It can be pretty awkward when your boss singles you out, especially in front of everyone.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy admitted the time this happened to him during a meeting.
The CEO talks about the importance of 'earning trust' in business on the Inside Amazon channel on YouTube.
He described the ways to earn trust as a leader like delivering results, speaking up, owning mistakes, being self-critical, fixing issues, and using the data to back up claims.
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Leaders must also speak their minds even when it's 'awkward or embarrassing.'
To illustrate his point, Jassy shared a personal story.
'I'll tell you a short story that's a personal story,' he said. 'It's a little bit embarrassing but I'll share it.'
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Jassy explains that back in the early 2000s, when he was co-leading the marketing team, he had to present their operating plan to the sales team.
'Back then, we were still using PowerPoint presentations. We had a slide deck that was 220 slides if you can believe, it was a six-hour meeting,' Jassy explained.
'I was presenting the first 80 slides,' Jassy said describing his moment of interruption.
Just ten slides in, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos interrupted him saying: 'All your numbers are wrong on this slide.'
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Taken aback, Jassy responded by asking the Blue Origin founder why he made such a bold statement.
'Within a few seconds of him starting to dissect these numbers, I realised that he was right,' Jassy said realising that all the numbers were indeed incorrect.
'I was, of course, embarrassed and I said you're right.'
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Bezos kept his CEO on the spot, replying: 'Why should I believe anything else in this presentation if those numbers are wrong?'
Surprisingly though, the meeting did continue, covering the whole 200 slides.
'It was a very good learning experience,' Jassy admitted in the video. 'I wasn't resentful or mad at Jeff for pointing that out.'
Instead, he views it as a 'very valuable lesson on what it means to dive deep and what it means to have ownership over the detail in your presentations.'
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To sum up his story, Jassy says he earned Bezos' trust by owning up to his mistakes, being vocally self-critical and using the experience to improve for next time.
Despite the awkward encounter, Jassy believes he's become a better presenter because of it.