I have to disagree with Jeff Bezos!
I have to disagree with Jeff Bezos!
Jeff Bezos is undoubtedly a genius that brought Amazon to a remarkable business success thanks to a strong focus on customer obsession,digital transformation and eager adoption of innovation, and...
... not the least: company governance (decision making)
He invented the 'always Day 1' mindset: because he says that Day 2 mindset is the beginning of decadence.
Another example is the '2 pizzas rule': no meeting where 2 pizzas couldn't feed the entire group (the idea is to limit to people absolutely necessary)
In its latest letter to shareholders, Jeff Bezos promoted a new idea: 'disagree and commit'
Here is what Jeff Bezos wrote about it:
This phrase will save a lot of time. If you have conviction on a particular direction even though there’s no consensus, it’s helpful to say, “Look, I know we disagree on this but will you gamble with me on it? Disagree and commit?” By the time you’re at this point, no one can know the answer for sure, and you’ll probably get a quick yes. This isn’t one way. If you’re the boss, you should do this too. I disagree and commit all the time. We recently greenlit a particular Amazon Studios original. I told the team my view: debatable whether it would be interesting enough, complicated to produce, the business terms aren’t that good, and we have lots of other opportunities. They had a completely different opinion and wanted to go ahead. I wrote back right away with “I disagree and commit and hope it becomes the most watched thing we’ve ever made.”
I have to disagree with the 'disagree and commit' rule.
For me, it fails to capture the reality of most companies: the scarcity of resources (people, money, IT, communication, go to market, managerial focus,...).
Of course, the CEO is not the best one to decide on everything, especially on implementation. Actually, the closer to the customer the decisions are taken the better.
The role of the CEO is to make sure (to have the right resources and) that the resources are allocated to the right projects and priorities supporting the company strategy.
Therefore, a CEO should not commit significant resources for an idea if he doesn't believe it has (at least) a chance of success and is consistent with the strategy. Note that I am talking about the moment significant resources allocation is needed, not about the ideas fertilization which should be as wide as possible.
Rather than 'disagree and commit', let's 'align and commit'!
If you want your idea to be a success, you are going to need the support of (many) others...
If you are not able to convince your CEO that your idea might be worthy, how would you convince your customers, or even your colleagues you are going to need to launch your product/service?
What about you? Would you agree to disagree?
Michaël Trabbia
Head of Maltese Interpretation unit at European Commission
6yMaybe if you spent less time worrying about other CEOs and focusing more on your organisation you'd do something about your shitty customer service
Managing Partner @ SMC Consulting | IT & Automations Passionate
6yBetting against the CEO's views has never been such a bad thing. It is up to the CEO's agility to frame and accompany such projects. A CEO by definition must bolster initiatives and when in doubt he must let the project run... In short, I am rephrasing Hugues Dorchy here.
Sead co-founder
7yMichael, this opinion sounds like a caricatural French/American culture clash. While american culture in business promotes and values trials and failures, minimizes hierarchy, maximizes merit and people empowerment, it opposes a very hierarchical French business culture driven by its elitist educational system. I believe alignment has to be realized at an enterprise global scale, as a loop strategy-processes-results (not only financials but also customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, etc) -back to strategy. Alignment should not necessarily happen on every activity or projects within an organization. The Genius of Bezos is to understand how "disagreement" can be the most efficient mean for motivation, development of new ideas, exchange of ideas, but more than anything else to let entrepreneurial spirits and initiatives thrive. He conceives, very humbly, that good ideas do not necessarily require the CEO to agree (wouldn't it be very arrogant otherwise?). I believe a systematic search for an agreement or "alignement in the ranks" will infantilize and politicize your organization.
Chief People Officer at Orange | HR as strategic enabler | People & Organisational Growth
7yI Would disagree. I do agree that one shouldn't invest a lot of resources in case of disagreeing, but why not disagree and commit to test, fail, learn? Also, I think sometimes it is easier to convince a Customer who is actually confronted with the job that needs to be done or a pain point than internal stakeholders. Bezos builds on Lencioni's model to first create enough trust for people to disagree with you, then engage in Healthy conflict to allow true commitment (and not compromises) which leads to more commitment and ultimately results.