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Bhavani Ravi
Bhavani Ravi

Posted on • Originally published at Medium on

Death By Meeting — A Book Reflection

I just finished reading this book called Death by meetings. I am officially announcing Patrick Lencioni as my favorite author. I also read his 5 Dysfunctions of a team and I loved it.

3 Reasons why I love his writing

  1. Usually, it only takes me a couple of days to finish his book.
  2. Not because of its size but because of how he makes complex topics so simple to digest.
  3. He is an amazing storyteller. He fictionalizes these complex topics around stories and great analogies.

Coming back to Death by meeting…

Movies Vs Meetings

He compares and contrasts meeting with movies.

What would you prefer? Watching a movie or attending a meeting?

Most of us would say a movie but why? Because the hero solves the problems. But meetings are there for the same reason. In fact, meetings should be better because you can talk to the hero and help him solve the problem. Walk him through it from a different angle.

But still, we all prefer movies over meetings. Why? The book answers it with one word. If your meetings lack this one word then all you’re going to end up with are boring movies sorry meetings. The word “Conflict”.

Types of Meetings

Do you all just watch one type of movies? Sometimes its comedy, sometimes its action, sometimes its animation. But there is another interesting thing to it, It is not always movies. You also watch series and sitcoms, you also listen to songs to keep things interesting.

Similarly, There are different kinds of meetings. One for each kind of problem

  1. Daily Standup
  2. Weekly Tactical
  3. Monthly Strategic
  4. Quarterly Offsite Review

I hear you screaming “That is way too many meetings”. I hear you. The book has an answer to that as well.

Meetings can be boring, but this book taught me It doesn’t have to be and Why it should not be. As a team lead/executive if you have your team whispering about your meeting as a waste of productive time this book is for you. If you are a person who is aspiring to run great teams(like me) this book is for you too. Grab your copy here.

Did you like what you just read? Hold the “clap” button and give me a shoutout on [**_twitter**](https://twitter.com/@bhavaniravi)._

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