Jeff Bezos: "I am highly doubtful about the meeting's success if it is not chaotic and if it overruns, that's great."

When meeting with Jeff Bezos, don't expect him to be the first to speak.

At the DealBook Summit on Wednesday, Bezos revealed that he instructs everyone to speak in reverse order of seniority during meetings, with the most junior person starting. As the head of the hierarchy, Bezos usually speaks last. This strategy helps combat "group think," he said.

In order to encourage genuine discussion and prevent the boss' opinions from unduly influencing others, Bezos only speaks up during meetings in the "very rare case" that he has a strong conviction on a topic.

According to Bezos, 64, who has served as Amazon's executive chair since stepping down as CEO in 2021, he is easily influenced but there are times when no force can move him because he is so confident in his beliefs.

Bezos wants his meetings to be "messy" and run late, with discussions and back-and-forth that wander around instead of strictly following the agenda, which often puts him behind schedule.

"Bezos stated that most useful meetings involve handing out six-page memos, conducting a half-hour study hall where they are read, followed by a messy discussion. He is highly skeptical of meetings that do not result in a messy discussion."

'Probably the smartest thing we ever did' at Amazon

In a 2018 speech, Bezos stated that changing Amazon's approach to meetings was "probably the smartest thing we ever did."

Instead of using PowerPoint presentations, Bezos replaced them with 30 minutes of silence for attendees to read detailed memos covering the planned discussion topics. Afterward, employees would offer their thoughts on the memo before Bezos did.

The silent period established the context for a productive discussion, as attendees read the memo thoroughly, according to Bezos: 'Executives will bluff their way through the meeting, pretending they've read the memo, because we're too busy.'

Last year, Lauren Sanchez, founder of Black Ops Aviation in Santa Monica, California, told the Wall Street Journal that Bezos views memos as a way to keep meetings from straying too far off topic, despite his preference for conversations that wander.

Sanchez stated that Bezos aims to keep each meeting under an hour, despite the possibility of discussions running late. Excessive time spent in meetings, whether it's for extended periods or multiple shorter sessions, can increase stress levels and hinder productivity, according to research.

Other tech executives, including Jack Dorsey, also favor Bezos' meeting method. Dorsey, the former CEO of Twitter and now known as X, starts meetings by having attendees read notes from a Google Doc for 10 minutes, as he tweeted in 2018.

Dorsey wrote that this practice enables us to work from multiple locations, fosters critical thinking, and helps us reach consensus more quickly.

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