Beyond "Agree to Disagree"

A guide to making disagreement a competitive advantage

I'm on vacation this week, and to avoid the cardinal rule of not talking about vacations (it's bad writing because you're not here with me, though trust me, I'm enjoying some sun), I thought I would broach another topic.

People often ask me what made Amazon different from other tech companies. While there are many answers to this question, one thing stands out: the ability to productively disagree.

I don't mean the polite disagreements you might see in most workplaces. I'm talking about the kind of fundamental, passionate disagreements that make people uncomfortable but ultimately lead to better solutions.

Why is this important? Because in a world where there are big problems at work and no straightforward solutions, it's natural that a bunch of smart people will disagree and be opinionated.

In fact, it would be a bit odd if there weren't differences…