Billionaires Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Bill Gates all have one thing in common – They say no to meetings

No one likes meetings. They are long, boring, and don’t end up fulfilling the purpose. While some can be extremely effective, the majority are not. Here, I share tips from top business leaders on how to have fewer and more effective meetings. This does not mean you should be robotic or avoid all small talk - afterall we’re all human.

Start with House rules

• Keep your calendar up-to-date

• Block time for concentrated work

• Schedule meetings only during select days or times

• Share these house rules with your team and stakeholders

How to have fewer meetings 

• Sharing information?      Make a document or upload a video. Keep the links handy and share them

• Still need follow-up?      Try teams chat, slack or email

Still want to talk? Lets move to effective meetings

• Define purpose and agenda over email looping all

• Encourage everybody to pre-read documents 

• Ensure ongoing colllaboration BEFORE the meeting

• Keep it short (Rule of thumb: half of what you’d expect)

• Don’t have meetings without key members

• Have a scribe or note taker

• Dont finish without deciding who is doing what next  

Do you clean up recurring meetings regularly?

Evaluate any recurring meeting instances - do you really it this week? Make sure every meeting on your calender has its own purpose. If the purpose is small talk, then make sure the agenda says so!

Which of these tips make sense to you? Do you have any others that you practice or want to share? Let me know in the comments below!