Jeff Bezos Doesn't Believe in PowerPoint, and His Employees Actually Agree

Imagine walking into a high-stakes meeting at one of the world's most influential companies. You're prepared for a slick presentation, but instead, everyone sits in complete silence for 30 minutes to read a document. This isn't a team-building exercise; it's the legendary "no PowerPoint" rule at Amazon, a core part of Jeff Bezos's strategy for fostering deep thinking and clarity.

Bezos's disdain for slide decks in favor of narratively structured "six-page memos" is well-known. But is it just a quirky mandate from a famous CEO, or a genuinely effective business practice? And more importantly, what do the people who live this culture every day—the employees—actually think? The answers reveal a powerful lesson about communication, decision-making, and the pursuit of truth.

The Bezos Doctrine: PowerPoint is for "Selling," Not "Truth-Seeking"

In a candid interview, Jeff Bezos laid out his philosophy on why memos are superior to presentations for internal meetings. His central argument is that the format of a tool shapes the thinking behind it.

"PowerPoint is really designed to persuade. It's kind of a sales tool," Bezos explained. "Internally, the last thing you want to do is sell. You want to be truth-seeking. You're trying to find truth."

He identifies several key flaws in presentation-driven culture:

1. It encourages "sloppy thinking." Bezos argues that bullet points make it too easy for presenters to hide a lack of rigor. "You can hide a lot of sloppy thinking behind bullet points," he says. Writing in full, narrative sentences forces the author to connect their thoughts logically and confront holes in their own arguments.

2. It's easy for the author, but hard for the audience. A presenter can breeze through slides, leaving the audience to do the heavy lifting of connecting ideas and filling in the gaps. A memo reverses this. "It's hard to write a six-page memo," Bezos admits, noting it can take two weeks. "But for the audience, it's much better."

3. It leads to fragmented, low-quality discussions. In a typical presentation, senior executives often interrupt with questions that would be answered on a subsequent slide. This disrupts the flow and prevents a holistic understanding. The Amazon method—a silent "study hall" to read the memo at the start of the meeting—ensures everyone has the complete context before the discussion even begins. Bezos notes he often crosses out his own questions as he reads, because the memo answers them by the end.

From the Trenches: What Amazon Employees Say

A CEO's philosophy is one thing; its real-world implementation is another. A fascinating Reddit thread filled with comments from hundreds of current and former Amazonians gives an unfiltered look at the memo culture. The consensus is surprisingly, almost universally, positive.

Far from being a burden, the practice is seen as one of the company's most effective mechanisms. Here's a direct look at what they have to say.

On Forcing Clarity and Substance:

"It's actually really nice, because it forces you to focus on putting substance behind your thoughts instead of screwing around making sure that all of your text boxes are aligned." - u/wyseguy7

"Doc writing a) helps bring a true discussion with context, summary and details vs. Images and words left for interpretation or supported by audio, b) does not discriminate against those who aren't fluent on a spot, C) forces the writer to think through the idea and present in an understandable manner." - u/CapableMarionberry84

"If you cant write it down clearly, then you dont know it." - u/bellowingfrog

On Its Widespread Adoption:

"It’s true at all levels. No PowerPoint is used, except for external presentations... All internal meetings are expected to have a written document. It’s the one thing Amazon does well." - u/vaseline_bottle

"I’m just a lowly L6, will likely never reach exec level... [I] have used one power point in 10 years at AWS." - u/Successful_Agent_337

"I am a software engineer. I made less than 5 ppts but 100+ docs over my 4 years at AWS." - u/gw2Exciton

On the Process Itself:

"Our internal AI is great too. You just word vomit what you want to say and it will restructure and provide feedback. Tweak and done." - u/Oraphielle

"And sometimes you get halfway through writing it and you’re like okay this idea sucks and start over 😆" - u/LeatherSecret3981

"We weren’t allowed to ever use PowerPoint. All meetings had documents, and depending on the meeting there was a set format of 1, 2, 6, or 10 pages. A 1-pager had to be exactly 1 page. No more, no less... Oddly enough, I kind of miss it." - u/Unhappy_Parsnip362

Of course, the system isn't without its quirks. Employees still use PowerPoint for external sales pitches and some trainings. And there's plenty of grumbling about the specific internal software used for writing (Quip and WorkDocs were common targets). However, the core principle of writing to clarify thinking is overwhelmingly praised as a key strength of Amazon's culture.

The Anatomy of the 6-Page Memo

So what exactly goes into one of these mythical documents? The structure is not arbitrary; it's a finely tuned machine for conveying complex information. In an excellent deep-dive article, "The Anatomy of an Amazon 6-pager," former Amazon employee Jesse Freeman breaks down the core components.

The main body must be exactly six pages, written in a narrative style. No bullet points (except in specific sections), no graphics, no fluff. Anything else—large datasets, graphs, mockups—goes into a detailed appendix that can be dozens of pages long. This allows the core narrative to flow while giving readers the option to dive deeper into the data as needed.

The Core Structure:

Introduction: Sets the stage. It tells the reader exactly what the document covers and what its purpose is.
Goals: A clear, concise list of what success looks like. Each goal is specific, measurable, and includes a historical data point, a projected target, and the calculated change.
Tenets: A set of guiding principles or beliefs that inform the plan. Freeman calls them "inspirational pillars."
State of the Business: A detailed, data-heavy snapshot of the current situation, written in the present tense. This section establishes the baseline.
Lessons Learned: A look back at the previous period, written in the past tense. It's a factual account of what worked and what didn't, backed by data. Failures are examined, not hidden.
Strategic Priorities: This is the heart of the memo (often 3-4 pages). It lays out the specific initiatives and plans to achieve the goals. This is the forward-looking, speculative part of the document, but every proposal must be justified with data from the previous sections.

Freeman emphasizes a critical point: the 6-pager must stand on its own. Anyone, even someone unfamiliar with the topic, should be able to read it and understand the situation without additional research. This commitment to self-contained knowledge transfer is what allows teams across the vast Amazon ecosystem to stay aligned.

The Ultimate Lesson: Write to Think, Not Just to Present

Amazon's memo-first culture provides a powerful counter-narrative to the presentation-heavy corporate world. It champions the idea that true understanding is a prerequisite for productive discussion. By forcing ideas to be fully articulated in writing, the company ensures that meetings are spent on high-level debate and decision-making, not on basic comprehension.

It's a system that values the author's deep work over the audience's passive consumption. It's a bet that the time invested in writing a thorough document pays massive dividends by elevating the quality of the subsequent conversation.

So, the next time you're preparing for an important meeting, ask yourself a question inspired by Bezos: are you trying to persuade, or are you trying to find the truth? If it's the latter, perhaps it's time to close PowerPoint, open a blank document, and start writing. The process might just lead you to a better answer before the meeting even begins.