When my youngest son was in elementary school he was asked by his teacher what his dad did for a living and his response was, “he goes to a lot of meetings”. It was actually a very accurate answer.

This past year I have facilitated almost 100 different meetings with group sizes from five to 25 people. From one hour meetings to multi-day retreats. On-site and off-site meetings. Way too many Zoom events. Good meetings and not-so-good meetings.

One practice I have at the end of each meeting is to do a brief plus/delta. What went well in the meeting and what would we do differently? I try to be brutally honest with myself in this quick evaluation. My intent is to try to get better with each meeting.

Based on my extensive meeting and follow-up assessment experience, I've assembled the following common mistakes we all make in planning and facilitating business meetings. Judge for yourself.

#1. No meeting agenda. Every meeting must have an agenda. It should be shared with the meeting participants either prior to the meeting or at the very latest, at the beginning of the meeting.

Why is this so important? Two reasons. First, it forces the meeting leader to determine the intended outcome(s) of the meeting and the meeting structure. Second, the agenda communicates to the attendees why the meeting is important. No agenda? It must not be an important meeting.

Thank you to John J. Fenton for having me on Conversations with the CEO Sensei. I enjoyed sitting in the guest chair for a change. Take a listen as two guys from Miami talk business, hurricanes, and overcoming adversity.

 Guest Speaker:

The single biggest influence on employee conduct is culture. In order to significantly reduce wrongdoing, leaders like you must shape the moral compass of your employees. Who knows more about the consequences of crossing the lines from ethical behavior, to unethical, to criminal than someone who's been there? Business Ethics Advisors CEO, Kevin Foster's passion is to help others recognize unethical behavior and circumstances that can lead to dangerous choices.

This year, we're continuing to support Meals by Grace (mealsbygrace.org) in their efforts to provide food to children in need. You'll have the option to donate when you register for SBM @Lunch.

BOOK OF THE MONTH

BE 2.0 by Jim Collins and Bill Lazier

Jim Collins is one of my favorite authors. Beginning with his first best-seller Built to Last followed by his mega-hit Good to Great, each of his books provides invaluable prescriptions and insights for business leaders looking to grow their respective companies.

Collin’s first book, Beyond Entrepreneurship, was co-written with Stanford University colleague Bill Lazier over 30 years ago. The book showed readers how to turn an entrepreneurial business into an enduring company. While the first book did not enjoy the same commercial success as his later work, it did have a strong cult-like following among small and early-stage company owners and remains a favorite among his most loyal readers.

In his newest book, BE 2.0, Collins actually re-shares many of the timeless insights from Beyond Entrepreneurship. For me, the best takeaway from the new book may be The Map, a diagram that pulls together many of the key concepts developed by Collins. The result of over 30 years of research, it provides a framework for building a company that delivers superior results, makes a distinctive impact, and achieves long-term endurance.

I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of new content in this book and enjoyed the takeaways from his past writing that were also included. In a nutshell, Be 2.0 provides readers with a handy "best of Jim Collins" collection along with new research that continues to challenge the reader to aspire to “greatness”.

_____________________________

-Matthew Boyd, Evoke Design