Long before I started my own company, many mentors warned me: “Deciding ‘what NOT to do’ is far more important than deciding ‘what to do.’”
After wrapping up a nearly two-week Southeast Asia business trip meeting marathon, I finally had some exciting results to show for it. But hidden behind that excitement were the countless “useless meetings” (or meetups, or events) that nobody ever sees.
In fact, as far as I can recall, when I first started my company, these meetings accounted for over 95% of all meetings. So where did these meetings come from?
1. Meetings without proper background research:
Not knowing who the other party is, not knowing their rank and authority, not knowing their background — and yet showing up for a meeting. These are the primary reasons such meetings end up being useless. “Thought they were an investor, turned out to be a fellow entrepreneur.” “Thought they were the partnership contact, turned out they’d already left the company.” “Thought they were a junior staff member, turned out to be the big boss.” With these kinds of meetings, the moment both sides open their mouths, all the gaps in preparation are instantly exposed, and all you can do is apologize profusely and beg for another chance to meet.
So before every meeting, our team always does a quick research check on the other party, then formulates our talking strategy based on the nature of the meeting. Otherwise, for meetings like these, not meeting is better than meeting.
2. Meetings without a clear purpose:
“Come by our office for a chat” is a terrifying eight-word phrase. When you don’t know what you’ll be chatting about, why you’re going, or what the purpose is, attending such a meeting is a tremendous waste of time. I once visited a certain investment firm four times and exchanged emails for nearly a month. After asking all sorts of questions, they suddenly went silent. After persistent follow-ups, I discovered the other party had merely been collecting data for a routine monthly report to their boss. Forget about discussing an investment opportunity — the cab fare alone was enough to feed a broke entrepreneur like me a decent meal.
So whenever someone invites us to “meet and chat,” we try to get them to produce an agenda, to avoid wasting both parties’ time with aimless conversation. Otherwise, for meetings like these, not meeting is better than meeting.
3. Meetings without post-meeting follow-up:
People are forgetful, but what’s scarier than forgetfulness is “knowing the other person is forgetful and not doing anything to remind them” — especially contacts at large companies who might have seven or eight meetings a day. They can’t even remember our name, let alone what we wanted to collaborate on. As the smaller fish in the meeting, compiling “what we discussed” and “what the next steps are” and sending a reminder is a small task far more important than celebrating after a meeting.
So our team would typically send a brief post-meeting greeting that same evening, using it as an opportunity to remind the other party and effectively push the partnership forward. Otherwise, for meetings like these, not meeting is better than meeting.
In short, there are far too many pointless meetings and meetups in this world. Wasting your time on “useless meetings” means that time becomes “useless time.” String together seven or eight blocks of useless time in a day, and you’ll feel exhausted yet utterly empty.
Everyone’s time is limited. Rather than complaining about not having enough time, reflect on whether you’ve been doing too many meaningless things. Deciding “what NOT to do” is far more important than deciding “what to do.” Spending just a little extra time thinking about what shouldn’t be done will help you and your team move in a more efficient direction.