Amazon's most counter-intuitive leadership principle — daily card
"People who are right a lot, listen a lot. People who are right a lot, change their mind a lot. People who are right seek to dis-confirm their most profoundly held convictions."
— Jeff Bezos, re:MARS 2019
The Five Traits
1. Active ListeningTalk last. Hear what isn't said.
2. Strong Opinions, Loosely HeldTake a position, drop it fast.
3. Calibrated ConfidenceMatch your % to reality.
4. Reference-Class ThinkingHow do comparable cases go?
5. Disconfirmation InstinctHunt for why you're wrong.
Bonus: Update VelocityChange mind within 24h, not 24d.
The Five Drills (10 min/day)
Decision Journal — Write one call I made today: belief, confidence %, evidence, what would flip me.
Premortem — "This fails in 12 months because…" List 3 reasons. Address the top one now.
Steelman the Opposition — Before defending my view, write the opposing case in 3 sentences.
One-Way / Two-Way Door Test — Is this reversible? Light debate if yes. Heavy debate if no.
Disagree & Commit Rep — After losing an argument, write 1 action to make the decision win.
Real Examples
Bezos vs Amazon Studios: he disagreed, they overruled, he wrote "I disagree and commit and hope it becomes the most watched thing we've ever made." Then backed them fully. (2016 Letter)
AWS Principal Engineers: nicknamed "the people who are right a lot" — not because they're smarter, but because they built the habits above. (Shanahan)
Shanahan's 2016 Roadmap: 5 strategic initiatives, 7-year delivery, never tried to "be right" — just adjusted as data came in.