How to Lead a Productive Meeting

The most underleveraged growth hack in any company is this: How the leadership team runs their meetingsMost leaders sit through 8–10 meetings a week and walk away with updates, opinions, and half-decisions. Rarely do they leave with clarity, momentum, or measurable action. I coach CEOs to treat meetings like product sprints—designed, tested, and optimized—because your meeting hygiene is a direct reflection of your company culture and strategic thinking. Let’s deconstruct how elite CEOs run meetings that move billion-dollar machines—so you can apply it to your 5-person team or your 5,000-person org. 1. Start with first principles. (Jensen Huang – NVIDIA) Before any ideation, ask: “What do we know for sure? What’s just noise or assumption?” When you strip discussions down to evidence and truths, you avoid solving the wrong problem with brilliant ideas. Clarity before creativity. Always. 2. Cap meetings at 30 minutes. (Tim Cook – Apple) Every minute over 30 without a decision-maker in the room is a tax on productivity. If there’s no owner or desired outcome → cancel it or convert it to async. Time is your highest-leverage resource. Use meetings to compress decisions—not stretch them. 3. Put the customer in the room. (Lisa Su – AMD) Start every meeting by grounding the discussion in a user story, customer tension, or market shift. Every strategic choice should begin with the end user—not internal politics. If you’re not customer-driven, you’re ego-driven. There’s no in-between. 4. Anchor every discussion to one metric. (Safra Catz – Oracle) Great meetings aren’t just about ideas—they’re about impact. So start with: “What are we trying to move?” This turns vague alignment into concrete execution. 5. Always end with a 48-hour action lock. (Sundar Pichai – Google) No meeting is done until: -One person owns the next step -The deliverable is clearly defined -A timeline under 48 hours is locked Momentum dies in ambiguity. Good leaders close meetings. Great leaders create follow-through. 6. Listen like a leader, not a judge. (Satya Nadella – Microsoft) The smartest person in the room doesn’t speak first—they synthesize. Paraphrase what you heard. Ask questions that deepen thought. Cut with clarity. You don’t earn trust by having answers. You earn it by making people feel heard and guided, not managed. If your meetings feel heavy, it’s a culture issue. If they feel aimless, it’s a clarity issue. Either way—it’s a leadership issue. #CEOHabits #LeadershipSystems #StrategicExecution #MeetingMastery #CeoCoach #HighPerformanceLeadership #TimeLeverage #OrganizationalDesign

🚀 Want to improve group meetings? Here’s what I’ve learned from trial and error: 1. Cancel non-essential meetings: 🗑️ If it’s not crucial, don’t schedule it! 2. Adjust start times: ⏰ Begin meetings 5 minutes after the hour or half-hour to allow breathing room between back-to-back meetings. 3. Clear titles: 🏷️ Title meeting invites with the subject, objective, day, and time zone. (Example: Project Alpha MVP Decision Tue 8/20 11am PST) 4. Agenda in advance: 📝 Provide a clear agenda in the invite or as a link/attachment. If the agenda will come later, let attendees know when to expect it and ensure it’s on time. 5. Pre-reads for decisions: 📄 If decisions are needed, send a pre-read 24 hours in advance and invite comments. 6. Engage and listen: 👂 Keep your intro short. Ask questions, encourage input, and take notes. “Talk Less Smile More” 7. Inclusive participation: 🙋 Ensure everyone has a chance to speak. Gently transition if someone is going on too long. 8. End early: ⏳ Aim to end 3-5 minutes early to give people unexpected free time. Start discussions promptly, manage raised hands, and summarize with next steps about 6 minutes before the end. Suggest async follow up for any remaining raised hands. #Leadership #Productivity #MeetingTips

Ever sat through a team meeting that felt like watching paint dry? You know the meetings where: - The PowerPoint slides could cure insomnia - What's shared should've been an email - The silence is so thick you can hear a pin drop We've all been there. But here's the real gut punch - what if YOU'RE accidentally running meetings like this? Nothing humbles you quite like watching your team fight to keep their eyes open during your "exciting team update." As someone who specializes in facilitation, I can tell you that with just a few small tweaks, any manager can transform their team gatherings. Here are 6 simple changes that make a massive difference: ➡️ Start with purpose, not habit - Ask "Why am I gathering these people?" (Hint: status updates aren't a good enough reason) ➡️ Create an agenda that works like a GPS - Begin by defining your destination (desired outcomes) so everyone knows where you're headed ➡️ Include a 5-minute connection activity - Strong teams aren't built discussing KPIs, they're built in those small moments where people connect as humans ➡️ Create space for quieter voices - Not everyone processes at the same speed or communicates the same way, but everyone has valuable insights ➡️ End with crystal-clear next steps - Each action item needs an owner and a deadline, or you've just wasted everyone's time ➡️ Address disengagement privately - If someone's checked out, have the "I notice" conversation with genuine curiosity rather than judgment Want to see how your meetings measure up? Take my 2-minute Meeting Momentum quiz (linked on last slide) ♻️ Share to help someone lead a better meeting

Most managers suck at running team meetings. (but it doesn’t have to be that way) Bad meetings drain everyone’s energy. And sap productivity. I’ve tried every approach over 15+ years. But, the clear winner is an EOS-style meeting. EOS = Entrepreneurial Operating System (terrible name, but a great system) Here’s how to supercharge your team meetings. 👇 1) 𝗦𝗲𝗴𝘂𝗲 (5 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝘂𝘁𝗲𝘀): ↳ Everyone shares one personal and professional win. ↳ This builds connections and highlights progress. 2) 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀 (5 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝘂𝘁𝗲𝘀): ↳ Out-of-office reminders & company  ↳ prospect-related information. 3) 𝗦𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗱 (5 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝘂𝘁𝗲𝘀): ↳ Review every team member's scorecard ↳ Identify off-track metrics ↳ Add any roadblocks to an Issues List. 4) 𝗥𝗼𝗰𝗸 (90-𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗴𝗼𝗮𝗹𝘀) 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 (5 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝘂𝘁𝗲𝘀): ↳Label each as Rock "on-track" or "off-track" ↳Add issues to the Issues List if needed. 5) 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝗧𝗼-𝗗𝗼𝘀 (5 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝘂𝘁𝗲𝘀): ↳ Go through the team's To-Do list. ↳ Ensure tasks are completed ↳ Discuss any barriers to completion. 6) 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘀 𝗜𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗲𝘀 (30 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝘂𝘁𝗲𝘀): ↳ Dedicate most of the meeting the Issues List. ↳ Solve complex problems together ↳ Create new To-Dos to address them. 7) 𝗠𝗲𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗥𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 (1-5 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝘂𝘁𝗲𝘀): ↳ Team members rate the meeting from 1-10. ↳ Any score under 8 requires feedback. That’s it my friends. Give it a try. You and your team will thank me later. What’s your favorite team meeting format? -- 👋 I’m Michael a CRO w/ $1B+ in exits. 📥 save it for later 💬 comment with your thoughts ♻️ repost if this was helpful.