CHAPTER 9THE MEETING: OPPORTUNITYOR TIME WASTER?

“Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time,for that is the stuff life is made of.”

—BEN FRANKLIN

A Wisconsin manufacturing company scheduled meetings to discuss ways to improve productivity. After leaving yet another time-consuming session, one employee said, “And we’ll keep these meetings going until someone figures out why nothing is getting done around here!”

Does this story reflect real life? All too often! Why?

Meetings are the most firmly entrenched institutionalized time wasters in U.S. business society. No accurate figures exist on hours frittered away in needless meetings. Just as well! If such a count could be verified, the shock to the mass psyche would be lasting.

We do know the ...

Get Real-World Time Management, 2nd Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.