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Death by Meeting: A Leadership Fable...about Solving the Most Painful Problem in Business
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 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 tortuou
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
723 people are currently reading
15033 people want to read
About the author
Patrick Lencioni
109 books2,545 followersPatrick Lencioni is a New York Times best-selling author, speaker, consultant and founder and president of The Table Group, a firm dedicated to helping organizations become healthy. Lencioni’s ideas around leadership, teamwork and employee engagement have impacted organizations around the globe. His books have sold nearly three million copies worldwide.
When Lencioni is not writing, he consults to CEOs and their executive teams, helping them to become more cohesive within the context of their business strategy. The widespread appeal of Lencioni’s leadership models have yielded a diverse base of clients, including a mix of Fortune 500 companies, professional sports organizations, the military, non-profits, universities and churches. In addition, Lencioni speaks to thousands of leaders each year at world class organizations and national conferences. He was recently cited in the Wall Street Journal as one of the most sought-after business speakers in the nation.
Prior to founding his firm, he worked as a corporate executive for Sybase, Oracle and Bain & Company. He also served on the National Board of Directors for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America.
When Lencioni is not writing, he consults to CEOs and their executive teams, helping them to become more cohesive within the context of their business strategy. The widespread appeal of Lencioni’s leadership models have yielded a diverse base of clients, including a mix of Fortune 500 companies, professional sports organizations, the military, non-profits, universities and churches. In addition, Lencioni speaks to thousands of leaders each year at world class organizations and national conferences. He was recently cited in the Wall Street Journal as one of the most sought-after business speakers in the nation.
Prior to founding his firm, he worked as a corporate executive for Sybase, Oracle and Bain & Company. He also served on the National Board of Directors for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 879 reviews
May 27, 2011
Pros for this title are easy to come up with: It was a quick read. The information is easily consumable. The resulting recommendation is fairly specific and easy to implement. The concept behind this strategy for your meetings seems solid.
Cons are that the information, while easy to test, does not seem to come from any sort of empirical source. Most of it sounds like Lencioni conjured it up from nothing. I'm OK with that, since that is how I have come up with some of my best work, but it is an easy criticism for a business book. The strategy sounds good, but will require some tweaking, I think to work in various situations, and I don't think it provides an end-to-end solution to business woes, or even challenges with making your meetings effective.
If I were to sum up the message of the book in a way that I could stand behind it 100%, it would be: "If you want your meetings to be more effective, and ultimate contribute to the bottom line of your business, then introduce healthy conflict within a light weight structure. Let the attendees emotion be the driving energy behind good decisions and business success."
Cons are that the information, while easy to test, does not seem to come from any sort of empirical source. Most of it sounds like Lencioni conjured it up from nothing. I'm OK with that, since that is how I have come up with some of my best work, but it is an easy criticism for a business book. The strategy sounds good, but will require some tweaking, I think to work in various situations, and I don't think it provides an end-to-end solution to business woes, or even challenges with making your meetings effective.
If I were to sum up the message of the book in a way that I could stand behind it 100%, it would be: "If you want your meetings to be more effective, and ultimate contribute to the bottom line of your business, then introduce healthy conflict within a light weight structure. Let the attendees emotion be the driving energy behind good decisions and business success."
July 11, 2022
We’ve all been in meetings that seemed like a huge waste of time (maybe even led a few). Sadly meetings are not going away any time soon. In Death by Meeting, Patrick Lencioni helps isolate why our meetings tend to be so boring and unproductive and offers practical steps to get the most out our meetings. Pros: this book is a very easy read, does a respectable job of identifying the key issues, and provides practical solutions. Cons: this could have been an email (just kidding…but not really). The ideas could have been conveyed in about 2 pages of text, but the author chooses to explain his ideas through a 217-page story about a struggling fictional company. I suppose in some respects, I am more likely to retain the info conveyed through narrative than I am if you simply gave me a list…but it does drag it out a bit. Second con, this is just one guy’s ideas. While I suspect they may be helpful, he doesn’t really present any empirical evidence to prove that his ideas are effective in the real world. All in all, a quick, easy read that offers up some good food for thought on how to make the most of meetings. 3 Stars.
What follows are my notes on the book:
Meetings are not inherently boring. They are dynamic interactions discussing topics relevant to our livelihoods. We make them dull because we eliminate the one element that makes any human activity interesting: conflict. We can sit through a 2 hour movie without being bored because we get absorbed in the conflict. In any organization with thinking people, there will be differences of opinion on matters of strategy, organization, etc. Good leaders must mine the staff for conflicting opinions and grant permission to engage in honest debate. Once all the opinions are on the table, a decision can be made and then the staff must accept the final verdict and move forward as a team.
The author argues that more than one type of meeting is required to meet the needs of the organization.
Type #1 – The Daily Check In
This is a short (~5 min) huddle used to make sure team members avoid confusion on how priorities are translated into action on a daily basis.
Type #2 – Weekly Tactical
A regular meeting (30-45 min) focused exclusively on tactical issues of immediate concern. Each team member has 60 seconds to discuss what is on their plate so everybody has a sense of the issues that require attention. This is followed by a progress review. Contrary to conventional wisdom, weekly tactical does not have an agenda set in advance. The agenda is decided based off the issues raised and progress reviewed. The two goals of the weekly tactical are: resolution of issues and reinforcement of clarity.
Type #3 – Monthly Strategic
This meeting is for executives to wrestle with, analyze, debate, and decide upon critical issues that will affect the business in a fundamental way. He recommends budgeting 2 hours per critical topic to allow time for open-ended conversation and debate. They need to occur regularly so that they serve as a parking lot for critical strategic issues that may pop up in a weekly tactical meeting where there is insufficient time to discuss them.
Quarterly Off-Site Review
Off sites have a reputation as touchy feely boondoggles that provide little lasting benefit to the organization. Effective off sites provide executives an opportunity to regularly step away from the daily, weekly, or even monthly issues that occupy their attention, so that a holistic, long term review can be conducted. This should include a comprehensive strategy review (is our strategy still good based off changes in industry or the market), a team review (identify any trends or tendencies that may be impacting the team), a personnel review (talk across departments about key employees to help identify superior and poor performers to better manage and retain talent), and a competitive and industry review (info on competitors or industry trends).
What follows are my notes on the book:
Meetings are not inherently boring. They are dynamic interactions discussing topics relevant to our livelihoods. We make them dull because we eliminate the one element that makes any human activity interesting: conflict. We can sit through a 2 hour movie without being bored because we get absorbed in the conflict. In any organization with thinking people, there will be differences of opinion on matters of strategy, organization, etc. Good leaders must mine the staff for conflicting opinions and grant permission to engage in honest debate. Once all the opinions are on the table, a decision can be made and then the staff must accept the final verdict and move forward as a team.
The author argues that more than one type of meeting is required to meet the needs of the organization.
Type #1 – The Daily Check In
This is a short (~5 min) huddle used to make sure team members avoid confusion on how priorities are translated into action on a daily basis.
Type #2 – Weekly Tactical
A regular meeting (30-45 min) focused exclusively on tactical issues of immediate concern. Each team member has 60 seconds to discuss what is on their plate so everybody has a sense of the issues that require attention. This is followed by a progress review. Contrary to conventional wisdom, weekly tactical does not have an agenda set in advance. The agenda is decided based off the issues raised and progress reviewed. The two goals of the weekly tactical are: resolution of issues and reinforcement of clarity.
Type #3 – Monthly Strategic
This meeting is for executives to wrestle with, analyze, debate, and decide upon critical issues that will affect the business in a fundamental way. He recommends budgeting 2 hours per critical topic to allow time for open-ended conversation and debate. They need to occur regularly so that they serve as a parking lot for critical strategic issues that may pop up in a weekly tactical meeting where there is insufficient time to discuss them.
Quarterly Off-Site Review
Off sites have a reputation as touchy feely boondoggles that provide little lasting benefit to the organization. Effective off sites provide executives an opportunity to regularly step away from the daily, weekly, or even monthly issues that occupy their attention, so that a holistic, long term review can be conducted. This should include a comprehensive strategy review (is our strategy still good based off changes in industry or the market), a team review (identify any trends or tendencies that may be impacting the team), a personnel review (talk across departments about key employees to help identify superior and poor performers to better manage and retain talent), and a competitive and industry review (info on competitors or industry trends).
March 24, 2020
No doubt the best book I have read on meetings. I was already familiar with the concepts from other Lencioni books (The Advantage, Five Dysfunctions and others) but this one goes in depth with all the key elements of an efficient meeting. I will definitely try to implement these principles and structure in my teams as much as I'm able to.
Two problems with meetings:
*Meetings are boring because they lack drama or conflict (rather than mining for conflict most managers are focused on avoiding tensions and finishing meetings on time).
*Meetings are ineffective because they lack contextual structure. Because there is no clarity around what topics are appropriate, there is no clear context for the various discussions that take place. In the end little is decided because the participants have hard time figuring out whether they're supposed to be debating, voting, brainstorming, weighing in or just listening.
LACK OF DRAMA OR CONFLICT
Meetings VS movies:
*Meetings are interactive, movies are not.
*Meetings are directly relevant to our lives, movies are not.
THE HOOK. The key is to set up the plot form the outside (participants need to understand and appreciate what is at stake).
MINING FOR CONFLICT AND REAL-TIME PERMISSION. Leader can minimize the discomfort and maximize the likelihood that conflict will continue by interrupting the participants and reminding them that what they are doing is good.
LACK OF CONTEXTUAL STRUCTURE
Meeting stew - the tendency to throw every type of issue that needs to be discussed into the same meeting, like a bad stew with too many random ingredients.
THE FOUR MEETINGS
1) THE DAILY CHECK-IN requires that team members get together, standing up, for about five minutes every morning to report on their activities that day. Purpose is to help team members to avoid confusion about how priorities are translated into action on a regular basis. It provides as quick forum for ensuring that nothing falls through the cracks on a given day and that no one steps on anyone else's toes. Just as important, it helps eliminate the need for unnecessary and time consuming e-mail chains about schedule coordination. Challenge is to get team members to stick with it initially, long enough to make it part of their routine. Also keeping it to five minutes.
2) THE WEEKLY TACTICAL (45-90 minutes)
Critical elements:
The lightning round: Everyone indicates their 2-3 priorities for the week, it should take each member no more than one minute. Sets tone for the rest of the meeting. By giving all participants a real sense of the actual activities taking place in the organization, it makes it easy for the team to identify potential redundancies, gaps or other issues that require immediate attention.
Progress review: routine reporting of critical information or metrics (revenue, expenses, customer satisfaction, inventory etc. ) Point is to get into the habit of reviewing progress relating to key metrics for success, but not every metric available (4-6 max). Should take max 5 minutes, lengthy discussions should be avoided.
Real-time agenda: agenda should not be set before the meeting, but only after previous two rounds have taken place. Topics that need to be discussed should pop out. Mainly tactical issues that should be addressed to ensure that short-term objectives are not in jeopardy. Two overriding goals: resolution of issues and reinforcement of clarity. Obstacles need to be identified and removed, and everyone needs to be on the same page.
Challenges that prevent proper implementation:
*temptation to set an agenda ahead of time, either formally or informally
*tendency for team members to go too much into details during the lightning round, causes others to lose interest, thus clouds the ability of the team to identify the right issues for discussion and resolution.
*temptation to get into discussion about long-term strategic issues. There isn't enough time for that. The tendency of leaders to inappropriately reconsider strategic decisions when faced with inevitable tactical obstacles. Limiting weekly tactical meetings to specific, short-term topics requires people to focus on solving problems, rather than backing off on long-term decisions that have already been made. Key to overcoming this is discipline, taking strategic topics off the table and taking them to the monthly strategic meeting.
3)THE MONTHLY STRATEGIC MEETING
The meeting where executives wrestle with, analyze, debate and decide upon critical issues (but only a few) that will affect the business in fundamental ways. Allow executives to dive into a given topic or two without the distractions of deadlines and tactical concerns. Advisable to schedule at least 2 hours per topic.
Sometimes ad-hoc strategic meetings are also needed(the most important meeting that occurs in an organization). It demonstrates that an executive team knows how to identify those rare strategic issues that deserve immediate attention even at the expense of the urgent but less important tactical concerns that surface every day.
Challenges:
*failure to schedule enough time for them
*putting too many items on the agenda
*most executives have too many tactical and administrative items on their schedules
*the failure to do research and preparation ahead of time
*the fear of conflict
4)THE QUARTERLY OFF-SITE REVIEW
Provide executives an opportunity to regularly step away from the daily, weekly and even monthly issues that occupy their attention, so they can review the business in a more holistic manner.
Possible topics:
*comprehensive strategy review.
*team review (assess themselves and their behaviors as a team).
*personnel review. Talking about the key employees within the organization, also poor performers.
*competitive and industry review.
Challenges:
*tendency to over-burden and over-structure the meetings (tightly scheduled slide presentations and lengthy information sermons).
*making those meetings too much of a boondoggle (exotic locations, travel, too many social activities etc).
*inviting outsiders to to attend the meeting in the spirit of inclusivity, it is a very bad idea because it changes the team dynamic significantly (only exception is using outside facilitator who is trusted by the team).
“When a group of intelligent people come together to talk about issues that matter, it is both natural and productive for disagreement to occur. Resolving those issues is what makes a meeting productive, engaging, even fun.”
“To make meetings less boring, leaders must look for legitimate reasons to provoke and uncover relevant, constructive ideological conflict. By doing so, they’ll keep people engaged, which leads to more passionate discussions, and ultimately, to better decisions.”
“Well, strategy. The competitive landscape. Morale. The dynamics of the executive team. Top performers. Bottom performers. Customer satisfaction. Pretty much everything that has a long-term impact on the success of the company. Stuff you just can’t cover in weekly or monthly meetings.”
Two problems with meetings:
*Meetings are boring because they lack drama or conflict (rather than mining for conflict most managers are focused on avoiding tensions and finishing meetings on time).
*Meetings are ineffective because they lack contextual structure. Because there is no clarity around what topics are appropriate, there is no clear context for the various discussions that take place. In the end little is decided because the participants have hard time figuring out whether they're supposed to be debating, voting, brainstorming, weighing in or just listening.
LACK OF DRAMA OR CONFLICT
Meetings VS movies:
*Meetings are interactive, movies are not.
*Meetings are directly relevant to our lives, movies are not.
THE HOOK. The key is to set up the plot form the outside (participants need to understand and appreciate what is at stake).
MINING FOR CONFLICT AND REAL-TIME PERMISSION. Leader can minimize the discomfort and maximize the likelihood that conflict will continue by interrupting the participants and reminding them that what they are doing is good.
LACK OF CONTEXTUAL STRUCTURE
Meeting stew - the tendency to throw every type of issue that needs to be discussed into the same meeting, like a bad stew with too many random ingredients.
THE FOUR MEETINGS
1) THE DAILY CHECK-IN requires that team members get together, standing up, for about five minutes every morning to report on their activities that day. Purpose is to help team members to avoid confusion about how priorities are translated into action on a regular basis. It provides as quick forum for ensuring that nothing falls through the cracks on a given day and that no one steps on anyone else's toes. Just as important, it helps eliminate the need for unnecessary and time consuming e-mail chains about schedule coordination. Challenge is to get team members to stick with it initially, long enough to make it part of their routine. Also keeping it to five minutes.
2) THE WEEKLY TACTICAL (45-90 minutes)
Critical elements:
The lightning round: Everyone indicates their 2-3 priorities for the week, it should take each member no more than one minute. Sets tone for the rest of the meeting. By giving all participants a real sense of the actual activities taking place in the organization, it makes it easy for the team to identify potential redundancies, gaps or other issues that require immediate attention.
Progress review: routine reporting of critical information or metrics (revenue, expenses, customer satisfaction, inventory etc. ) Point is to get into the habit of reviewing progress relating to key metrics for success, but not every metric available (4-6 max). Should take max 5 minutes, lengthy discussions should be avoided.
Real-time agenda: agenda should not be set before the meeting, but only after previous two rounds have taken place. Topics that need to be discussed should pop out. Mainly tactical issues that should be addressed to ensure that short-term objectives are not in jeopardy. Two overriding goals: resolution of issues and reinforcement of clarity. Obstacles need to be identified and removed, and everyone needs to be on the same page.
Challenges that prevent proper implementation:
*temptation to set an agenda ahead of time, either formally or informally
*tendency for team members to go too much into details during the lightning round, causes others to lose interest, thus clouds the ability of the team to identify the right issues for discussion and resolution.
*temptation to get into discussion about long-term strategic issues. There isn't enough time for that. The tendency of leaders to inappropriately reconsider strategic decisions when faced with inevitable tactical obstacles. Limiting weekly tactical meetings to specific, short-term topics requires people to focus on solving problems, rather than backing off on long-term decisions that have already been made. Key to overcoming this is discipline, taking strategic topics off the table and taking them to the monthly strategic meeting.
3)THE MONTHLY STRATEGIC MEETING
The meeting where executives wrestle with, analyze, debate and decide upon critical issues (but only a few) that will affect the business in fundamental ways. Allow executives to dive into a given topic or two without the distractions of deadlines and tactical concerns. Advisable to schedule at least 2 hours per topic.
Sometimes ad-hoc strategic meetings are also needed(the most important meeting that occurs in an organization). It demonstrates that an executive team knows how to identify those rare strategic issues that deserve immediate attention even at the expense of the urgent but less important tactical concerns that surface every day.
Challenges:
*failure to schedule enough time for them
*putting too many items on the agenda
*most executives have too many tactical and administrative items on their schedules
*the failure to do research and preparation ahead of time
*the fear of conflict
4)THE QUARTERLY OFF-SITE REVIEW
Provide executives an opportunity to regularly step away from the daily, weekly and even monthly issues that occupy their attention, so they can review the business in a more holistic manner.
Possible topics:
*comprehensive strategy review.
*team review (assess themselves and their behaviors as a team).
*personnel review. Talking about the key employees within the organization, also poor performers.
*competitive and industry review.
Challenges:
*tendency to over-burden and over-structure the meetings (tightly scheduled slide presentations and lengthy information sermons).
*making those meetings too much of a boondoggle (exotic locations, travel, too many social activities etc).
*inviting outsiders to to attend the meeting in the spirit of inclusivity, it is a very bad idea because it changes the team dynamic significantly (only exception is using outside facilitator who is trusted by the team).
“When a group of intelligent people come together to talk about issues that matter, it is both natural and productive for disagreement to occur. Resolving those issues is what makes a meeting productive, engaging, even fun.”
“To make meetings less boring, leaders must look for legitimate reasons to provoke and uncover relevant, constructive ideological conflict. By doing so, they’ll keep people engaged, which leads to more passionate discussions, and ultimately, to better decisions.”
“Well, strategy. The competitive landscape. Morale. The dynamics of the executive team. Top performers. Bottom performers. Customer satisfaction. Pretty much everything that has a long-term impact on the success of the company. Stuff you just can’t cover in weekly or monthly meetings.”
July 29, 2024
Read for school. It just wasn’t for me. I rather be given the cold hard facts than read a fictional story. Two Stars.
May 20, 2014
It was a good book with great intentions. I think the allegory that the information was set upon was good and applicable. However, I found that it got in the way for me. I read for growth and information. I was looking for the information to come to light and had to wait until the end. Everything the book was about could have been summed up in 5 or 6 pages.
May 21, 2013
"Death by Meeting" was my first Lencioni book and I am definitely a fan. Having seen him first at the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit when he was a last-minute fill-in for Howard Schultz of Starbucks, I was immediately impressed by his humor and insights. I wasn't surprised that he was invited back the following year and again this year for the 2013 lineup.
The book is an engaging tale on what spells the difference between meetings that are alive and dead. Do not expect a linear narrative; it is a "fairy tale" if you will, set in a modern-day conference room where managers at a make-believe company go through the motions of ineffective meetings that lead to nowhere in the name of productivity.
One could skip these parts and go straight to the points highlighted in the last section of the book, but you would totally miss out on the illustration the first part lends.
Our management team implemented the strategies we learned from "Death By Meeting" at the start of the year, and I must admit, in my experience, we are not only tighter as a team, we are more productive and efficient at getting things done.
I highly recommend teams read and discuss this book together to truly get the most out of it.
The book is an engaging tale on what spells the difference between meetings that are alive and dead. Do not expect a linear narrative; it is a "fairy tale" if you will, set in a modern-day conference room where managers at a make-believe company go through the motions of ineffective meetings that lead to nowhere in the name of productivity.
One could skip these parts and go straight to the points highlighted in the last section of the book, but you would totally miss out on the illustration the first part lends.
Our management team implemented the strategies we learned from "Death By Meeting" at the start of the year, and I must admit, in my experience, we are not only tighter as a team, we are more productive and efficient at getting things done.
I highly recommend teams read and discuss this book together to truly get the most out of it.
October 1, 2022
Reasonable meeting advice couched in a very problematic “fable.” The story involves elements with extremely unfortunate subtexts, including (in my snarky summary):
» Be white! Play golf!
» Watch our for female assistants, ‘cuz they’ll underperform—and get pregnant!
» Hire your friends’ kids—especially their sons, it seems—when you want more from an employee!
» Don’t cry at movies—leave that to the little ladies! (p. 103)
» Pull all nighters if you want to succeed!
Are any of these items explicitly outlined in the book? No. But they are part of the awkward “fable” that Lencioni presents as sugar coating for his ideas. And the story makes me queasy, no matter how interesting the methodology for conducting meetings.
» Be white! Play golf!
» Watch our for female assistants, ‘cuz they’ll underperform—and get pregnant!
» Hire your friends’ kids—especially their sons, it seems—when you want more from an employee!
» Don’t cry at movies—leave that to the little ladies! (p. 103)
» Pull all nighters if you want to succeed!
Are any of these items explicitly outlined in the book? No. But they are part of the awkward “fable” that Lencioni presents as sugar coating for his ideas. And the story makes me queasy, no matter how interesting the methodology for conducting meetings.
March 9, 2016
Painfully outdated and 200 pages too long. Felt like being in a bad meeting about meetings.
April 8, 2022
I love your books. I love the writing style and how efficient the reading is. I would like to challenge Patrick with a review...
Page 230-231 "When this happens, a leader can minimize the discomfort and maximize the likelihood that conflict with continue by interrupting the participants and reminding them that what they are doing is good. As simple, even p a t e r n a l, as this seems...."
I'm sure we can find words that embrace all leaders that leaves gender out of the equation.
Page 230-231 "When this happens, a leader can minimize the discomfort and maximize the likelihood that conflict with continue by interrupting the participants and reminding them that what they are doing is good. As simple, even p a t e r n a l, as this seems...."
I'm sure we can find words that embrace all leaders that leaves gender out of the equation.
October 31, 2025
Let me tell you a little Halloween story. We are going to have a two hour meeting without an agenda. The whole team will be there and half of them are already wondering why they are invited (they have better things to do).
Seems familiar? Welcome to corporate! If you are managing a large team (I do), you probably spend many hours a week in meetings. Most of them bring more confusion than alignment. You feel disengaged and demotivated.
This is an entertaining and educational leadership fable about meetings, how they relate to movies, and how to make the most of them. At the end, you will get a summary with the meeting types that Lencioni recommends for a leadership team, their duration, frequency, and content.
A must read if you are a manager.
Seems familiar? Welcome to corporate! If you are managing a large team (I do), you probably spend many hours a week in meetings. Most of them bring more confusion than alignment. You feel disengaged and demotivated.
This is an entertaining and educational leadership fable about meetings, how they relate to movies, and how to make the most of them. At the end, you will get a summary with the meeting types that Lencioni recommends for a leadership team, their duration, frequency, and content.
A must read if you are a manager.
June 20, 2020
I didn't give this book a 5 star because I already follow a lot of these practices. It's not about the quantity of meetings (although they can be reduced sometimes) but mostly about the quality and value of them.
I know a lot of people and leaders who should read this story, it would make the work of a lot of people easier and better.
As always the story of the book is very good!
I know a lot of people and leaders who should read this story, it would make the work of a lot of people easier and better.
As always the story of the book is very good!
August 31, 2025
Though a bit dated, Lencioni’s storytelling once again illustrates uncomfortable workplace truths that many of us would rather ignore in the spirit of getting through another week.
March 30, 2021
Would you prefer to attend a meeting or watch a movie? "Depends on the movie", said no one ever. In reality, most of us would choose the latter. But why? Answering this seemingly inane question is the subject of this book.
As in the author's better-known The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable, the exposition takes the form of a serviceably-written (but only just) novella that introduces the ideas, followed by a few chapters in essay form summarising the theory. This format solves two of the most annoying problems in nonfiction: 1) that some find the lack of narrative boring and 2) that interesting ideas are often interspersed with useless padding to spread a blogpost worth of interesting material over 300 pages.
The author's thesis is simple. The problem with meetings is not that we have too many of them. It's that they're boring and ineffective. They're boring when they lack engagement and conflict. And they're ineffective due to what he calls "the meeting stew", a poor separation of concerns leading to mismatched expectations and a feeling of wasted time and opportunity.
Dealing with the lack of engagement
The author advocates setting the scene at the outset of the meeting, to address why the attendees should care. He suggests "illustrat[ing] the dangers of making a bad decision, or highlight[ing] a competitive threat that is looming". But as this seems over-the-top, I think it's typically sufficient to explain why a particular topic matters. "Employees aren't expecting Hamlet, but they're certainly looking for a reason to care".
Once the scene is set, the facilitator (and ideally all participants) should "mine for conflict". This important as the collective ideological back and forth as a team considers an issue from its multiple facets, each contributing their opinions and challenging each other is the crux of a successful meeting. It makes the meeting interesting AND allows the participants to make good decisions.
Dealing with the meeting stew
Aligning expectations about the nature of the meeting is equally important. To enable this, the author proposes separating the various concerns that are typically tabled for discussion into four different types of meeting, each with a different format and frequency.
The Daily Check-in, is a 5-minute standup meeting, and should be familiar to anyone in the software industry.
The Weekly Tactical, starts with a lightning round, essentially a standup, and a review of key metrics, before agreeing a spontaneous agenda of topics that pertain to short-term tactical matters. The two key goals of this meeting are "resolution of issues and reinforcement of clarity".
The Monthly Strategic, is a longer (2-3 hours) meeting with a predetermined agenda of one or two important topics that require pre-meeting research, debate, and decision-making. It's important to give this meeting enough time to have meaningful debate and commitment, so that issues are not reopened at a later stage due to a lack of buy-in.
Finally, the Quarterly Off-Site, is an even longer affair (the author suggests 2 days), where the team can take a step back to review strategy, assess its own performance, and look at the big picture.
Concluding thoughts
I found the model and the surrounding theory thought-provoking. And while all models are wrong, I will remember this one as useful. It provides a solid foundation that teams can adapt to suit their needs. The most insightful idea for me was the need for separating concerns to resolve the "meeting stew".
As in the author's better-known The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable, the exposition takes the form of a serviceably-written (but only just) novella that introduces the ideas, followed by a few chapters in essay form summarising the theory. This format solves two of the most annoying problems in nonfiction: 1) that some find the lack of narrative boring and 2) that interesting ideas are often interspersed with useless padding to spread a blogpost worth of interesting material over 300 pages.
The author's thesis is simple. The problem with meetings is not that we have too many of them. It's that they're boring and ineffective. They're boring when they lack engagement and conflict. And they're ineffective due to what he calls "the meeting stew", a poor separation of concerns leading to mismatched expectations and a feeling of wasted time and opportunity.
Dealing with the lack of engagement
The author advocates setting the scene at the outset of the meeting, to address why the attendees should care. He suggests "illustrat[ing] the dangers of making a bad decision, or highlight[ing] a competitive threat that is looming". But as this seems over-the-top, I think it's typically sufficient to explain why a particular topic matters. "Employees aren't expecting Hamlet, but they're certainly looking for a reason to care".
Once the scene is set, the facilitator (and ideally all participants) should "mine for conflict". This important as the collective ideological back and forth as a team considers an issue from its multiple facets, each contributing their opinions and challenging each other is the crux of a successful meeting. It makes the meeting interesting AND allows the participants to make good decisions.
Dealing with the meeting stew
Aligning expectations about the nature of the meeting is equally important. To enable this, the author proposes separating the various concerns that are typically tabled for discussion into four different types of meeting, each with a different format and frequency.
The Daily Check-in, is a 5-minute standup meeting, and should be familiar to anyone in the software industry.
The Weekly Tactical, starts with a lightning round, essentially a standup, and a review of key metrics, before agreeing a spontaneous agenda of topics that pertain to short-term tactical matters. The two key goals of this meeting are "resolution of issues and reinforcement of clarity".
The Monthly Strategic, is a longer (2-3 hours) meeting with a predetermined agenda of one or two important topics that require pre-meeting research, debate, and decision-making. It's important to give this meeting enough time to have meaningful debate and commitment, so that issues are not reopened at a later stage due to a lack of buy-in.
Finally, the Quarterly Off-Site, is an even longer affair (the author suggests 2 days), where the team can take a step back to review strategy, assess its own performance, and look at the big picture.
Concluding thoughts
I found the model and the surrounding theory thought-provoking. And while all models are wrong, I will remember this one as useful. It provides a solid foundation that teams can adapt to suit their needs. The most insightful idea for me was the need for separating concerns to resolve the "meeting stew".
May 9, 2024
Книга написана в чудовому стилі Ленсіоні як і попередні які доводилось читати) І це чудово за допомогою історії про купівлю компанії та певні проблеми які були на зустрічах топ керівництва автор дає змогу проаналізувати те як відбуваються робочі зустрічі читача. Аналіз та асоціація із елементами кіноіндустрії надає чітке розуміння структури та типів зустрічей. Кінцівка історії хеппі енд але це тільки сприяло приємному враженню після прочитання. Ну а розбір методики після головної історії можна використовувати як приклад і повертатись вразі чого у майбутньому.
January 9, 2023
“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.
A friend gave this book to my wife, and she read it across two days. I’ve never seen her so excited, even with the other books she’s reviewed for me (eg. Brew a Batch, Permission to Screw Up). This review is therefore written from her perspective.
The cover, as you can see, is a business guy head desking on top of a meeting agenda. I figured I’d just skim over it and then read the other bookies waiting in my bedroom. A trusted business friend recommended it to me – otherwise I wouldn’t have picked it up on my own. Once I had it, I thought I might get more insights into meetings.
Most of the book is a fictional story about a leadership team and how they are currently running their meetings. You get suckered in (invested) in how they improve their meetings. Given that it has this story you see real life examples of how it can be used and not just the plain theory. The characters give some of the reader’s thoughts back at them like ‘Why do we need more meetings? or ‘Really? You want me to do this in a meeting?’ where it is answered in the story as a group and the characters chatting about it.
Unlike the other business books where they try to cram in a bunch of theories and just hop about in meaningless or difficult to follow manner the story creates a framework. I would have preferred a little more of the ‘Fast Forward’ (non-fiction) at the end with the theories. This could have included more examples with the team doing the good meetings, the different types of good meetings. It was really interesting and enjoyable. This really has one meeting theory that can be summarized on a single page, so it’s not a reread of the whole book, just a revisit of the summarized theory at the back if need be.
Perhaps the most gleaming commendation for this book is that my wife stayed up late, and read this over two days. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her so absorbed! Also, she’s a passionate fiction hater, and I could hardly believe she was reading a fictional story (and I teased her mercilessly too).
Did you enjoy this goodreads review? If so you may find it useful to visit my blog The Cosy Dragon . I regularly post new reviews on a variety of genres.
A friend gave this book to my wife, and she read it across two days. I’ve never seen her so excited, even with the other books she’s reviewed for me (eg. Brew a Batch, Permission to Screw Up). This review is therefore written from her perspective.
The cover, as you can see, is a business guy head desking on top of a meeting agenda. I figured I’d just skim over it and then read the other bookies waiting in my bedroom. A trusted business friend recommended it to me – otherwise I wouldn’t have picked it up on my own. Once I had it, I thought I might get more insights into meetings.
Most of the book is a fictional story about a leadership team and how they are currently running their meetings. You get suckered in (invested) in how they improve their meetings. Given that it has this story you see real life examples of how it can be used and not just the plain theory. The characters give some of the reader’s thoughts back at them like ‘Why do we need more meetings? or ‘Really? You want me to do this in a meeting?’ where it is answered in the story as a group and the characters chatting about it.
Unlike the other business books where they try to cram in a bunch of theories and just hop about in meaningless or difficult to follow manner the story creates a framework. I would have preferred a little more of the ‘Fast Forward’ (non-fiction) at the end with the theories. This could have included more examples with the team doing the good meetings, the different types of good meetings. It was really interesting and enjoyable. This really has one meeting theory that can be summarized on a single page, so it’s not a reread of the whole book, just a revisit of the summarized theory at the back if need be.
Perhaps the most gleaming commendation for this book is that my wife stayed up late, and read this over two days. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her so absorbed! Also, she’s a passionate fiction hater, and I could hardly believe she was reading a fictional story (and I teased her mercilessly too).
Did you enjoy this goodreads review? If so you may find it useful to visit my blog The Cosy Dragon . I regularly post new reviews on a variety of genres.
June 10, 2017
Lencioni generally provides his business insights in a YA novel format, which works fairly well since it makes the books short and uncluttered by focusing on one narrative. However, in this book the business insights and the narrative seem disjointed. The story of Will, a bright young man lacking clear direction, is only connected to the point of making meetings better in the most tangential of ways.
The model for meeting structure is good, but it only takes about 3 pages to cover it. The rest of this book is disposable.
The model for meeting structure is good, but it only takes about 3 pages to cover it. The rest of this book is disposable.
November 24, 2020
Love the way Lencioni thinks and writes about seemingly stale topics. A really easy read (finished it in a couple of days) about how to structure and facilitate effective meetings.
Key takeaways: conflict is good (you might even say essential), preparation is key for larger conversations, and there is hope for lengthy meetings after all.
Still left with some questions (how do you mine for conflict among introverts? how do you create a culture where people feel safe being challenged? how do you help people with bad ideas have better ideas?), but a great entryway into the topic.
Key takeaways: conflict is good (you might even say essential), preparation is key for larger conversations, and there is hope for lengthy meetings after all.
Still left with some questions (how do you mine for conflict among introverts? how do you create a culture where people feel safe being challenged? how do you help people with bad ideas have better ideas?), but a great entryway into the topic.
October 11, 2015
I'm not sure why business authors feel compelled to write book-long fables instead of concise articles about their ideas, but at least this one has some compelling thoughts about how to make meetings more useful, interesting, and profitable to the organization. You can skip to the end of the book, where Lencioni delineates his suggestions.
November 7, 2020
Prva moja kniha od tohoto autora. Na naozaj putavom pribehu o konkretnej firme je pekne ukazane ake su vlastne mitingy dolezite! Aj napriek nazvu knihy ☺️ Kniha ma hlavu a patu, postavy su sympaticke, da sa vzit do ulohy kazdej osoby, kto pracuje v korporate urcite najde pripodobnenie k svojim mitingom. Na konci nechyba zhrnutie. Takto si predstavujem odbornu biznisovu literaturu! 👍
May 29, 2017
I heard about this book from a mentor of mine and have wanted to read it for years. I'm glad I did. I want to take some of the ideas and incorporate the priorities of separate "meetings" into my life. I think it's good to know when to tackle something.
December 29, 2018
Love it. The fable was great: short and entertaining. The learnings are even greater.
If meetings are part of what you do at your job then you'll learn something from this book. How to act during meetings or how to split them by context
If meetings are part of what you do at your job then you'll learn something from this book. How to act during meetings or how to split them by context
June 21, 2020
3.5 Stars. Quick read, Information is easy to grasp and there are some really good suggestions for Meetings. I normally hate books that are non-fiction behind a fiction story but this one was really enjoyable. Of course the content can be brocken down to a few pages (end of the book) but anyways.
February 19, 2025
Las ideas centrales son claras y concisas. Para explicarlas el autor narra una historia con sus momentos de suspense y drama que la hacen muy entretenida y clarifica mucho las ideas.
Hay que ver si todo se puede poner en práctica.
Hay que ver si todo se puede poner en práctica.
August 16, 2023
I love when business books are written as a fable. The principles become real and so much easier to understand! While I don't agree with every idea in this book, overall it was a great read and a great way to refresh my meetings. Excited to try some of these things out with my teams!
June 20, 2021
Easy, fast and entertaining read by renowned author P. Lencioni about a highly discussed and debatable topic: meetings at the workplace!
I liked to read the fiction fable (very entertaining, I got hooked to it) before the author shared his framework about meetings (a few pages only).
I have already for myself as a leader come across some of the common pitfalls (and therefore addressed them) described by the author. This is no rocket-science. The framework is helpful and a good reminder though to step up one’s leadership game to keep it up to date and relevant.
I especially recommend this book to anyone who is becoming a Manager for the first time.
The Lencioni’s meeting framework: 1/ daily check in (5mn - stand up and admin stuff mainly); 2/ weekly tactical (90 mn max - no prepared agenda, review the week ahead activities and KPIs); 3/ monthly strategic (2-4 hours - 2 topics max for deeper dive. Agenda and pre-work are required); 4/ quarterly off-site (2 days max - review strategic topics, industry trends and competitors. Out of office to avoid distractions).
I liked to read the fiction fable (very entertaining, I got hooked to it) before the author shared his framework about meetings (a few pages only).
I have already for myself as a leader come across some of the common pitfalls (and therefore addressed them) described by the author. This is no rocket-science. The framework is helpful and a good reminder though to step up one’s leadership game to keep it up to date and relevant.
I especially recommend this book to anyone who is becoming a Manager for the first time.
The Lencioni’s meeting framework: 1/ daily check in (5mn - stand up and admin stuff mainly); 2/ weekly tactical (90 mn max - no prepared agenda, review the week ahead activities and KPIs); 3/ monthly strategic (2-4 hours - 2 topics max for deeper dive. Agenda and pre-work are required); 4/ quarterly off-site (2 days max - review strategic topics, industry trends and competitors. Out of office to avoid distractions).
October 18, 2019
"Meetings are boring" (223).
"Meetings are ineffective" (223).
BINGO.
"Meetings are boring because they lack drama" (224).
"Meetings are ineffective because they lack contextual structure" (224).
"Because there is no clarity around what topics are appropriate, there is no clear context for the various discussions that take place. In the end, little is decided because the participants have a hard time figuring out whether they're supposed to be debating, voting, brainstorming, weighing in, or just listening" (224).
BULLSEYE.
"...bad meetings exact a toll on the human beings who must endure them, and this goes far beyond mere momentary dissatisfaction. Bad meetings, and what they indicate and provoke in an organization, generate real human suffering in the form of anger, lethargy, and cynicism" (253).
BAM!
This fable was fun to read and enlightening. The author unequivocally advocates CONFLICT in meetings. While conflict is uncomfortable, I can hop on this
BANDWAGON!
"Meetings are ineffective" (223).
BINGO.
"Meetings are boring because they lack drama" (224).
"Meetings are ineffective because they lack contextual structure" (224).
"Because there is no clarity around what topics are appropriate, there is no clear context for the various discussions that take place. In the end, little is decided because the participants have a hard time figuring out whether they're supposed to be debating, voting, brainstorming, weighing in, or just listening" (224).
BULLSEYE.
"...bad meetings exact a toll on the human beings who must endure them, and this goes far beyond mere momentary dissatisfaction. Bad meetings, and what they indicate and provoke in an organization, generate real human suffering in the form of anger, lethargy, and cynicism" (253).
BAM!
This fable was fun to read and enlightening. The author unequivocally advocates CONFLICT in meetings. While conflict is uncomfortable, I can hop on this
BANDWAGON!
April 29, 2020
I’m a Lencioni fan. His tables are generally engaging and his models provide concrete implementation to personal and professional life.
I most appreciated the idea that all meetings are bad because they lack two things: conflict and contextual structure. I’ve been on staff teams where there has been these two elements and I’ve been on teams where this is lacking.
Lecioni compares meetings to movies. Each lasts about the same time. Yet, when asking if a room of executives would rather go to a meeting or a movie, most always pick movies. There is drama, there is conflict, and there is eventual resolution. But the audience have a passive role and can’t participate. Meetings, on the other hand, *can* have those same elements and have engagement when the teams are pushed to engage in healthy ways.
I most appreciated the idea that all meetings are bad because they lack two things: conflict and contextual structure. I’ve been on staff teams where there has been these two elements and I’ve been on teams where this is lacking.
Lecioni compares meetings to movies. Each lasts about the same time. Yet, when asking if a room of executives would rather go to a meeting or a movie, most always pick movies. There is drama, there is conflict, and there is eventual resolution. But the audience have a passive role and can’t participate. Meetings, on the other hand, *can* have those same elements and have engagement when the teams are pushed to engage in healthy ways.
June 4, 2020
Very fast read with some helpful hints on how to handle meetings. I really like his fable style of writing. It makes what could be a tedious topic more relatable and more fun to learn about. I now know where we got our style of meetings from, especially the morning stand-up. I'm wondering if there could be room to adopt more of his suggestions, like the weekly tactical meeting where we let everybody know what we're working on and then feel our way towards a topic to cover in a later/longer meeting. I do see the value of his process in that it will keep people both focused on goals and accountable to them. Overall, it was an enjoyable read.
February 28, 2021
Again, a great fable by Patrick Lencioni. At the end of this book, the author reveals that he has spent time writing screenplays. Now it makes sense why he writes fables!
Good tips as usual. Interesting that although the author never brings up Agile, the first 3 types of meetings track quite well to the Agile ceremonies, i.e. the Daily Stand up, the Refinement meeting, the Monthly Review. And perhaps the Quarterly Strategic could map to an Agile ceremony, depending on what framework you might be using.
I especially found the points of creating The Hook in the first 10 mins of the meeting and also Mining for Conflict to be especially relevant to my work.
Good tips as usual. Interesting that although the author never brings up Agile, the first 3 types of meetings track quite well to the Agile ceremonies, i.e. the Daily Stand up, the Refinement meeting, the Monthly Review. And perhaps the Quarterly Strategic could map to an Agile ceremony, depending on what framework you might be using.
I especially found the points of creating The Hook in the first 10 mins of the meeting and also Mining for Conflict to be especially relevant to my work.
September 23, 2020
I LOVE when nonfiction authors take a complex problem and devise a fable to explain not only all the issues but the solution as well. It makes the answer practical and the application understandable. This is an excellent example of that very process.
As I read, several meetings came to mind that I couldn't wait to escape from, but the concepts presented within the book to make meetings productive appeal to me. I like the differentiation between purposes and easily see how this would benefit organizations.
As I read, several meetings came to mind that I couldn't wait to escape from, but the concepts presented within the book to make meetings productive appeal to me. I like the differentiation between purposes and easily see how this would benefit organizations.
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