People Matter

Long-Term Thinking In Our World of 13-Week Cycles

Posted on June 22, 2012 at 7:52 pm

This week I was struck by content that matters.  It was a Wall Street Journal article entitled: What Makes Jeff Bezos Tick? A $42 Million Clock, for Starters.”  In it, Mr. Bezos is quoted about his clock: “The reason I’m doing it is that it is a symbol of long-term thinking, and the idea of long-term responsibility.”  This huge clock, being designed and built deep inside a mountain on Bezos’s West Texas property, will last longer than Timex, which can “take a licking and keep on ticking.”  Bezos’s clock is a “The 10,000 Year Clock.”

Separately, Ann Curry is reportedly on her way out as a co-host of The Today Show in less than a year.  She is the casualty of more than a ratings dip – The Today Show finished number two in the ratings recently to Good Morning America.

In the broadcast world, 13 weeks is a lifetime.  In the real world, a lifetime is a fleeting moment.

Andy Warhol said in 1968, “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.”

Bezos has the right idea for a lasting impression.

By the way, who reading has heard of John Cameron Swayze?  How about Albert Einstein.  Also, interesting that Warhol’s 15-minute quote lasted way beyond his lifetime – not to mention his art.

Bezos reminds us to reset our priorities – I mean clocks.