As the story progresses, we learn that the company isn’t reaching its full potential because its employees aren’t driven to achieve better results.

Reknowned for turning fables into practical advice, Lencioni makes his groundbreaking model applicable to the real world. 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 normally hate books that are non-fiction behind a fiction story but this one was really enjoyable. 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.

To ensure all information is accurate and of value to you, we’ve designed a production system and a content review process that keeps this content close to the source and as factual as possible. From the lack of leadership skills to inefficient meetings, Death By Meeting discusses the daily blunders we make without realizing it. 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. But rule of thumb says that it will require at least two hours, and should not cover more than two topics. As Death By Meeting reveals, Will’s interest in movies plays a significant role in how he draws a parallel between movies and meetings and makes a successful and convincing case out of it.

Similarly, You have multiple kinds of problems and a single type of meeting is not good enough to solve all of them. Pros: this book is a very easy read, does a respectable job of identifying the key issues, and provides practical solutions. By the end of Death by Meeting, it's clear that dramatic tension is not the enemy of productive meetings. In Death by Meeting, author Patrick Lencioni gives us a reason to hope that we can change the bad meeting culture.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. I listened to this story twice and found it exactly what I was looking for, as a recipe for creating compelling meetings with my staff of 16 managers. 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. I wasn't surprised that he was invited back the following year and again this year for the 2013 lineup. And perhaps the Quarterly Strategic could map to an Agile ceremony, depending on what framework you might be using.

The simplicity of Lencioni’s suggestions seem so obvious and yet, poor meeting results and dissatisfied participants continue to plague companies across Corporate America. Because there isn’t enough time during the 1-2 hour Weekly Tactical meeting to flesh out all of the brainstorming, analysis and preparation that is required to gain alignment on long term strategic decisions. Both Apple and Google state that they ensure that only users who have actually downloaded the app can submit a review. It is where executives wrestle with, analyze, debate, and decide upon critical issues (but only a few) that will affect the business in fundamental ways.And we have to stop focusing on agendas and minutes and rules, and accept the fact that bad meetings start with the attitudes and approaches of the people who lead and take part in them. In “Death by Meeting”, Patrick Lencioni offers a simple, practical solution to make your meetings more effective and enjoyable.