There’s a common assumption that it’s important to know the exact right action to take before doing anything. That’s not how things are viewed at Amazon. As Jeff once said, “If you never want to be criticized, for goodness’ sake, don’t do anything new.”

and for all its possible outcomes. If you are a leader, you must be willing to go beyond the parameters of your

evaluating the quality of a product image and writing clear and accurate product descriptions.

The Amazon experience shows us that the single biggest opportunity for companies operating today is to completely rethink their concept of metrics.

So useful is this technique that an Amazon product launch almost always begins with what we used to call a future press release—an announcement of the product written before its development even began, used for internal purposes only.

While an honest mea culpa didn’t guarantee that Jeff wouldn’t pounce, at least it allowed you to retain a certain measure of self-respect…and your job.

The corollary is that leaders understand details and metrics two to three degrees deeper than senior executives at most companies. They are keenly aware of their dependencies and therefore can discuss the details of any given project under their jurisdiction.

“He likes you,” one explains with a pat on the shoulder. “He wouldn’t take the time to embarrass you like that if he didn’t.”

The company pays enough to attract quality talent—but not enough to make people fat and happy or to create the country-club atmosphere Jeff is trying to avoid.