Jeff Bezos mindset: There are several leadership styles across organisations. From a boss who wants to be their employees’ friend to those who establish their seniority, the team dynamic says it all. In a resurfaced video from social media, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos answered a million-dollar question on the value of truth-telling.
In an old interview, Bezos deliberated on the truth-telling tendency of humans. Addressing their need to socialise, and lying in order to survive. He gave the example of a village and said, “If you’re the village truth teller, you might get clubbed to death in the middle of the night.” But, he also expressed the importance of truth-telling and how it relies heavily on value systems governing a body. The billionaire founder said, “Any high-performing organisation has to have mechanisms and a culture that supports truth-telling,” be it a sports team, a business, a political organisation, or an activist group.
The uncomfortable reality of truth-telling
Acknowledging that truth-telling is often uncomfortable, Bezos underlined the inherent tendency of humans to prioritise cordialness over discomfort. He then supported his claim and said, “And even in science, you find that it’s hard to tell the truth, right? Even, you know, you’re supposed to have a hypothesis and test it and find data and reject the hypothesis and so on. It’s not easy.”
Bezos always speaks last
Coming from a position of superiority, he has often influenced people’s opinions, especially those who work directly below him. Explaining how he avoids hindering their creative workflow is that he always spoke last in meetings.
“In every meeting that I attend, I always speak last. And I know from experience that, you know, if I speak first, even very strong-willed, highly intelligent, high-judgment participants in that meeting will wonder, well, if Jeff thinks that, I came in this meeting thinking one thing, but maybe I’m not right,” he explained.
Successful people surround themselves by supportive truth tellers — a masterclass by Jeff Bezos on the importance of seeking the truth
pic.twitter.com/fvYXNVw917— Vala Afshar (@ValaAfshar) October 31, 2025
Explaining his ideology behind speaking in the end, he suggested that leaders, bosses, and seniors let the most junior person speak first. Tend to be ignored, they might bring in an opinion, seniors hadn’t thought about. “Try to go in order of seniority so that you can hear everyone’s opinion,” Bezos advised. “If somebody who you really respect says something, it makes you change your mind a little. So you’re saying implicitly or explicitly give permission for people to have a strong opinion that as long as it’s backed by data,” the billionaire CEO explained further.
Bezos’ rationale all boils down to truth, though. He concluded, “A lot of our most powerful truths turn out to be hunches. They turn out to be based on anecdotes.” With heavy reliance on truth-telling, Bezos emphasised how truth should be one of the governing factors in one’s leadership style.
