Disclosure certainty 4/5 debate potential 2/5

Bezos: Amazon and Blue Origin meetings start with 30-minute silent memo reading

Jeff Bezos · Lessons from Jeff Bezos · Dec 18, 2023 · at 20:16

Amazon and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos explains their internal meeting structure to Lex Fridman.

0:00 / 0:29exact quote · 29.1s
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“Meetings at Amazon and Blue Origin are unusual. When we get new, when new people come in, like a new executive joins, they're a little taken aback sometimes, because a typical meeting, We'll start with a six-page narratively structured memo, and we do study hall. For 30 minutes, we sit there silently together in the meeting and read. Take notes in the margins, and then we discuss.”

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