One of Jeff Bezos’s most surprising and effective habits was his willingness to slow things down. He often referred to himself as the “Chief Slow-Down Officer” in meetings where he thought we were rushing an important, “one -way door” decision. This approach was seemingly at odds with our fast-paced environment.
There were several instances where my team and I would have six or seven meetings with Jeff to review multiple PR/FAQs over the course of a few months, all tied to a new product idea. By that point, most CEOs would have approved one and said “Just go” to get things moving.
Jeff didn’t.
Instead, he made us go back again and again to refine the customer experience, come up with new solutions to critical problems, and anticipate second-order effects.
This, of course, wasn’t delayed for delay’s sake or laziness or fear—it was a technique to draw out a depth of thinking and preparation that only comes after many, many iterations. As Jeff has stated, true invention requires wandering.
This thinking also manifested in the way Jeff ran meetings. When presenting a new idea, we’d start with 15-20 minutes of silent reading of the classic 6-page memo and PR/FAQ. These meetings often included people outside the directly responsible team who would “slow things down” because they didn’t have full context.
This allowed the ideas to be pressure-tested from a diverse set of perspectives.
Then, in the meetings, Jeff encouraged open, honest debate. He said “Never seek consensus for the sake of cohesion” and he constantly looked for alternative arguments and encouraged us to do so as well, all as a method to challenge assumptions and avoid groupthink.
This whole approach reflected a “measure twice, cut once” mentality. When you slow down enough to think deeply and rigorously, you make better decisions and you move faster in the long run.
