If you’re going to give a presentation to Jeff Bezos, you’d better have your facts straight.
Andy Jassy, who eventually succeeded Bezos as Amazon CEO, learned that lesson in the early 2000s while giving a presentation to the e-commerce giant’s founder. Jassy described the experience of giving Bezos a flawed presentation as “one of my worst fears realized” In a May 15 appearance on the “How Leaders Lead” podcast.
“We worked really hard on this presentation for the senior leadership team,” Jassy said, explaining that he and his partner had put together 140 slides, and he was responsible for presenting the first half. “I get maybe three slides in and I’m talking about customer retention, and Jeff Bezos interrupted me and said ‘all the numbers on this page are wrong.’”
One of Jassy’s biggest work-related anxieties “was going into a big meeting and being exposed as not knowing what I was talking about,” he said — and as Bezos pointed out all the flaws in the numbers in front of him, “it was one of my worst fears realized.”
Faced with his error, Jassy opted to quickly admit that he was mistaken in hopes of continuing with the presentation, he said. But before letting Jassy move on, Bezos challenged his employee.
