



"If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be meetings." - Dave Barry, Syndicated Columnist.

Storyline:

In the early 1990s, a father got dragged into watching a world wrestling event by two young kids who were thoroughly fascinated by this new craze. San Jose State auditorium was jam-packed, and dad's initial impression was that this must be something really good to have attracted so many people.

The wrestlers had interesting names like 'Million Buck Man', 'Gravedigger', 'Dollar Machine', 'Egotist', etc. As the event progressed, the crowd cheered their favorite wrestler whenever he knocked the other guy down and then climbed up on the ropes to jump on his fallen opponent.

Every time that happened, there would be the same kind of noise, and the fallen fellow would seem to be in extreme pain. Eventually, the referee declared the winner ... and amazingly, even the injured guy was able to get up and walk back to his dressing room.

Being older and wiser, dad was fairly convinced that the whole event was fixed. As they were driving back, one of the kids asked: "Dad, have you seen anything like this before?"

Replied the Dad: "Yep, I see this everyday at work."

"Wow! How come?" asked the excited kid.

"Well son, we have many meetings just like what I saw today. You pretty much know the outcome before the event begins, but people still go through the motions (just like those wrestlers) and look seriously engaged ... and in certain seasons with a lot more intensity."

"And you get paid for all this fun?" exclaimed the other excited kid.

"Now wait a minute, this is not all that we do at work, and it doesn't happen all the time either..." said dad, afraid his children would develop the wrong value system.

Dad, do you have a million buck man?

"Yep, plenty..."

How about Dollar Machine?

"We call them Finance..."

And what about Egotists and Grave Diggers?

"No Comment."

As they reached home, the kids went running to mom and told her that dad had a real fun job, and that must be the reason why he is spending a lot of time at work.

Reflection:

In the working world, a meeting should be a way to get valuable work done. If a meeting is going nowhere, don't go through the motions to fill time. Blow the whistle and stop it.