"The tech billionaire thinks preparing a crystal-clear six-page document on what's about to be discussed is the winning formula for a productive meeting overflowing with ideas. "My perfect meeting starts with a crisp document...and a messy meeting," he said on an episode of the Lex Fridman Podcast. "I don't keep to a strict schedule. My meetings often go longer than I plan for them to because I believe in wondering.""
"including silently studying the long document for 30 minutes at the start of each meeting before opening up for discussion. Unlike PowerPoints, which Bezos says are easy to create and hide "a lot of sloppy thinking in bullet points," this process requires much more effort from the meeting leader. Meanwhile, participants can't "pretend to do the reading." "Now we're all on the same page. We've all read the memo, and we can have a really elevated discussion," he concluded."
Amazon reached the top of the Fortune 500 with $716.9 billion in full-year revenue, ending Walmart's 13-year run at number one and interrupting Walmart's long dominance. The company implements a strict meeting practice that replaces slide decks with a crystal-clear six-page memo. Participants silently read the memo for about 30 minutes before discussion, ensuring everyone starts on the same page and preventing superficial bullet-point thinking. Meetings often run longer than scheduled to allow wondering and deeper conversation. The memo-based approach requires more effort from meeting leaders and aims to produce elevated, diverse, and well-prepared discussions.
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