Amazon Ditching Boring Meeting Structure, Replaces Powerpoint Presentation into a Six-Page Narrative Memo

Speaking at the Bush Center's Forum on Leadership in 2018, Jeff Bezos mentioned that Amazon's nontraditional management style includes banning PowerPoint presentations, which he regards as one of the smartest decisions the company ever made.

Replacing PowerPoint with A Six-Page Narrative

Bezos created a new way to hold meetings and replaced the PowerPoint presentations with a six-page memo each attendee has to silently read for about the first 30 minutes of the meeting. Bezos believes that the memo sets the context for a fruitful discussion, where participants are encouraged to take notes and engage once the reading period ends. Bezos says group reading ensures everyone has read the memo, preventing executives from bluffing their way through meetings due to busy schedules.

Outdated and Boring PowerPoint Presentation

Before adopting memo-based meetings, Bezos noted that Amazon followed a more traditional approach where junior executives would invest a lot of effort into creating PowerPoint presentations, only to face interruptions from senior executives who jump ahead and ask about slides further along, disrupting the flow of the presentation. Bezos pointed out that while PowerPoint slides can contain complex information, he prefers memos because they contain clear and structured sentences, paragraphs, and topics.

Memos Couldn't Be Done in a Day or Two

In his 2017 shareholder letter, Bezos explained that memos are crafted collectively by the team at Amazon without individual authors' names, emphasizing that "The great memos are written and rewritten, shared with colleagues who are asked to improve the work, set aside for a couple of days, and then edited again with a fresh mind." Bezos believes this process challenges the author to refine their thoughts and has revolutionized Amazon's meeting culture.

PowerPoint presentations are never used at Amazon. Though unconventional, Amazon representatives claim this method is effective.

"Writing Culture" for a Clearer Understanding and Collaboration

Amazon's Director of Robotics, Jacqueline Underberg, says meeting quality is much better. Underberg notes that it pushes you to be concise and clear about your ideas as an engineer, not a professional writer.

Amazon emphasizes its "writing culture," where CEO Jeff Bezos writes a much-anticipated shareholder letter annually. The company website also mentions that candidates are sometimes requested to provide a writing sample when they apply.

The memo-driven meetings reflect the same approach, enforced from the top. Regardless of whether you're Nancy from HR or Bezos himself, you are expected to bring a document to meetings, according to Underberg.

Underberg has been at Amazon for around ten years, leading a team responsible for testing new technologies and software updates. They frequently meet to discuss business proposals and assess performance, but due to Amazon's unconventional meeting style, nearly everything she does is collaborative. Underberg acknowledges that the meetings can be unsettling, especially for newcomers or those who prepared the document. Still, a sense of democratization is taking place, particularly among employees who typically don't speak up in meetings and feel their opinions are ignored.

Twitter and Square Also Do the Same

Bezos isn't the only CEO who values "silent meetings." Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey also employ a similar approach. In 2018, most of his meetings were Google Doc-based, starting with 10 minutes of reading and commenting directly on the document that helps everyone align, facilitate remote work, and promote critical thinking.