Dave J. Hogan/Getty Images; Shahar Azran/Getty Images
- Jeff Bezos recently advised Adam Neumann to speak last in meetings.
- Neumann said he was evolving his leadership approach in his apartment company, Flow.
- Bezos' "speak last" strategy is supported by organizational psychologists such as Adam Grant.
Jeff Bezos recently gave Adam Neumann some unsolicited advice: speak last in meetings, a leadership style espoused by a leading organizational psychologist.
Neumann said Bezos came up to him with the recommendation after the WeWork cofounder spoke at an event.
"I was so happy he wanted to give me any type of advice," Neumann said onstage at Thursday's Bloomberg Technology Summit in San Francisco.
He said he was evolving as a leader at Flow, his apartment company.
"I have investors around the table who are not only comfortable pushing back, I think they like it," Neumann said on Thursday. Flow's main backer is the famed venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, while WeWork's primary investor is the Japanese titan SoftBank.
At WeWork, Neumann was famous for his eccentric leadership style. His alcohol-fueled executive meetings could stretch well into the night, Business Insider previously reported. He often talked about superpowers — including with former BI editors in a 2019 interview — and about the importance of authenticity.
"The way you build a relationship is authenticity, with really connecting to the person. And listening," Neumann told BI in 2019.
Bezos, meanwhile, is known for much more corporate leadership, including tightly orchestrated meetings. On a December podcast with Lex Fridman, he highlighted the importance of leaders holding back. Bezos said he aimed for a culture that allowed junior staff to overrule their senior counterparts when data supported their thinking.
Bezos recommended that the most junior person participate in a meeting first, with the meeting then flowing in order of ascending seniority.
"I know from experience that if I speak first, even very strong-willed, highly intelligent, high-judgment participants in that meeting will wonder, 'Well if Jeff thinks that, I came in this meeting thinking one thing, but maybe I'm not right,'" Bezos said on the podcast.
Bezos' strategy isn't new — organizational psychologists such as Adam Grant, a professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, have long championed the idea.
A representative for Neumann didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from BI sent outside normal business hours.