Rick Dalzell's retirement tribute from Jeff Bezos
Rick Dalzell is retiring today after 10 years as Amazon's CIO. Rick is an exceptional leader, mentor, and friend to me and hundreds of other people privileged to know and work with him.
Jeff Bezos has given Rick a public tribute on the Amazon.com website as an "easter egg". It can be found by going to the Amazon Sporting Goods Page, scrolling down to the bottom, and looking for the small transparent image at the center.
Thank You, Rick Dalzell
Ten years ago, when interviewing Rick, I inadvertently tried many techniques to scare him away. First among those: I poured coffee on his shirt within ten minutes of our first meeting. Next, I showed him our fulfillment center. He wasn't impressed. It's a great testament to his vision and down-to-earth temperament that he came here anyway. Over the last decade, Rick has been the glue that has held together our engineering organization and driven us to success. He has constantly taken on new roles and brought people along to fill old ones. He has been a coach and mentor to many of us. There's no replacing Rick -- we'll instead have to figure out how to do it a completely different way.
Rick, we are all super grateful for your many amazing and lasting contributions. Thank you!
Jeff Bezos
November 2007
Congratulations Rick, and thank you!
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[11.02.07 07:45 PM]
I did give the link, which is in the title of the blockquote.
Jeff did this once before for David Risher which is similarly linked from the bottom of the "All Departments" page.
-Jesse Robbins
[11.03.07 01:20 PM]
I think they made it obscure as sort of a joke, and because they don't want customers stumbling on it.
Bezos was literally in tears when he thanked Dalzell at the all-hands company meeting the other day, he almost couldn't finish a sentence. What a couple of billionaire softies.
[11.05.07 08:51 AM]
Your first comment is on the dot ! Rick is one of those rare execs who is a friend indeed !!
Searchâ—Š Engines Web [11.02.07 07:19 PM]
It takes some time to locate that invisible image - was there a reason NOT to give the URL
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/105-8510626-2747630?ie=UTF8&docId=1000150321
Why would Bezos make this so obscure?