Imagine you are on your deathbed and remember it

He does not use the term himself, but son number one is one of these digital nomads: theoretically, he can work from anywhere in the world. Realistically speaking, it is better for him to be in America. He works for a company based in New York and his working day must meet these hours. He is currently in Ireland, but because of the time difference he has to work until 10 or 11 at night.

But it is temporary. He will soon return to this part of the world because he likes to live there. The job also suits him – not only because it enables mobility, but because the company is only a handful of employees. It is work, but it has a feeling of freedom for it.

At least it had.

It is a typical story of modern trade. The small company was well done, and finally the owners were offered irresistible sums to sell them. Suddenly son number one was found as an employee of a much larger corporate unit. Before that, he would communicate with the New York office if necessary. Everyone stayed at the point. Now he has to endure the tyranny of regular online meetings, with up to 60 people participating.

He listens to people he does not know and will never meet by pronouncing a company word salads about other companies that have nothing to do with him.

This is not atypical experience. Most of the meetings are at best a waste of the working day and, in the worst case, an outrageous, soul -sitting waste of life itself; The drone of other voices that reflect the Tick-Tick-Tick of the mortality clock. And she asks: What are you doing here? Don't you notice that you will be dead soon?

Perhaps you have had this experience yourself: there is a regular meeting in which you have to participate, but it is not clear what the meeting is for. Without exception, there will be one or two people there who are extensively extensive; And not because there is an urgent point you have to do. You just like to talk. For them it is not a functional exchange of information, rather a small chat. In the meantime, keep your phone in your lap and exchange clusty messages with people at the same meeting.

Not that meetings cannot be useful or even necessary. It is simply too often that it is a meeting to do it. This can lead to a decision to organize another meeting.

I am far from the fact that the first person indicates this. There are any number of management guru types that give advice on how the system becomes more effective. It has become a kind of cottage industry, together with studies about how much time and money are wasted for meetings. According to figures from the United States, the majority of employees spend a third of their week, which in turn costs the American economy 37 billion US dollars a year.

[ I was unfazed by a near car crash, so why does a dental visit leave me quivering?Opens in new window ]

The higher the management chain you go, the more meetings you visit: Probably if you only take part in meetings. They spend their day talking about work, but they actually don't.

Management Gurus will argue that this is only the result of stupid habit: All that requires it is to take the (allegedly) counterintuitive step in order to plan fewer meetings. You would wonder why so many large companies that maximize productivity have not yet found it.

It could be that meetings have a different, unspoken function. The employees force their time to waste their time by participating, reminiscent of them who the boss is. And for these bosses it is an exhibition of status, a function of the cultural culture: if it is an undisputed asset to run off your feet, it is a valid asset; A way of marking the value of a life. Imagine you are on your deathbed and think: I had a good run. I went to many meetings.