Jeff Bezos looks for one sign to gauge how smart people are

Never mistake stubbornness
for intelligence.
Cliff Owen/AP
Images

• Jeff Bezos, the CEO and
  founder of Amazon, has a strategy for
  identifying smart people.
• The Amazon CEO shared his ideas about intelligence in a
  question-and-answer session with Basecamp employees.
• According to Bezos, smart people are always “reconsidering”
  problems.
• In other words, the most intelligent people are confident
  enough to change their minds based on new evidence.

Want Jeff Bezos to think you’re smart?

Admit you’re wrong, and be big enough to change your mind.

That’s the secret to impressing the Amazon CEO and founder.

Inc.’s Jessica Stillman
recently reflected on an anecdote illuminating Bezos’s ethos
around being smart. Basecamp CEO and founder Jason Fried
described an interaction with the Amazon CEO, who owns a small
share in the web application company, in a blog post.

According to Fried, Bezos once swung by Basecamp’s office to talk
strategy and chat with employees. In response to one question,
the billionaire reportedly said that “the smartest people are
constantly revising their understanding, reconsidering a problem
they thought they’d already solved.” According to Fried’s post,
Bezos also said that people who are “right a lot” often change
their minds a lot as well.

So, for Bezos, smarts aren’t about consistency or about becoming
“obsessed with details,” as Fried wrote. And being intelligent
certainly isn’t about doubling down in the face of evidence that
runs counter to your ideas. According to Bezos, being truly smart
is about being adaptive and open to new perspectives and ways of
thinking.

Bezos famously has a lot of ideas on how to be smarter and more
productive at work, as well as his own techniques for identifying
talented individuals. And
a lot of his insights have to do with embracing flexibility
— whether that means delaying a “high I.Q.” meeting
or opting for smaller, more effective team gatherings.

That being said, there’s only so much room for failure.

Success at Amazon does depend on a person being right “a
lot,” according to Amazon’s leadership principles. But a different principle encourages leaders at Amazon to “look
for new ideas from everywhere,” which fits in with Bezos’ advice
to Basecamp employees.