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Death by Meeting: A Leadership Fable...About Solving the Most Painful Problem in Business (J-B Lencioni Series Book 19) by [Patrick M. Lencioni]

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Patrick M. Lencioni

Death by Meeting: A Leadership Fable...About Solving the Most Painful Problem in Business (J-B Lencioni Series Book 19) Kindle Edition

by Patrick M. Lencioni (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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Casey McDaniel had never been so nervous in his life.

In just ten minutes, The Meeting, as it would forever be known, would begin. Casey had every reason to believe that his performance over the next two hours would determine the fate of his career, his financial future, and the company he had built from scratch.

“How could my life have unraveled so quickly?” he wondered.

In his latest page-turning work of business fiction, best-selling author Patrick Lencioni provides readers with another powerful and thought-provoking book, this one centered around a cure for the most painful yet underestimated problem of modern business: bad meetings. And what he suggests is both simple and revolutionary.

Casey McDaniel, the founder and CEO of Yip Software, is in the midst of a problem he created, but one he doesn’t know how to solve. And he doesn’t know where or who to turn to for advice. His staff can’t help him; they’re as dumbfounded as he is by their tortuous meetings.

Then an unlikely advisor, Will Peterson, enters Casey’s world. When he proposes an unconventional, even radical, approach to solving the meeting problem, Casey is just desperate enough to listen.

As in his other books, Lencioni provides a framework for his groundbreaking model, and makes it applicable to the real world. Death by Meeting is nothing short of a blueprint for leaders who want to eliminate waste and frustration among their teams, and create environments of engagement and passion.

Length: 256 pages	Word Wise: Enabled	Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The business meeting—a necessary evil or a vital and invigorating component of running an organization? According to management consultant Lencioni (The Five Temptations of a CEO), meetings should fit the latter description, but more often than not, he says, they don't. In this lackluster audio fable, Lencioni offers practical advice on how to revitalize your business by energizing your business meetings, but his pallid, passive prose would challenge the most skilled narrator, and Arthur is no exception. The voice Arthur lends Will, the young hero of this tale, resembles that of Sesame Street's Ernie on downers, and the various inflections he gives business owner Casey McDaniel and his management team don't make up for the characters' lack of character. Nevertheless, Lencioni's message comes across loud and clear—meetings should be interactive, not passive, and they should be structured (i.e., issues of immediate importance should be discussed in "weekly tactical" meetings, and issues that will fundamentally affect the business should be addressed in "monthly strategic" meetings). Although managers will find this advice worthwhile, they would gather just as much if they skipped the sluggish fable and listened to the last few tracks.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

About the Author

Patrick Lencioni is the founder and president of The Table Group, a management consulting firm specializing in executive team development and organizational effectiveness. His clients included Novell, Avnet, Excite@home, and the Make-A-Wish-Foundation. He is the author of The Five Temptations of a CEO, The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive, and The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

From the Back Cover

PRAISE FOR DEATH BY MEETING

"Finally, a real solution to an age-old problem. Meetings may never be the same."
—Kris Hagerman, executive vice president, strategic operations, VERITAS Software Corporation

"Death by Meeting is about much more than meetings; it's about an entire management philosophy. I read a lot of books on management, and Lencioni's are among the very best. They form the basis for our approach at Silicon Valley Bank."
—Ken Wilcox, CEO, Silicon Valley Bank

"Lencioni has done it again! Insightful. Practical. Ready-to-implement solutions. If you lead people, you can't afford to miss this book. It's an absolute must-read."
—Jim Mellado, president, Willow Creek Association

"We've put Pat's theories into practice and they work. Our meetings are more productive, our communication is clearer, and the team's commitment to decisions is much greater."
—Curt Nonomaque, president and CEO, VHA Inc.

"Meetings are such a critical element of effective organizational communication. Lencioni has provided a concise, entertaining, and inventive guide to improving meeting structure, participation, and results. Thumbs up for this insightful tale."
—Sandy Alderson, executive vice president of operations, Major League Baseball --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Review

"Finally, a real solution to an age old problem. Meetings may never be the same."
—Kris Hagerman, executive vice president, Strategic Operations, VERITAS Software Corporation

"Death By Meeting is about much more than meetings; it's about an entire management philosophy. I read a lot of books on management, and Lencioni's are among the very best. They form the basis for our approach at Silicon Valley Bank."
—Ken Wilcox, CEO, Silicon Valley Bank

"Lencioni has done it again! Insightful. Practical. Ready-to-implement solutions. If you lead people, you can’t afford to miss this book. It’s an absolute must-read."
—Jim Mellado, president, Willow Creek Association

"We've put Pat's theories into practice and they work. Our meetings are more productive, our communication is clearer, and the team’s commitment to decisions is much greater."
—Curt Nonomaque, president and CEO, VHA Inc.

"Meetings are such a cr itical element of effective organizational communication. Lencioni has provided a concise, entertaining, and inventive guide to improving meeting structure, participation, and results. Thumbs up for this insightful tale."
—Sandy Alderson, executive vice president of operations, Major League Baseball

--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Review

"A work of fiction with important lessons for management." - Leadership & Organizational Development Journal

"The author is something of a master of the modern fable." Professional Manager

"Highly recommended: you could even take it to your next meeting." - On Target

"Pitches his theory neatly at busy readers." - Supply Management

--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

From the Inside Flap

DEATH by Meeting

Casey McDaniel had never been so nervous in his life.
In just ten minutes, The Meeting, as it would forever be known, would begin. Casey had every reason to believe that his performance over the next two hours would determine the fate of his career, his financial future, and the company he had built from scratch.
"How could my life have unraveled so quickly?" he wondered.

In his latest page-turning work of business fiction, best-selling author Patrick Lencioni provides readers with another powerful and thought-provoking book, this one centered on a cure for the most painful yet underestimated problem of modern business: bad meetings. And what he suggests is both simple and revolutionary.

Casey McDaniel, the founder and CEO of Yip Software, is in the midst of a problem he created, but one he doesn't know how to solve. And he doesn't know where or whom to turn to for advice. His staff can't help him; they're as dumbfounded as he is by their torturous meetings.

Then an unlikely advisor, Will Petersen, enters Casey's world. When he proposes an unconventional, even radical, approach to solving the meeting problem, Casey is just desperate enough to listen.

As in his other books, Lencioni provides a framework for his groundbreaking model, and makes it applicable to the real world. Death by Meeting is nothing short of a blueprint for leaders who want to eliminate waste and frustration among their teams, and create environments of engagement and passion. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

From AudioFile

The author of THE FIVE DYSFUNCTIONS OF A TEAM, Lencioni is an experienced West Coast business consultant with a good grasp of team functioning. In a slow-moving audio production, he uses a parable to frame his advice on how to get value from time spent in meetings. He says meetings are like movies in that they need conflict and resolution to hold people's attention. They also require seriousness of purpose, diligent preparation, and a persistent focus on stated goals. After the parable finally concludes, explicit advice is given about providing drama and structure, but it's not elaborated soon enough to offer the kind of pointed lesson most business listeners want. T.W. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

File Size : 792 KB
Publication Date : July 23, 2007
Print Length : 256 pages
Publisher : Jossey-Bass; 1st Edition (July 23, 2007)
Word Wise : Enabled
Enhanced Typesetting : Enabled
Text-to-Speech : Enabled
X-Ray : Not Enabled
Language: : English
ASIN : B008L03W7O
Lending : Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #44,207 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #22 in Running Meetings & Presentations (Kindle Store)
- #38 in Workplace Behavior
- #39 in Business Office Skills

Customer Reviews:
647 ratings

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2 star		1%
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Top reviews from the United States

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Dave Voyles

Good story to tell the underlying business skills

Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2016

Verified Purchase

The book is more of a novel than anything else, which does a good job of building characters that you care about, only so that the author can illustrate his key points, which are further highlighted at the back of the book.

Casey is a former semi-pro golfer who starts a game development studio creating golf simulations. His company is acquired, and told that his business can remain autonomous, but only if they improve their performance, now that they are a public company.

Casey, unable to realize how poorly structured and useless his meetings were, hires Will, a 20-something who just finished his MBA and is looking to improve the company's meetings. In doing so, he learns a bit about the business, and how to engage co-workers.

Overall, I found the story to do a suitable job of illustrating the author's key points. If you want to get to the bottom of the book, you can really read the last 10 pages or so, which can also be found on the author's site: [...]

14 people found this helpful

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Steve Dale

Great insights on what makes meetings work and why they are critical to success

Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2018

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This is my second time reading this great book. Now as an Scaled Agile coach, the different types of meetings make even more sense. When teams jump from context to context, they have trouble getting things done. Getting the right people discussing the right things and having the discipline to stay there is critical to decision making and clarity. Another point that could be the subject of another book (maybe it is already in one of his others) is that when a decision is a made, it is not rehashed in every meeting. This relates to his idea of the wasteful sneaker-time. Clear communication of decisions and guard-rails is important.
Every one involved in an organization that holds meetings should read and apply this.

2 people found this helpful

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Mike Beunder

Quick guide to get your meetings structured (if you have no working approach)

Reviewed in the United States on February 7, 2015

Verified Purchase

Similar to Patrick previous book, “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team”, this book is written as a novel which is used to build the framework of Patrick’s vision on how and when meetings should be conducted. It is at times somewhat distracting or less easy to digest, depending on your taste of novels. It is not something I found to be greatly enhancing the overall information Patrick is trying to disperse.
Patrick’s adagio on meetings is best set by his so-called hard truth: “bad meetings almost always lead to bad decisions, which is the best recipe for mediocrity”. Most companies today have some form of policies guiding the basic conduct of meetings but fewer have a documented framework within which the different meetings are place. Patrick’s book might provide some useful tuning and/or some new ideas to the more seasoned managers. However, I would argue that the book is more useful to the junior employees entering their corporate careers. It will give them a basic handle on where to place their input and understand where and how some of the decisions (ideally) have been or will be made. If you don’t like the story approach, skip to the end and look at the meeting framework Patrick outlines as a summary. That does the job too!

9 people found this helpful

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Laser Lynx

A pretty good read, an even better audiobook...

Reviewed in the United States on June 27, 2017

Verified Purchase

This book was very informative, the writer's approach to an otherwise dry subject was refreshing and helped to move the reader through the process of discovery learning. I recommend this book to any reader who is tired of the drudgery of ineffective meetings. I gave this book 4 stars only because I felt the narrative started off a bit slow, but I think I understand the reasoning behind it. I think the author wanted to build a back story that connected you to the central character of the book and draw the reader into the journey. In this was the reader is taken through the main characters thought processes. This ended up being a useful teaching tool, but one that made the process of getting to the point a bit drawn out. In all I recommend this book the meeting guide at the was a good add.

3 people found this helpful

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John W. Pearson

The Myth of Too Many Meetings

Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2011

Verified Purchase

This is easy to admit--I cannot improve on Patrick Lencioni's fast-reading, get-the-four-big-ideas-immediately book. So, I'll just quote him in this review.

But first...here's a Pop Quiz! Everyone stand up. OK...now remain standing if your job requires you to attend at least one meeting a week. OK...now remain standing if you are in a minimum of five meetings a week (staff meeting, one-on-one meetings, etc.). I know...everyone is still standing. But now...remain standing if you have ever read a book, attended a workshop, viewed a webinar or had coaching on effective meetings management. (Anyone still standing?)

My top book pick in my "Meetings Bucket" is this book--but I've never fully reviewed it here. So...listen to Lencioni talk about "Sneaker Time" (pages 251-252):

"Most executives I know spend hours sending email, leaving voice mail, and roaming the halls to clarify issues that should have been made clear during a meeting in the first place. But no one accounts for this the way they do when they add up time spent in meetings.

"I have no doubt that sneaker time is the most subtle, dangerous, and underestimated black hole in corporate America. To understand it, it is helpful to take a quick look at the basic geometry of an executive team within the context of an organization.

"Consider that an executive team with just seven people has twenty-one combinations of one-to-one relationships that have to be maintained in order to keep people on the same page. That alone is next to impossible for a human being to track.

"But when you consider the dozens of employees down throughout the organization who report to those seven and who need to be on the same page with one another, the communication challenge increases dramatically, as does the potential for wasting time and energy. And so, when we fail to get clarity and alignment during meetings, we set in motion a colossal wave of human activity as executives and their direct reports scramble to figure out what everyone else is doing and why.

"Remarkably, because sneaker time is mixed in with everything else we do during the day, we fail to see it as a single category of wasted time. It never ceases to amaze me when I see executives checking their watches at the end of a meeting and lobbying the CEO for it to end so they can `go do some real work.' In so many cases, the `real work' they're referring to is going back to their offices to respond to e-mail and voice mail that they've received only because so many people are confused about what needs to be done.

"It's as if the executives are saying, 'Can we wrap this up so I can run around and explain to people what I never explained to them after the last meeting?' It is at once shocking and understandable that intelligent people cannot see the correlation between failing to take the time to get clarity, closure, and buy-in during a meeting, and the time required to clean up after themselves as a result."

Whoa! That hits close to home! Good stuff. So get the book, read his leadership fable (in the classic Lencioni style) and begin religiously implementing his four kinds of meetings: 1) Daily Check-in, 2) Weekly Tactical, 3) Monthly Strategic and 4) Quarterly Off-site Review.

13 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Kindle Customer

Fantastic

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 25, 2019

Verified Purchase

Provides clarity and practical ideas on how and why we should have more meetings - and even more important - BETTER more EFFECTIVE meetings. Having in the past been in quite a few ‘ dull , dead ,boring and aimless meetings ‘ I must admit that I bought this book with some reservations but at the end - I can honestly say - very impressed !

Christian

A unique twist on the age old problem

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 10, 2009

Verified Purchase

Patrick Lenconi's fable style of writing appeals to me as it is not weighty and academic and thus much more accessible. Through a serious story set in business he outlines his vision of how to make meetings much more effective and...enjoyable. There is not a great deal of complexity in his theory that underpins the fable, and there shouldn't be as that would conflict with his vision.

This will appeal to anyone who has struggled though a meeting and walked away wondering what they got out of it. It will also appeal to those who have run such meetings.

Consider this tale a timely reminder that trying to achieve too much in one place often means that not much is achieved. Through focusing on what is realistic, and not being afraid of conflict, meetings can be productive sessions that drive business forward and improve colleague relationships.

One person found this helpful

Warren

Great help to me getting teams together and meetings and outcomes meaningful

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 10, 2019

Verified Purchase

Have not been able to put this book down. Have implemented the four meeting structure suggested in the book. Can relate very much to Will in this and also faced simular barriers when setting up a weekly tactical meeting. After a few attempts I think we are now on to a winner.

Nick B

A powerful story

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 15, 2014

Verified Purchase

The book does exactly what it says - tells an engaging fable which encourages you to think creatively about how to improve your meetings. The key theme I will remember is "which would you prefer to go to a meeting or a film?" The book explains why we usually answer "film" but should be answering "meeting".

I am currently working through how I can improve the participation and outcomes from my regular team meeting.

If you need to improve meetings you run, or those that you are part of then this book will give you very helpful ideas to do it, and a fable to use to explain your reasons as you try to take colleagues with you.

One person found this helpful

Angelo

I'd recommend it to all managers

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 4, 2018

Verified Purchase

Very interesting book, I'd recommend it to all managers. I liked in particular the suggestions given to keep people engaged during the meetings and the need to distinguish clearly among different types of meetings. And the way it's written make it very easy to read, I think I finished it in a couple of days. Love the title! :)

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