created a template that displays your story on one page.
We refer to it as the Gallo Method: a tool to craft clear, concise, and compelling messages. It’s
intended to persuade people to take action on your ideas by taking them on a journey. The
template acts as a guide to take your travelers from where they are today to your desired
destination. The logline (Chapter 4) is the main idea you want your audience to know. The
supporting points tie back to the logline:

Let’s see the message map technique applied to an Apple product:

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 Create Your Own Message Map:

Logline: What is the one thing I want my customer to know?

#1 Supporting Point #2 Supporting Point #3 Supporting Point

*Within each supporting point, use stories, analogies, humanized data or case examples.

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 14-Slide Presentation Template

You can use the message map as the outline for a 14-slide deck. This simple slide design forces
you to internalize your key messages and not overwhelm your listeners. Simple is the new
superpower and this concept applies to your presentations if you want your listeners to stay
engaged and entertained…especially in the hybrid world where more communication is taking
place virtually.

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 Invent and Wander
“Average is over…therefore, everyone needs to find their extra—their unique value contribution
that makes them stand out in whatever is their field of employment.”
–Thomas Friedman

Breakthrough ideas don’t appear on demand. Creative ideas rarely occur when you’re staring at
a blank page on a computer screen. Instead, as I explain in the conclusion of The Bezos Blueprint,
epiphanies happen when five conditions are met:

#1: Get enough sleep

#2: Stay active

#3: Let your passions choose you

#4: Be a learn-it-all

#5: Cultivate a limitless mindset

When you set the conditions for success and creativity, you’ll stand out. Differentiation is the key
to survival at a time when others want you to be typical. In his last shareholder letter as CEO,
Bezos wrote that it takes work to be distinctive when the world attempts to make you normal.
It’s easier and takes less energy to be like everyone else. It takes continuous effort, lifelong
learning, abundant energy, and relentless passion to be original. The ideas and activities in this
workbook will help you differentiate your product, service, company or brand. Wishing you
success!

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 Answer Key

Rewrite a Wordy Example:

There are three models I’m going to discuss: First, the product model. Second, the budget
model, and third, the objective model. (21 words)

Identify the Three Acts:

 Act I is the setting. Our hero leaves his glasses on an airplane.
 Act II is the conflict, the problem. Our hero finds that new glasses are expensive. So he
goes on a quest to solve the problem and attract others to join the adventure.
 Act III is the resolution. The hero and his allies start a company that makes shopping for
eyeglasses fun, inexpensive, and makes the world a better place.

Put this Number into Context:

One way to rethink this number—In the U.S, inflation means that the average household
has seen expenses rise by $275 a month. You’re paying more for just about everything from
gas and cars to food, especially eggs, milk, and meat.

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