CHAPTER 20

Mastering the Art of Meetings

Someone once said that a successful meeting consists of three people: one who is out sick and another who is out of town. We all have experienced meetings that get off track because of the participants (some of whom shouldn’t even be there), or because they last too long and accomplish too little. We sit there boiling with frustration, thinking about all the work that we could be doing if we weren’t stuck in a nonproductive gathering where people show up unprepared, rehash old news, state the obvious, and leave with little intention of following up or following through on the decisions that emerged from the chaos.

The sad truth is that we know better. Meeting specialists and management consultants have ...

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