No More Pointless Meetings

Not just better meetings, but a better way to collaborate.

The guide that proves your meetings don't have to suck! There's a big dull elephant in the boardroom: this meeting! Most of the millions of meetings held in the world today are a monumental waste of time and talent. Worse still, most of the so-called solutions and books for boring meetings are twice as boring. Boring Meetings Suck provides tips and tactics to deliver "Get-In, Get-It-Done, or Get-Out" style meetings, while also tackling what most prefer to avoid; that you don't have to BE in charge of a meeting to TAKE charge of a meeting. This entertaining and take-no-prisoners guide is full of easily deployed SRDs?Suckification Reduction Devices?that will help you make your next meeting both efficient and effective. Empowers attendees to politely speak up and get a meeting back on track, or graciously get out, without being fired Shows how hosts can capitalize on technology, learning to crowd-source problems and increase participation Defines surefire methods to get meetings to start and end on time and not have the speaker read the slides STOPS over-invitation syndrome The author has appeared before many major corporate clients, and was named a "Top Business Professional Under 40" by American City Business Journals Your meetings do not have to bore, nor must they suck. Instead, get the winning techniques in Boring Meetings Suck, and make your meetings awesome in their engagement and productivity, or stop having them!

Preface -- Setting the meeting stage -- So many meetings and so much frustration -- Get rid of meetings? no, solve meetings through science -- Evidence-based strategies for leaders -- The image in the mirror is likely wrong -- Meet for 48 minutes -- Agendas are a hollow crutch -- The bigger, the badder -- Don't get too comfortable in that chair -- Deflate negative energy from the start -- No more talking! -- The folly of the remote call-in meeting -- Putting it all together -- Epilogue: trying to get ahead of the science' using science -- Tool: meeting quality self-assessment -- Tool: sample engagement survey and 360 feedback questions on meetings -- Tool: good meeting facilitation checklist -- Tool: huddle implementation checklist -- Tool: agenda template -- Tool: guide to taking good meeting minutes/notes -- Tool: expectations assessment -- Acknowledgments -- References -- Index

We have millions of meetings every day and most are considered ineffective even wasteful. The challenge for leaders and managers is "how do I create a meeting that is engaging, inclusive, and productive? It isn't easy, but this book has over 100 ideas and strategies to use with your ongoing team and group meetings and make them great. As a meeting leader/facilitator you will learn how to: 1) create participant connections;2)Improve group problem-solving skills;3) make sure everyone participates, even the introverts and shy people; 4)create meetings that make a difference. This book is battled tested in the real world of business , government, and the non-profit sector because the author has designed and facilitated over 1,000 meetings . The book's ideas work, most are easy to learn and produce meaningful outcomes. Enjoy the journey!

The Wall Street Journal bestseller—a Financial Times Business Book of the Month and named by The Washington Post as “One of the 11 Leadership Books to Read in 2018”—is “a refreshingly data-based, clearheaded guide” (Publishers Weekly) to individual performance, based on a groundbreaking study. Why do some people perform better at work than others? This deceptively simple question continues to confound professionals in all sectors of the workforce. Now, after a unique, five-year study of more than 5,000 managers and employees, Morten Hansen reveals the answers in his “Seven Work Smarter Practices” that can be applied by anyone looking to maximize their time and performance. Each of Hansen’s seven practices is highlighted by inspiring stories from individuals in his comprehensive study. You’ll meet a high school principal who engineered a dramatic turnaround of his failing high school; a rural Indian farmer determined to establish a better way of life for women in his village; and a sushi chef, whose simple preparation has led to his unassuming restaurant being awarded the maximum of three Michelin stars. Hansen also explains how the way Alfred Hitchcock filmed Psycho and the 1911 race to become the first explorer to reach the South Pole both illustrate the use of his seven practices. Each chapter “is intended to inspire people to be better workers…and improve their own work performance” (Booklist) with questions and key insights to allow you to assess your own performance and figure out your work strengths, as well as your weaknesses. Once you understand your individual style, there are mini-quizzes, questionnaires, and clear tips to assist you focus on a strategy to become a more productive worker. Extensive, accessible, and friendly, Great at Work will help us “reengineer our work lives, reduce burnout, and improve performance and job satisfaction” (Psychology Today).

Where were you tonight? How did that meeting go? Are you seeing someone else? What qualifies you for this job? These are just a few of the usual questions we might answer in a day. A typical answer to the last question would include a series of "whats": what experience you have, what you studied in school, and what you do well. In Control the Conversation, the authors guide you in crafting a response to a question, not just an answer. A response should be multi-dimensional and include relevant and compelling information that goes beyond a mere answer. The authors help you build and apply this skill set. You will learn how to manage the four areas of disclosure--people, places, things, and events in time. You will also develop competence in techniques that will help you take control and get your message across in any kind of interview. You will discover how to: Master answer enhancers, such as keywords and body language Analyze a question and understand the motivation behind it Use questions artfully as part of your response With these skills as part of your repertoire, you'll also learn apply them in specific applications such as: Job interviews Sales Common exchanges Meetings and media Dating and family situations No matter the question, Control the Conversation will show you how to steer every exchange in your favor.

New York Times bestselling author Nicole Lapin is back with a sassy and actionable guide empowering women to be the boss of their lives and their careers. You don’t need dozens of employees to be a boss, says financial expert and serial entrepreneur Nicole Lapin. Hell, you don’t even need one. You just need to find your inner Boss Bitch — your most confident, savvy, ambitious self — and own it. A Boss Bitch is the she-ro of her own story. She is someone who takes charge of her future and embraces being a “boss” in all aspects of the word: whether as the boss of her own life, family and career, the literal boss at work, or, as the boss of her own company. Whichever she chooses (or all three), a Boss Bitch is someone who gets out there and makes her success happen — and so can you. Lapin draws on raw and often hilariously real stories from her own career — the good, the bad, and the ugly — to show what it means to be a "boss" in twelve easy steps. In her refreshingly accessible and relatable style, she first shows how to embrace the “boss of you" mentality by seizing the power that comes from believing in yourself and expanding your skillset. Then she offers candid no-nonsense advice for how to kill it at as the “boss at work” whether you have a high-up role or not. And finally, for those who want to take the plunge as an entrepreneur, she lays out the nuts and bolts of how to be the “boss of your own business” from raising money and getting it off the ground to hiring a kickass staff and dealing office drama to turning a profit. Being a badass in your career is something that should be worn as a badge of honor, says Lapin. Here, she inspires us to rise to the occasion and celebrate our successes — and then keep killing it like the Boss Bitches we are!

One of today's pre-eminent financial journalists, and the Bartleby columnist for the Economist, reveals strategies and tips for surviving—and making the most out of—the work week. We spend a lot of our time at work and would be depressed with nothing to do. But when it gets to Monday, many of us are already longing for the weekend and the prospect of escape. How did work become so tedious and stressful? And is there anything we can do to make it better? Based on his popular Economist Bartleby column, Philip Coggan rewrites the rules of work to help us survive the daily grind. Ranging widely, he encourages us to cut through mindless jargon, pointless bureaucracy and endless meetings to find a new, more creative—and less frustrating—ways to get by and get things done at work. Incisive, original, and endlessly droll, this is the guide for beleaguered underlings and harried higher-ups alike. As Rousseau might have said: "Man was born free, but is everywhere stuck in a meeting." If you've ever thought there must be a better way, this is the book for you.

Maximillian Stobolski aka Max Starballs is a lonely shell of a man. After the death of his wife and unborn child, he joins the never ending mission, led by captain Myopia. The purpose of the mission is to discover something or other. After a series of unexpected events, Max becomes Captain. In the process, he falls madly in love with Alice Mauser aka Mouse. Together with an assortment of characters they try to establish a new society after the unforeseen destruction of Surface Earth.