Death by Meeting: A Leadership Fable

Citation

Mann, S. (2005), "Death by Meeting: A Leadership Fable", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 26 No. 8, pp. 691-691. https://doi.org/10.1108/01437730510633755

Although it is rare for a work of fiction to feature in this review section, Death by Meeting warrants its place. For this is a work of fiction with important messages for management and it delivers those messages in an entertaining format – which, let us face it, makes for a refreshing change.

The main character, Casey McDaniel, is the founder and CEO of Yip Software and the story opens with him in the midst of a problem of his own, indirect making. The problem, as suggested by the title, is the tortuous meetings that seem to suck the lifeblood out of the company, but that seem, at least to Casey, to be unavoidable. The regular meetings, whilst two hours in length (and never a minute over), lacked passion, focus and purpose, and neither Casey nor his staff, had any idea how to bring about change. The meetings were formalities, whilst the real decisions and discussions took place elsewhere. Yet the dull and tedious meetings, which many staff members took any opportunity to avoid (sound familiar?) were, in the author's worlds, the “birthplace of the morale problems” at Yip.

Enter Will Petersen, a young graduate and son of Casey's dearest friends – and a young man not known for keeping his thoughts to himself. He arrives for some work experience and to help out at a critical time, when a takeover bid for Yip looks likely. He quickly realises that the weekly meetings are stifling creativity, healthy disagreement and debate and plucks up the courage to address his concerns and suggest changes to the way they are run. These changes to the meeting format ultimately save the company – and Casey's job.

Death by Meeting is an intricate novel that many readers will be able to relate to. The chapters are bite‐sized, making this the ideal travelling companion on the daily commute or business trip, when a lighter book but with a serious message is just what is required. The lessons are sobering and present more than just a critique of the staff meeting, but a whole management philosophy. And, jus in case the tale is not clear enough about the take‐home message, the book ends with a useful executive summary outlining all the main features of the successful meeting.