A friend of mine recently said that when we were commiserating about useless meetings in our businesses.
In the industrial work paradigm, you clocked in, moved parts down the line, and then clocked out. Today, we do the same thing, except the parts are useless meetings, and the line is our calendar.
We replaced the factory with the meeting room.
We gather six people with the right titles for an hour to address a $100 problem.
The repetition feels safe. Familiar. Productive-ish. The hierarchy is satisfied.
Useful work — the kind that solves $100k and $100M problems — often takes place with a collaborator or collaborators. In assertion. In tension. In collective energy. In conversation.
Wait, aren’t meetings the problem?
Meetings, yes. Conversations, no.
If you’re a leader, encourage the conversations. Give them room to exist and breathe. Give them tools and the power and responsibility to use them.
Skip the meetings.
