Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and Blue Origin, returned to Miami to close the two-day America Business Forum. In his keynote, he reflected on his journey from flipping burgers to leading space innovation, sharing lessons on ambition, persistence, and invention.
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Bezos began by talking about his first job at a McDonald’s drive-through in Miami. He cleaned restrooms and dealt with spilled ketchup. He said this experience taught him humility, discipline, and the value of hard work. “If I didn’t try I would always be haunted by that regret,” he said.
Looking ahead, Bezos spoke about his dream to move heavy polluting industries off Earth. His work with Blue Origin, including launching the New Glenn rocket and exploring space-based data centers, shows his belief in human ingenuity. “We live in a very dynamic world and everything changes, so you can’t build a strategy on what’s changing. You build it on what’s not going to change,” he said. He highlighted customer needs, reliability, and quality as constants.
Bezos also praised Miami’s growing energy and culture as it becomes a tech hub. He said, “I can just feel that energy.” He gave an example of how cities and companies should operate, saying permits should give a quick yes or no, and if no, explain the changes needed to get approval.
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On leadership, he shared four key principles: focus on the customer, invent constantly, think long term, and take pride in operational excellence. He emphasized that most big decisions are reversible and changing your mind with new information is a strength.
Before leaving, Bezos painted a picture of the future: manufacturing in space, unlimited materials, and renewable energy. “This is something multiple generations will work on, but it will happen,” he said. His message was clear: true ambition is not just starting something new but building it to last.
