Jeff Bezos' brutal ‘drenched sheets’ test for Amazon employees is reason why $2,000,000,000,000 business is so successful

Jeff Bezos recently shared the one thing he asked of his employees to help turn Amazon into the massive success it is today.

Thirty years ago, Amazon was nothing but an entrepreneurial business plan in founder Jeff Bezos' garage in Bellevue, Washington.

Now, Amazon is the largest online retailer in the world with a net worth of $2.21 trillion as of November 7, 2024.

And Bezos himself - the second-richest person in the world - has hit a new personal record with a net worth of $228 billion, topped only by Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

But you don't grow a $2.07 trillion business without a lot of blood, sweat and tears. For Bezos, the sweat was the most important.

In a 1999 interview with CNET, just two years after Amazon went public, Bezos shared a unique 'test' he used to get the most out of his employees.

Michael M. Santiago / Staff / Getty Images

He described his team as 'the hardest working, most talented, most passionate, most customer-focused' group around.

But Bezos wanted to make sure work was always on his employees' minds.

"I asked everyone around here to wake up terrified every morning, their sheets drenched in sweat," he explained.

It might sound a little extreme, but his goal was to keep them on their toes.

Bezos, now Amazon's executive chairman, added that employees should be 'very precise about what it is they’re afraid of'.

For him, that fear shouldn't be about competitors: "They should be afraid of our customers because those are the folks we have a relationship with."

The 60-year-old added: "Those are the folks who send us money...I believe that our customers are loyal to us right up until the second that somebody else offers them better service.”

Phira Phonruwiangphing / Getty Images

This intense 'customer obsession' has become a core value for Amazon. For one, Bezos showed his pretty unorthodox methods of testing customer service mid-meeting.

While this approach may seem a little intense, and probably put you off working for major corps like these, you probably wouldn't also expect anything less.

Apple, for example, has strict rules on employee confidentiality and how much information you can disclose as an employee.

Meanwhile, the likes of Elon Musk have been making headlines for his tricky questions that he loves asks during Tesla’s extremely complex hiring process.

At Tesla, candidates often reportedly face up to nine interviews to secure a role with some of the hardest interview procedures involved.