If you struggle to explain complex information clearly, you might want to steal a page from Andy Jassy’s annual letter to Amazon shareholders.
In the 2025 letterthe Amazon CEO said the company is making a big bet on AI, a highly complex strategy that’s not easy to explain. Jassy, however, who is a longtime Amazon executive, will continue the tradition of his former boss, Jeff Bezos. Bezos’ specialty was using plain language and effective writing principles to translate wildly complex data for non-experts.
In my book The Bezos Blueprint, I spoke with former Amazon executives who worked side by side with Bezos and were required to pitch and present their ideas in written memos. Executives, including Jassy, were not allowed to bring PowerPoint into the meetings. That means they had to sharpen the way they expressed ideas in writing.
It’s not easy to explain complex ideas simply, but Jassy makes it look easy by adopting simple tactics.
1. Open with a story, not a chart.
Jassy wrote his letter for multiple stakeholders — from shareholders and customers to Amazon’s million-plus employees, and the broader business world. While investors might want to get right to the data, Jassy’s broader audience wants to get to know him. So, Jassy started with a story.
“When I graduated from college, I wanted to be a sportscaster,” Jassy opened the letter. He tried to break into the field by doing sports production work. He also coached high school soccer and worked in retail, product management, sales, and investment banking, all before joining Amazon.
The point? Careers don’t follow a straight line, and neither will the adoption of AI. The most notable data in the letter — Amazon’s revenue grew to more than $700 billion — doesn’t appear until much later. That’s because a story is the best way for Jassy to be relatable and, as you’ll see, set up the main idea.
