Learnings from one of the best communicators in the world - Jeff Bezos

I'm a big fan of all things communications. Without good communication, products, services and ideas are merely things that exist in a void. They will never reach the broader public, no matter how good an idea or product might be. The same goes for leaders. If you can't communicate a mission statement properly or easily communicate complicated things, chances are you will not reach your full potential as a company.

I also like to learn from the best, so when I came across this book on communication secrets that have fuelled Amazon's success I was sold. I found it in an airport before New Year's Eve and finally managed to finish it over Easter. I'm a slow reader and rarely find peace to read so it took me a wee while to finish it.

I must say that Bezos follows some brilliant, yet simple principles. I can highly recommend anyone, especially business leaders to read this book. Below are the main learnings I bring with me from this book:

Keep it simple

No matter if you are writing a company strategy, addressing your shareholders or communicating with your team, write in such an easy language that a 15 year old can understand. To simplify further, use metaphors and analogies to explain complex things easily. On top of that, write in active form.

One of the best examples of this is Bezos shareholder letter from 2000 when the stock market plunged and wiped away 80% of Amazon's value overnight. A highly recommended reading to showcase all of these techniques put in action.

Be specific

The same shareholder letter linked above serves as a perfect way of illustrating facts in a concise and precise way. Instead of using words such as "many" or "good", say exactly just how many by using either percentages or quantitative measures. If you want to explain that the sales pipe is looking good, explain just how "good" it is by referring to how many percentages it has grown month-over-month.

Telecom is famous for its abbreviations. Not even people with decades of experience will know them all. Be specific and write the whole word to avoid confusion. The more specific the language is, the more accurate will the interpretation be of what you are trying to say.

Tell stories

Stories have been told as long as humans have been on this planet. To share a story rather than a bunch of non-coherent words in everything from sales to leading a company is crucial. A story creates emotion and brings the reader into a state where they can not only read or hear what you are trying to say but more importantly, feel it. Make it real.

This reminds me of another book I want to recommend everyone to read: Building a story brand by Donald Miller. This book is all about storytelling and how to incorporate it into everything a company does from communicating vision statements to selling of products.

To do this it is crucial that you find your own voice and refine it. No one else can do this for you, especially not ChatGPT.

No PowerPoint in management meetings

In management meetings at Amazon, PowerPoint is banned. No executive is allowed to bring an idea of any sort without having thought it through properly first. Most importantly, it would waste everyone else's time and the decision would not be made based on the full picture.

Instead, executives pitch ideas or new products by writing memos in the form of a press release. You need to be able to communicate the unique selling points before potentially implementing it. This memo is handed out in the meeting and read by everyone in the meeting at the same time. This means that:

• No one will get away with not reading the memo,
• Everyone will have the info fresh in mind when discussing it, and
• Questions can be asked directly in the meeting.

Bezos explains that his rule of no more than a 4-page memo was harder to write than a 20-page PowerPoint full of incoherent bullets. When you write in the form of a narrative it is much easier to convey key explanations and supporting information in a structured way.

You avoid death by PowerPoint by killing it first.

I'll end with a famous quote from Steve Jobs that was mentioned in the book:

"We're going to get back to basics with great products and great marketing"

It is as simple, yet difficult as that.

Let me know what you think and please share your thoughts if you've read it.