No meeting is absolutely necessary

By now we know the enormous costs of holding a meeting.  Would a memo suffice?

NO, we rationalize.  What we have to say is too important, so we go ahead and schedule a meeting instead.

But is your meeting really necessary?

Every US president before Woodrow Wilson delivered the State of the Union as a written report - our founding fathers never required it to be a meeting.

If the objectives of this country’s most important meeting can be achieved through writing, maybe yours can too.

Comments

[Joel D Canfield]

Fascinating timing of the switch from report to meeting. World changing events in 1914 trickling down to subtle ongoing chipping away.

Haven't had a job for years, never had an employee. Around here, meetings happen while we're driving down the road or having tea together in the morning (I'm happily married to my business partner.)

I wonder how being away from the pain of the corporate world is affecting my business thinking and connection to the people still inside?

[Joseph Joel Sherman]

Al,
Many meetings can be skipped by sending out memos. But to say "No meeting is absolutely necessary" is stretching it. Even if the material is the same, a face to face meeting can communicate what an email or piece of paper cannot. Rather thank skip meetings, look to enliven them.

[Asics Onitsuka Tiger]

Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.

[Nike Air Max]

Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.Growing in wisdom can be measured by the decrease in bitterness.