(NASDAQ:AMZN) founder says life's toughest calls get easier when you fast-forward to age 80 and ask which choice will leave you with fewer "acts of omission."
Speaking at the Summit LA event in 2017, Bezos recalled telling his boss he would quit to "start an internet bookstore." After two days of soul-searching, he said, "it was immediately obvious... I knew that when I'm 80, I would never regret trying this thing and failing." Not trying would have been a “100% chance of regret,” while failure carried “basically a 0% chance,” Bezos explained.
“I don’t want to be 80 years old in a quiet moment of reflection, thinking back over my life and cataloging a bunch of major regrets,” said the Amazon founder.
The approach, which he calls a "regret-minimization framework," leans on the notion that "our biggest regrets turn out to be acts of omission." Bezos argued the calculus left him with only one acceptable path: leave Wall Street, try the startup, and accept whatever followed.
Management experts have since elevated the 80-year lens into a staple of self-help seminars, while investors point to Amazon's $2 trillion market cap as validation. Still, Bezos maintains the model is deeply personal: "They're not data-driven business decisions," he said. "They are, you know, what does your heart say?"
Why It Matters: Bezos, who often shares bits and bobs of advice from his learnings, argues that a company outperforms rivals when it prizes truth over comfort. He teaches employees to treat candid feedback as a learned skill, so he speaks last in meetings and pushes junior staff to question assumptions first. By normalizing uncomfortable conversations, he ensures every voice can challenge outdated ideas without fear.
Bezos also urges professionals to transform passion into vocation. He tells audiences to hunt actively for pursuits that spark joy, insisting that a true "calling" rewards effort with greater creativity, productivity and fulfillment. Those who commit to their passions, he says, ultimately "hit the jackpot" because the journey itself delivers lasting satisfaction.
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