📅 Thought for today:
‘If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be “meetings.”‘
— Dave Barry
#thoughtfortoday #davebarry #humour #meetings #timesuck
Yesterday I wrote about P J O’Rourke and it brought to mind someone else whose work I regularly read when I lived in Washington DC – Dave Barry.
I don’t believe he is well known in the UK, yet his humorous writing was so funny that I clipped and kept his weekly column every Sunday. I still have them today and some of his (many) books.
I thought it would be nice to pay tribute to Dave, although I am very happy to report he is still very much with us.
I found this quote and it tied together two threads for me.
Why do so many people spend so much time in workplace meetings? Why do they involve so many people and go on for so long? I have seen sales teams (you know, the people selling the products, that generate revenues when they do it well and have the time) spend more than a third of their working week in meetings.
Why? This is literally a sales prevention strategy (along with artificial “rules” and excessive reporting).
There are times when a meeting is necessary, or at least useful.
Still, too many of them are posturing or “telling” – often justified as “communicating” or “sharing.
The meetings are often poorly set up, badly run, and go on for far too long.
I cannot tell you how often I hear this, see this, and occasionally fall into the trap of someone else’s meeting (although by now I am very alert to excessive or unnecessary meeting syndrome).
Just think how much real work you could do with fewer and shorter meetings.
