During my first day of each interim CEO / COO assignment, inevitably I’m invited to what I’m told is an important meeting. And often I refuse. Agreeing with the points made by University of Chicago professor Reid Hastie in his NY times article, “Meetings Are a Matter of Precious Time,” one of the first things I suggest changing at each company is how meetings are handled.
The approach I use is simple; I usually refuse the very first meeting to which I’m invited – no matter how important the subject may appear – by stating that I’ll only accept meeting invitations that include three things. 1. The objective we will achieve by the designated end time; i.e., the purpose of the meeting 2. The agenda we’ll follow during the meeting. 3. And the homework required of each attendee before the meeting starts.
The objective cannot be “to discuss…”; it needs to be a decision or an action. Not “We’ll discuss why sales are 20% below plan” but rather (more…)
Change Agent 