How Jeff Bezos makes his most important decisions

And you can do the same

Jeff Bezos masterfully uses the most important decision-making model that exists to keep innovating non-stop. Want to know how to adopt this for yourself? Here’s how:

Make Your Decisions Decisive

1. Quick Intuition vs. Slow Deliberation: There are two paths in decision-making. Fast and frugal heuristics (Type 1) are unpaved shortcuts that feel like driving on intuition and making quick decisions with minimum fuss but may cause your car to crash. They’re Kahneman’s System 1 thinking in action. Meanwhile, the slower, more deliberate rational decision-making (Type 2) is a methodical and systematic well-built road with guardrails, akin to Kahneman’s System 2 thinking.
2. Choosing the Right Road: The key question is — when to take which route? Typically, the fast and frugal heuristics way works best for everyday decisions. But when the stakes are high or the situation too complex, it’s best to switch gears to the more deliberate, rational decision-making process.
3. Two-way vs. One-way doors: Bezos, in his 2016 letter to shareholders, discussed “two-way door” and “one-way door” decisions. Two-way door decisions are reversible — make them quickly using Type 1. One-way door decisions are harder to undo, so approach them carefully using Type 2.
4. Keeping Up the Pace: Here’s an insight from Bezos — most decisions are two-way doors. But often, we mislabel them as one-way doors, slowing down our decision-making and innovation pace. The trick is to correctly classify the type of decision beforehand and choose the right approach.
5. The Balanced Approach: Balancing both decision-making types improves decision quality and boosts efficiency. This adaptive decision-making technique lets you maintain a speedy rhythm of innovation while making informed decisions when it truly counts.

In a nutshell, choosing how you make decisions — your meta-heuristic — can be the most impactful decision you’ll ever make. If you can improve only one thing, improve that. So, following Bezos’s lead, decide decisively and let the engine of innovation roar.