In his 2015 letter to shareholders, Jeff Bezos split decisions into two kinds. Some are one-way doors. Once you walk through them, you can’t get back to where you were, so those decisions should be made slowly and with a lot of consultation.
Most decisions, though, are two-way doors. If you don’t like what’s on the other side, you can walk back out. Those decisions should be made fast, by the people closest to the problem.
Choosing a crib is a two-way door decision. Having a child is a one-way door. You can return the crib. You cannot return the kid.
At Amazon, I heard this framing in a meeting at least once a week. It became shorthand. “Is this a one-way door?” was a legitimate question to ask anybody from an intern all the way up to the CEO.
Last week I wrote about the mistakes that look risky but don’t cost you any…
