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THE QUESTION
Leadership Without Meetings?
Being in charge sometimes seems to mean having to attend every meeting, no matter how unimportant or poorly run. What are your personal rules and practices for attending, running or avoiding meetings? Can a leader ever be meeting-free?
Posted by Andrea Useem on October 6, 2009 5:31 AM
FROM THE PANEL
Idea Creation, Not Message Broadcast
Bringing people together just to tell them something is obsolete. Bringing people together to create new ideas is more important than ever.
Posted by Roger Martin, on October 15, 2009 4:21 PM
The Generous Listener
The person I most value in a meetings is the generous listener, the person who identifies when the people are talking past each other and corrects the situation by asking a powerful question.
Posted by Gail S. Williams, on October 8, 2009 4:28 PM
'Let's Meet as Little as We Can!'
As the world's greatest business consultant, Shakespeare got it about right: "Let's meet as little as we can!"
Posted by Ken Adelman, on October 8, 2009 6:14 AM
The Joy of Meetings
When you are really passionate about what you do, you have to work hard to sort out the wheat from the chaff when it comes to meetings.
Posted by Marie Wilson, on October 7, 2009 6:03 AM
No Telepresence Substitute
No matter how electronically well connected an organization is, nor how good "telepresence" technology becomes, there will always be a need for leaders to meet with their organizations in person.
Posted by Paul R. Portney, on October 7, 2009 5:32 AM
A Bad Rap
I know of leaders who rely too heavily on e-mail and phone calls, and they do so at the risk of becoming aloof and disconnected from their employees.
Posted by Yash Gupta, on October 6, 2009 3:32 PM
The $2,000 Meeting
It's eye-opening if 10 people meet for two hours with an average bill rate of $100 per hour. At the end of the meeting the question should be asked, "Was that meeting worth $2,000?
Posted by Robert Goodwin, on October 6, 2009 3:17 PM
The Golden Rule of Meetings
I've seen too many corporate leaders sacrifice their own strategic vision - and ultimately, their own performance - because they've let themselves become hostage to Conference Room B.
Posted by Daisy Wademan Dowling, on October 6, 2009 3:11 PM
In Praise of Meetings
Bad decisions -- from Vietnam to the subprime mess -- resulted, in important part, from not having the right viewpoints about "reality" represented forcefully in front of leaders by contending teams.
Posted by Benjamin W. Heineman, Jr., on October 6, 2009 2:39 PM
A Self-Inflicted Wound
Poorly run meetings sap energy and destroy efficiency. No leader deserving of the title should let that happen to his or her team.
Posted by Ed Ruggero, on October 6, 2009 2:32 PM
Asking the Right Questions
As Peter Drucker once said, "Effective executives... start by finding where their time actually goes."
Posted by Barry Salzberg, on October 6, 2009 10:10 AM
Pivotal for Success?
Before I personally agree to attend any meeting, I run it through my template of five questions.
Posted by Warren Bennis, on October 6, 2009 6:52 AM
Meet Standing Up
Hold routine meetings standing up. This makes clear that the meeting is meant to be short and perfunctory, and there is a pressure to avoid long discussions or pontification.
Posted by Bob Schoultz, on October 6, 2009 6:47 AM
Pocketing the Blackberry
If a meeting is merited, it should demand the complete attention of all present.
Posted by Howard Gardner, on October 6, 2009 6:44 AM
Meeting Survival Guide
Don't be ashamed of multitasking and other advice for surviving meeting overload.
Posted by Raju Narisetti, on October 6, 2009 6:40 AM
The Serendipity of Showing Up
You cannot lead people without interacting with them. Whether you call that interaction "a meeting" is irrelevant. What should not be irrelevant is the substance.
Posted by Prudence Bushnell, on October 6, 2009 6:36 AM
Acting the Part
Like great Broadway actors, great leaders stay in role. This discipline is not part of being a phony, it is part of being a professional.
Posted by Marshall Goldsmith, on October 6, 2009 6:25 AM
Endless Cylce of Activity
Leaders who fail to make a "meeting plan" can find themselves trapped in an endless cycle of activity without much movement towards long-term organizational goals.
Posted by Andy Stern, on October 6, 2009 6:15 AM
FEATURED COMMENTS
miguelmoniz: I try to follow Buddy Ackerman's (Kevin Spacey) advice to Guy (Frank Whaley) in the film Swimming with Sharks. The only meeting that you sho...
harmonie555: Meetings can be a very useful tool to coordinate communication among the players. The key is for the meeting to have a specific purpose and...
KraftPaper: Meeting? Did I miss one? Let's reschedule.
Most managers don't know how to write effectively or speak to people. Our laddered bureaucracy ...
