Read This Before Our Next Meeting: How We Can Get More Done

HOW DO I INITIATE A MEETING? Have you first determined that your meeting is necessary? OK, make a list of the people you want to invite. Then cross off everyone except those members who are absolutely critical to the meeting’s purpose. It’s not about sparing feelings; it’s about moving forward. Create a detailed agenda and then ask yourself one mor

SO ARE YOU TELLING ME THAT WHEN I HAVE A DECISION TO MAKE, THE FIRST STEP IS TO REACH OUT TO PEOPLE INDIVIDUALLY FOR ADVICE? Actually, the very first step is deciding how to decide. Ask yourself: Can I make this decision myself? Is this a decision of high, low, or no consequence? If a group is necessary, how and when should I involve them? Does the

Efficient systems should be organized around the output that wants to be optimized: in our case, the work.

The decision-making process begins by asking whether this decision is of high, low, or no consequence. If the decision is largely of no consequence—and there are many of this sort—make it as quickly as possible. Don’t call a meeting; don’t even bother consulting others. You have our permission to act on our behalf. Just go. The quicker you can make

The ground rules: Let’s invite people who are passionate about the idea. A passionate intern is better than a disinterested executive. Let’s praise liberally. No criticism, not even evaluation. This is not a regular meeting. If it turns into one, then we have failed. Let’s make sure that the measured output of the meeting is the breadth and quantit

Meetings need to be less like the endless commercial breaks during a football game and more like pit stops in the Daytona 500. Sure, even these stops slow momentum, but not for long, and only in service of winning. Quick high-energy transactions to refuel, to change the tires, to allow the driver to do the work better and faster—that’s the type of

Decisions have always been what move us to act. They precede all change. They define our organization. Brave decisions lead to a brave organization; fearful decisions lead to a fearful one. So the opportunity is this: We must structure the Modern Meeting so that bold decisions happen often and quickly, and those decisions are converted into movemen

Part of the obligation of the Modern Meeting is that if you want attendance, you must reciprocate with an action plan. That plan should include at least the following: What actions are we committing to? Who is responsible for each action? When will those actions be completed?

Culture change occurs when a transformational idea spreads to enough people that a massive paradigm shift occurs. Like a virus that makes its way from person to person, spreading exponentially faster, so can the Modern Meeting, until so many people adopt it that a new meeting culture emerges.

Like war, meetings are a last resort. The Modern Meeting is a special instrument, a sacred tool that exists for only one reason: to support decisions.