When Amazon CEO Andy Jassy and his wife had their first child in late 2000, he knew he would need a different approach to how he managed his career at Amazon and his home life.

“I realized that I had to change the way I worked, or I was either going to have to leave Amazon or I was going to be a lousy dad,” Jassy recently said during a fireside chat at Amazon's “Bring Your Parents to Work Day.”

At first, he said, he wasn't sure how he would do it.

“I worked so many hours. I was in the office so many hours,” he said. “I didn't know how I would do my job without doing that. But like everything else, if you think about it and you rework it and you find ways to be more efficient and you make trade-offs, you can do it.”

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy talks to Amazon employees and their parents during a fireside chat at Amazon's "Bring Your Parents to Work Day."

Jassy said it forced him to be more intentional with his time at work—and at home.

“I found that I wasn't always using my time best at work,” he said. “I did spend a lot of time in the hallway talking to people, and I wasn't always prioritizing the things that mattered most. It forced me to get more efficient in what I did.”

One of the first traditions he adopted came from a manager at Amazon who had young children and a standing date night on Tuesdays with his wife.

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