TED@State Street Boston
David Grady: How to save the world (or at least yourself) from bad meetings
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2,459,605 views
An epidemic of bad, inefficient, overcrowded meetings is plaguing the world’s businesses — and making workers miserable. David Grady has some ideas on how to stop it.
David Grady - Information security manager
David Grady is on a crusade to help you take back your calendar. Full bio
David Grady is on a crusade to help you take back your calendar. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:13
Picture this:
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It's Monday morning,
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you're at the office,
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you're settling in for the day at work,
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and this guy that you sort of
recognize from down the hall,
recognize from down the hall,
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walks right into your cubicle
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and he steals your chair.
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Doesn't say a word —
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just rolls away with it.
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Doesn't give you any information
about why he took your chair
about why he took your chair
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out of all the other chairs
that are out there.
that are out there.
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Doesn't acknowledge the fact
that you might need your chair
that you might need your chair
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to get some work done today.
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You wouldn't stand for
it. You'd make a stink.
it. You'd make a stink.
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You'd follow that guy
back to his cubicle
back to his cubicle
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and you'd say, "Why my chair?"
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Okay, so now it's Tuesday morning
and you're at the office,
and you're at the office,
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and a meeting invitation pops
up in your calendar.
up in your calendar.
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(Laughter)
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And it's from this woman who you
kind of know from down the hall,
kind of know from down the hall,
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and the subject line references some
project that you heard a little bit about.
project that you heard a little bit about.
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But there's no agenda.
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There's no information about why
you were invited to the meeting.
you were invited to the meeting.
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And yet you accept the
meeting invitation, and you go.
meeting invitation, and you go.
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And when this highly
unproductive session is over,
unproductive session is over,
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you go back to your desk,
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and you stand at your
desk and you say,
desk and you say,
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"Boy, I wish I had those two hours back,
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like I wish I had my chair back."
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01:18
(Laughter)
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Every day, we allow our coworkers,
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who are otherwise very,
very nice people,
very nice people,
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to steal from us.
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And I'm talking about something far
more valuable than office furniture.
more valuable than office furniture.
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I'm talking about time. Your time.
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In fact, I believe that
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we are in the middle
of a global epidemic
of a global epidemic
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of a terrible new illness
known as MAS:
known as MAS:
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Mindless Accept Syndrome.
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(Laughter)
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The primary symptom of
Mindless Accept Syndrome
Mindless Accept Syndrome
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is just accepting a meeting invitation
the minute it pops up in your calendar.
the minute it pops up in your calendar.
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(Laughter)
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It's an involuntary reflex — ding,
click, bing — it's in your calendar,
click, bing — it's in your calendar,
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"Gotta go, I'm already late
for a meeting." (Laughter)
for a meeting." (Laughter)
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Meetings are important, right?
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And collaboration is key to
the success of any enterprise.
the success of any enterprise.
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And a well-run meeting can yield
really positive, actionable results.
really positive, actionable results.
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But between globalization
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and pervasive information technology,
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the way that we work
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has really changed dramatically
over the last few years.
over the last few years.
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And we're miserable. (Laughter)
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And we're miserable not because the
other guy can't run a good meeting,
other guy can't run a good meeting,
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it's because of MAS, our
Mindless Accept Syndrome,
Mindless Accept Syndrome,
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which is a self-inflicted wound.
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Actually, I have evidence to prove
that MAS is a global epidemic.
that MAS is a global epidemic.
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Let me tell you why.
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A couple of years ago, I put a video
on Youtube, and in the video,
on Youtube, and in the video,
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I acted out every terrible
conference call you've ever been on.
conference call you've ever been on.
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It goes on for about five minutes,
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and it has all the things that we
hate about really bad meetings.
hate about really bad meetings.
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There's the moderator who has
no idea how to run the meeting.
no idea how to run the meeting.
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There are the participants who
have no idea why they're there.
have no idea why they're there.
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The whole thing kind of collapses
into this collaborative train wreck.
into this collaborative train wreck.
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And everybody leaves very angry.
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It's kind of funny.
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(Laughter)
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Let's take a quick look.
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(Video) Our goal today is to come to an
agreement on a very important proposal.
agreement on a very important proposal.
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As a group, we need to decide if —
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bloop bloop —
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Hi, who just joined?
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Hi, it's Joe. I'm working from home today.
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(Laughter)
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Hi, Joe. Thanks for
joining us today, great.
joining us today, great.
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I was just saying, we have a lot of people
on the call we'd like to get through,
on the call we'd like to get through,
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so let's skip the roll call
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and I'm gonna dive right in.
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Our goal today is to come to an
agreement on a very important proposal.
agreement on a very important proposal.
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As a group, we need to decide if —
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bloop bloop —
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(Laughter)
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Hi, who just joined?
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No? I thought I heard a beep. (Laughter)
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Sound familiar?
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Yeah, it sounds familiar
to me, too.
to me, too.
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A couple of weeks after I put that online,
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500,000 people in dozens of countries,
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I mean dozens of countries,
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watched this video.
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And three years later, it's still getting
thousands of views every month.
thousands of views every month.
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It's close to about a million right now.
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And in fact, some of the biggest
companies in the world,
companies in the world,
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companies that you've
heard of but I won't name,
heard of but I won't name,
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have asked for my permission to use
this video in their new-hire training
this video in their new-hire training
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to teach their new employees how
not to run a meeting at their company.
not to run a meeting at their company.
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And if the numbers —
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there are a million views and it's
being used by all these companies —
being used by all these companies —
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aren't enough proof that we have
a global problem with meetings,
a global problem with meetings,
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there are the many, many thousands
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of comments posted online
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after the video went up.
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Thousands of people wrote things like,
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"OMG, that was my day today!"
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"That was my day every day!"
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"This is my life."
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One guy wrote,
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"It's funny because it's true.
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Eerily, sadly, depressingly true.
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It made me laugh until I cried.
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And cried. And I cried some more."
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(Laughter)
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This poor guy said,
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"My daily life until
retirement or death, sigh."
retirement or death, sigh."
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These are real quotes
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and it's real sad.
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A common theme running through
all of these comments online
all of these comments online
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is this fundamental belief
that we are powerless
that we are powerless
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to do anything other
than go to meetings
than go to meetings
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and suffer through these
poorly run meetings
poorly run meetings
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and live to meet another day.
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But the truth is, we're
not powerless at all.
not powerless at all.
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In fact, the cure for MAS
is right here in our hands.
is right here in our hands.
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It's right at our fingertips, literally.
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It's something that I call ¡No MAS!
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(Laughter)
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Which, if I remember my
high school Spanish,
high school Spanish,
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means something like,
"Enough already, make it stop!"
"Enough already, make it stop!"
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Here's how No MAS
works. It's very simple.
works. It's very simple.
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First of all, the next time you
get a meeting invitation
get a meeting invitation
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that doesn't have a lot
of information in it at all,
of information in it at all,
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click the tentative button!
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It's okay, you're allowed,
that's why it's there.
that's why it's there.
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It's right next to the accept button.
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Or the maybe button, or whatever button
is there for you not to accept immediately.
is there for you not to accept immediately.
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Then, get in touch with the person
who asked you to the meeting.
who asked you to the meeting.
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Tell them you're very excited
to support their work,
to support their work,
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ask them what the goal
of the meeting is,
of the meeting is,
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and tell them you're interested in learning
how you can help them achieve their goal.
how you can help them achieve their goal.
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And if we do this often enough,
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and we do it respectfully,
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people might start to be
a little bit more thoughtful
a little bit more thoughtful
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about the way they put together
meeting invitations.
meeting invitations.
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And you can make more thoughtful
decisions about accepting it.
decisions about accepting it.
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People might actually start
sending out agendas. Imagine!
sending out agendas. Imagine!
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Or they might not have a conference call
with 12 people to talk about a status
with 12 people to talk about a status
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when they could just do a quick
email and get it done with.
email and get it done with.
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People just might start to change their
behavior because you changed yours.
behavior because you changed yours.
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And they just might bring
your chair back, too. (Laughter)
your chair back, too. (Laughter)
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No MAS!
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Thank you.
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(Applause).
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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
David Grady - Information security managerDavid Grady is on a crusade to help you take back your calendar.
Why you should listen
David Grady is an information security manager who believes that strong communication skills are a necessity in today’s global economy. He has been a print journalist, a “PR guy” and a website producer, and has ghostwritten speeches and magazine articles for Fortune 500 company executives. A mid-life career change brought him into the world of information risk management, where every day he uses his communications experience to transform complex problems into understandable challenges.
David Grady | Speaker | TED.com