Jeff Bezos

It's kind of a sales tool. And internally, the last thing you want to do is sell. Again, you're truth-seeking. You're trying to find truth. And the other problem with PowerPoint is it's easy for the author to and hard for the audience. And a memo is the opposite. It's hard to write a six-page memo. A good six-page memo might take two weeks to write. You have to write it. You have to rewrite it.

It's kind of a sales tool. And internally, the last thing you want to do is sell. Again, you're truth-seeking. You're trying to find truth. And the other problem with PowerPoint is it's easy for the author to and hard for the audience. And a memo is the opposite. It's hard to write a six-page memo. A good six-page memo might take two weeks to write. You have to write it. You have to rewrite it.

You have to edit it. You have to talk to people about it. They have to poke holes in it for you. You write it again. It might take two weeks. So the author, it's really a very difficult job. But for the audience, it's much better. So you can read a half hour. There are little problems with PowerPoint presentations, too. Senior executives interrupt with questions halfway through the presentation.

You have to edit it. You have to talk to people about it. They have to poke holes in it for you. You write it again. It might take two weeks. So the author, it's really a very difficult job. But for the audience, it's much better. So you can read a half hour. There are little problems with PowerPoint presentations, too. Senior executives interrupt with questions halfway through the presentation.

You have to edit it. You have to talk to people about it. They have to poke holes in it for you. You write it again. It might take two weeks. So the author, it's really a very difficult job. But for the audience, it's much better. So you can read a half hour. There are little problems with PowerPoint presentations, too. Senior executives interrupt with questions halfway through the presentation.

That question's going to be answered on the next slide, but you never got there. Whereas if you read the whole memo in advance, I often write lots of questions that I have in the margins of these memos. And then I go cross them all out, because by the time I get to the end of the memo, they've been answered. That's why I save all that time.

That question's going to be answered on the next slide, but you never got there. Whereas if you read the whole memo in advance, I often write lots of questions that I have in the margins of these memos. And then I go cross them all out, because by the time I get to the end of the memo, they've been answered. That's why I save all that time.

That question's going to be answered on the next slide, but you never got there. Whereas if you read the whole memo in advance, I often write lots of questions that I have in the margins of these memos. And then I go cross them all out, because by the time I get to the end of the memo, they've been answered. That's why I save all that time.

You also get, if the person who's preparing the memo, we talked earlier about groupthink and the fact that I go last in meetings and that you don't want your ideas to kind of pollute the meeting prematurely. The author of the memo has kind of got to be very vulnerable. They've got to put all their thoughts out there. And they've got to go first. But that's great because it makes them really good.

You also get, if the person who's preparing the memo, we talked earlier about groupthink and the fact that I go last in meetings and that you don't want your ideas to kind of pollute the meeting prematurely. The author of the memo has kind of got to be very vulnerable. They've got to put all their thoughts out there. And they've got to go first. But that's great because it makes them really good.

You also get, if the person who's preparing the memo, we talked earlier about groupthink and the fact that I go last in meetings and that you don't want your ideas to kind of pollute the meeting prematurely. The author of the memo has kind of got to be very vulnerable. They've got to put all their thoughts out there. And they've got to go first. But that's great because it makes them really good.

And you get to see their real ideas. And you're not tromping on them accidentally in a big PowerPoint presentation.

And you get to see their real ideas. And you're not tromping on them accidentally in a big PowerPoint presentation.

And you get to see their real ideas. And you're not tromping on them accidentally in a big PowerPoint presentation.

I think it's mostly terrifying. Yeah. Like maybe in a good way? I think it's terrifying in a productive way. But I think it's emotionally a very nerve-wracking experience.

I think it's mostly terrifying. Yeah. Like maybe in a good way? I think it's terrifying in a productive way. But I think it's emotionally a very nerve-wracking experience.

I think it's mostly terrifying. Yeah. Like maybe in a good way? I think it's terrifying in a productive way. But I think it's emotionally a very nerve-wracking experience.

I mean, it's really got to be a real memo. So it means, you know, Paragraphs have topic sentences. It's verbs and nouns. That's the other problem with PowerPoint. They're often just bullet points. And you can hide a lot of sloppy thinking behind bullet points. When you have to write in complete sentences with narrative structure, it's really hard to hide sloppy thinking.

I mean, it's really got to be a real memo. So it means, you know, Paragraphs have topic sentences. It's verbs and nouns. That's the other problem with PowerPoint. They're often just bullet points. And you can hide a lot of sloppy thinking behind bullet points. When you have to write in complete sentences with narrative structure, it's really hard to hide sloppy thinking.

I mean, it's really got to be a real memo. So it means, you know, Paragraphs have topic sentences. It's verbs and nouns. That's the other problem with PowerPoint. They're often just bullet points. And you can hide a lot of sloppy thinking behind bullet points. When you have to write in complete sentences with narrative structure, it's really hard to hide sloppy thinking.