4 things you need to become a long-term thinker

Valuable lessons from Bezos, Buffett, and Gates.

Jeff Bezos wrote his first letter to Amazon shareholders in 1997. Amazon had just gone public and Bezos told investors he would be making decisions for the long term and that short-term Wall Street reactions would not influence his direction and decisions for the company. In 1999, Barron’s put “Amazon.bomb” on its cover. By late 2001, Amazon’s stock suffered a major fall. It plummeted below $6 per share. Investors were not happy. But Bezos kept building warehouses, improving Amazon software, and working on customer trust. And he attached his first 1997 letter to every annual report. He wanted investors to trust his long-term vision.