He did it to prove a point about customer service.
There’s nothing like checking in on your own business to make sure things are running smoothly.
One time, Jeff Bezos called up his founded company Amazon back in its earlier days.
On the Lex Fridman Podcast, the former Amazon CEO shared a story about the time he rang up Amazon customer service to prove a point.
During a weekly business review, Bezos noticed that the data and customer feedback didn’t match up.
‘I have a saying which is: when the data and the anecdotes disagree, the anecdotes are usually right,’ the 60-year-old said.
He explained that if customers are complaining but the metrics don’t show a problem, it’s a matter of data measurement.
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‘It’s usually not that the data is being miscollected, it’s usually that you’re not measuring the right thing,’ he explained.
In this case, metrics showed customers were waiting less than 60 seconds to reach customer service, but many were complaining about long wait times.
So Bezos went straight up to the head of customer service and said: ‘Let’s call.’
The billionaire went on: ‘I picked up the phone and I dialled the 1800 number and called customer service.
‘And we just waited in silence,’ Bezos chuckled.
When Lex asked what the wait time actually was, Bezos said it turned out to be ‘way longer’ than expected. ‘More than 10 minutes I think.’
However, according to Bezos, the call ‘dramatically made the point that something was wrong with the data collection.’
David Ryder/Stringer / Getty
He called this an example of ‘truth-telling.’
Despite being ‘uncomfortable’, this is the best way to get people to listen to you and buy into what you’re saying. A powerful tool in business.
The YouTube comments have been loving the Bezos approach.
‘Imagine sitting in the boardroom waiting in silence for 10min for customer service to pick up after you just told Jeff the data shows it is only 60 seconds and everything is fine lol,’ the first comment read.
A second user pointed out the difference between Amazon’s customer service back then to now, writing: ‘Kind of ironic that, these days, they make it very difficult to interact with a real person.’
A third replied: ‘Amazon’s service has gone WAYYYYYYY down since Bezos stepped aside. I used to buy nearly 95% from Amazon and that has gone down to probably less than 50%. They are not who they used to be.’
Another user joked: ‘Imagine working in the call centre and Jeff rings you himself hahaha’.
Jeff Bezos called Amazon customer service in the middle of a meeting and it was ‘uncomfortable’
He was trying to prove a point
Jeff Bezos once put Amazon’s customer service to the test to make sure things were running as they should.
In the early days of Amazon, way before it became the e-commerce giant we know today, there was a hitch on the customer service front.
On the Lex Fridman Podcast, Bezos shared the story of how he personally called Amazon’s support line during a weekly business review.
The issue was that the data didn’t match the customer feedback.
“I have a saying which is: when the data and the anecdotes disagree, the anecdotes are usually right,” the 60-year-old explained.
Eugene Gologursky/Stringer / Getty
At the time, metrics showed customers were waiting less than 60 seconds to reach support, but complaints about long wait times suggested otherwise.
Bezos assured that it wasn’t a matter of ‘miscollected data’ but that the company wasn’t ‘measuring the right thing.’
The tech mogul previously coined the phrase: “Start with the customer and work backwards” so his way of doing things certainly isn’t out of character.
Taking matters into his own hands, the billionaire approached the head of Amazon’s customer service and said, “Let’s call.”
He recalled: “I picked up the phone and I dialled the 1800 number and called customer service.
“And we just waited in silence.”
The boss of the company soon found out that he was right. The wait time for customer service turned out to be ‘way longer’ than expected: “More than 10 minutes I think.”
That painfully long wait made it clear something wasn’t adding up with the data collection.
Nathan Stirk/Contributor / Getty
Bezos called this a lesson in ‘truth-telling.’ And while this approach is uncomfortable for many, Bezos regards it as a powerful way to prove a point and get people on board.
Responses to the YouTube clip agreed with Bezos, saying that Amazon isn’t the same now.
“Amazon’s service has gone WAYYYYYYY down since Bezos stepped aside. I used to buy nearly 95% from Amazon and that has gone down to probably less than 50%. They are not who they used to be,” one viewer commented.
“Imagine sitting in the boardroom waiting in silence for 10min for customer service to pick up after you just told Jeff the data shows it is only 60 seconds and everything is fine lol,” another user described.
Noticing how times have changed for the worse, one other viewer added: “Kind of ironic that, these days, they make it very difficult to interact with a real person.”
Another user joked: “Imagine working in the call centre and Jeff rings you himself hahaha”.
Jeff Bezos called Amazon customer service in the middle of a meeting and it was ‘uncomfortable’
He was on hold for 10 minutes
Jeff Bezos once called up his founded company Amazon back in its earlier days to see if things were really running as they should.
The former Amazon CEO shared a story on the Lex Fridman Podcast about how he personally called the company’s customer service to prove a point.
Of course, this was way back in the early days of Amazon before it became the huge e-commerce giant that we know today.
During a weekly business review, Bezos noticed a mismatch between the data and customer feedback.
“I have a saying which is: when the data and the anecdotes disagree, the anecdotes are usually right,” the 60-year-old said.
In this case, metrics showed that customers were waiting less than 60 seconds to reach support, but complaints about long wait times suggested otherwise.
Karwai Tang/Contributor / Getty
“It’s usually not that the data is being miscollected, it’s usually that you’re not measuring the right thing,” Bezos explained.
So Bezos being Bezos decided to take matters into his own hands.
He went straight up to the head of customer service and said: “Let’s call.”
“I picked up the phone and I dialled the 1800 number and called customer service,” the billionaire said with a laugh.
“And we just waited in silence.”
When Lex asked what the wait time actually was, Bezos said it turned out to be ‘way longer’ than expected: “More than 10 minutes I think.”
The call, that left Bezos on hold for over 10 uncomfortable minutes, dramatically made the point that something was wrong with the data collection.
He called this an example of ‘truth-telling.’
NurPhoto/Contributor / Getty
Although this method can be pretty ‘uncomfortable’ – and not one that would be received well by many employees – Bezos regards it as a powerful way to get people to listen to you and buy into what you’re saying.
The YouTube comments were all for Bezos’ approach.
“Imagine sitting in the boardroom waiting in silence for 10min for customer service to pick up after you just told Jeff the data shows it is only 60 seconds and everything is fine lol,” the first comment read.
A second user noticed the difference with Amazon’s customer service today, writing: “Kind of ironic that, these days, they make it very difficult to interact with a real person.”
A third replied: “Amazon’s service has gone WAYYYYYYY down since Bezos stepped aside. I used to buy nearly 95% from Amazon and that has gone down to probably less than 50%. They are not who they used to be.”
Another user joked: “Imagine working in the call centre and Jeff rings you himself hahaha”.
Amazon CEO reveals ’embarrassing’ moment Jeff Bezos called him out in a huge meeting
He felt awkward being put on the spot
It can be pretty awkward when your boss singles you out, especially in front of everyone.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy admitted the time this happened to him during a meeting.
The CEO talks about the importance of ‘earning trust’ in business on the Inside Amazon channel on YouTube.
He described the ways to earn trust as a leader like delivering results, speaking up, owning mistakes, being self-critical, fixing issues, and using the data to back up claims.
Leaders must also speak their minds even when it’s ‘awkward or embarrassing.’
To illustrate his point, Jassy shared a personal story.
Thos Robinson / Stringer / GettyThos Robinson / Stringer / Getty
Thos Robinson / Stringer / Getty
‘I’ll tell you a short story that’s a personal story,’ he said. ‘It’s a little bit embarrassing but I’ll share it.’
Jassy explains that back in the early 2000s, when he was co-leading the marketing team, he had to present their operating plan to the sales team.
Back then, we were still using PowerPoint presentations. We had a slide deck that was 220 slides if you can believe, it was a six-hour meeting,’ Jassy explained.
‘I was presenting the first 80 slides,’ Jassy said describing his moment of interruption.
Just ten slides in, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos interrupted him saying: ‘All your numbers are wrong on this slide.’
Taken aback, Jassy responded by asking the Blue Origin founder why he made such a bold statement.
‘Within a few seconds of him starting to dissect these numbers, I realised that he was right,’ Jassy said realising that all the numbers were indeed incorrect.
‘I was, of course, embarrassed and I said you’re right.’
Karwai Tang / Contributor / Getty
Bezos kept his CEO on the spot, replying: ‘Why should I believe anything else in this presentation if those numbers are wrong?’
Surprisingly though, the meeting did continue, covering the whole 200 slides.
‘It was a very good learning experience,’ Jassy admitted in the video. ‘I wasn’t resentful or mad at Jeff for pointing that out.’
Instead, he views it as a ‘very valuable lesson on what it means to dive deep and what it means to have ownership over the detail in your presentations.’
To sum up his story, Jassy says he earned Bezos’ trust by owning up to his mistakes, being vocally self-critical and using the experience to improve for next time.
Despite the awkward encounter, Jassy believes he’s become a better presenter because of it.
Jeff Bezos’ decision-making process resurfaces and everyone is pointing out the same thing
The tech billionaire was seriously humbled
Jeff Bezos must have made some of the right choices to make Amazon the global behemoth it is today, and one of his go-to decision-making processes has resurfaced, leading everyone to think the same thing.
Amazon has risen from humble beginnings to one of the biggest companies in the world, and the garage bookshop origins back in 1994 feel like a long way away when you consider the scale at which the company currently operates.
While the company has made a number of costly mistakes, including an $80,000,000 flop and a decision that almost tanked the entire company, it’s founder Jeff Bezos swears by certain decision-making processes as the recipe for Amazon’s success.
Perhaps the most famous of these is what’s understood as the ‘door process’, where each decision is broken down into either a ‘one door’ or ‘two door’ process.
Jeff Bezos swears by the ‘door’ decision-making process (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
In simple terms, one door decisions are those that you can’t go back on – such as quitting your job or closing a company – whereas two door decisions are easy to revert like introducing a new product or service, or hiring someone for a job.
The goal of breaking these decisions down is to understand how you should approach the process, particularly from the perspective of speed, as one door decisions should have far more consideration than their two door counterparts due to the permanent nature of their conclusion.
This process has resurfaced on Reddit, with a recent post showing a whiteboard with Bezos’ process, outlining the two types of decision making.
One-way doors should be approached with “great deliberation and consultation,” whereas two-way doors should be “made quickly by high judgement individuals or small groups,” as it’s much easier to “reopen the door” and return to where you were.
A quote from Bezos himself indicates how important the implementation of this process is to growing organizations, explaining that “as organizations get larger, there seems to be a tendency to use type 1 decision-making processes on most decisions, including type 2 decisions.
“The end result of this is slowness, unthoughtful, risk aversion, failure to experiment sufficiently, and consequently diminished innovation. We’ll have to figure out how to fight that tendency.”
Where you might have initially thought the overall process is to lean towards the risk-averse mode as a guide for success, what Bezos actually insists is that companies take more risks and make decisions with greater speed, outlining that as the key for success.
Many underneath the Reddit post aren’t exactly taking this as the revolutionary advice that Bezos might think it is though, indicating that it’s nothing that hasn’t already been done in the world of business.
“That’s basic risk management,” one comment explains. “Not that it’s not great, but Bezos didn’t create this he’s just saying take less time on lower impact/probability risks/decisions than higher ones.”
Another adds that “this is what is known as professionalizing common sense,” as one user wonders: “Why would you need a graph for this. This is a concept a 5th grader could figure out.”
It’s hard to diminish the methodology though considering Amazon’s success, as while it might not be the most original train of though, it’s certainly worked for Bezos in his professional journey.
