Mr. Clark’s opus: Dave Clark ‘94

That so few people know about Dave Clark is not by accident. The man behind Amazon’s vast logistics system that enables the company to ship everything under the sun in a matter of days, or even hours, prefers not to be the center of attention. Instead, he lets his work do the talking — thousands of employees, machines and online technology working in harmony, synchronized down to the second.

I had the immense privilege of flying out to Seattle to conduct this interview in person. We were taken on a tour of one of Amazon’s ‘Fulfillment Centers’ just south of the city, where we witnessed the process of moving items from their supply-carrying robots to entry points into the massive shipping and transporting system.

Going into this interview was more nerve-wracking than the actual interview itself. Clark’s carefully controlled image meant that I had access to very limited information on him before we sat down to talk. Thankfully, Dave extended our allotted half-hour interview time to a full hour, which allowed me to ask more follow-up questions when needed.

A major breakthrough, both in the interview and in my understanding of his work, came when Clark revealed that not only was he a music major, but had conducted a high school band to a successful holiday concert. This theme of “conducting” parts was the foundation for the rest of the story and practically inspired its title as well. After witnessing the ‘Fulfillment Center’ in person, the concept of using a music conductor metaphor was too obvious to ignore and I believe it’s what makes this story so unique, yet also so easy to digest.