There’s a scene in HBO Max’s new “Station Eleven” adaptation that spooked me. The world-shattering pandemic and its human toll certainly struck a chord — but what really hit me was something else. It was the character Jim, persevering through an “important” business pitch as the world and the fabric of society crumbles outside the glass-encased conference room. Other characters call out the absurdity, but he persists.
The scene resonated with me because we’ve all been there. Sure, we may not have clicked through a slide deck mid-apocalypse, but we’ve all felt the pull of a meeting we can’t turn down. There may be a thousand other things to do, but the invisible thread of that calendar invite pulls us away from them all. Meetings can be many things: social capital for the “professionally busy,” a topic for jokes about their futility, a chance to see our coworkers face to face. But how often are they useful?
We often lament the “meeting that could have been an email,” but added together, these meetings are more than just nuisances. They’re a waste of valuable time, taking precious hours from people’s days. If I have 10 “just because” 1:1s a week, that’s five hours spent in purposeless meetings. With flat fees, it doesn’t affect our billability, but it’s still time you can’t get back.
Part of the engine powering our meeting-clogged world is hustle culture, which seems to glorify a packed calendar above any actual work accomplished. This mindset comes from a real place, derived from a business world where appearing busy is more important than doing meaningful work. While full-calendar syndrome haunts businesses across industries, it’s not irreversible.
This year, I’m making it a priority to place higher value on people’s time — and empowering our team to do the same. I’ve spoken before about blocking off “thinking time” and mid-day naps, but it’s time to take things a step further. I’m excited to kick-start a culture that celebrates empty calendars and ending meetings early. Upon inspection, you might conclude that 100% of your meetings are immovable, job-critical gatherings. But I’m betting that for most, this isn’t the case. My personal challenge: Can I get to a place where I have no meetings at all?
I know a meeting-free year isn’t wholly practical, but it’s also more realistic than it appears. I don’t want to cut out all meetings, I want to cut out those meetings — you know the ones. The goal isn’t to avoid my team, but to focus on using time wisely, trusting employees and being intentional with how we spend our days. Here’s what I’m thinking about as I imagine the possibilities of an empty-calendar lifestyle.
Valuing Time
Early in my career, a supervisor prepared me for a presentation with a piece of advice: “Find a way to say something.” The goal was to get noticed and project the appearance of a valuable contributor. It wasn’t important what I said, as long as I said something.
Looking back, this moment encapsulates so many issues with the business status quo. The fact is, people whose personality types make it easy for them to weigh in are rewarded, often at the cost of better-performing staff members who don’t work in the same way. This idea also shows that frequently, meetings are more about giving an appearance of productivity than completing real work. And the truth is obvious — most important work happens outside of meetings. So why are we wasting time talking about it?
This paradigm shift can be challenging, but it’s helpful to fall back on the design thinking principle of “question everything.” If I’m invited to a meeting, I ask myself:
- Is there a clear agenda?
- If yes, is my presence needed?
- If yes, do I need to make decisions or contribute?
- If yes, could this be a one-on-one discussion?
This helps interrupt the impulse to automatically accept invites. If I don’t need to make decisions or contribute, my presence isn’t needed — and often, a group meeting with a specific purpose would be more useful as a one-on-one meeting. If I have an announcement where I’m not asking for the team’s input, why does it make sense to assemble 50 people just to hear me talk? In this case, I’ll send an email with messaging that opens the door to further conversation for anyone with questions. I’m an extrovert who loves to talk and connect, but it’s not fair to steal employees’ time to do so.
Meeting-heavy workdays also breed dangerous perceptions and FOMO-driven negativity. Employees not invited to a meeting may feel out of the loop or compare themselves to those invited or worry that no invite means their own performance is being discussed. We get into trouble when meeting invites become an intra-organization status symbol, with special representatives plucked out to attend. Organizations benefit when “Why are we having this meeting?” takes priority over “Who should we invite?”
Imagining Alternatives
Many companies have begun examining their impulse for meetings, instituting policies like “No-meeting Fridays.” That’s a good start, but not enough. Rather than cordoning off a day that then shoehorns all meetings into the rest of the week, we need to shift the culture.
I’d love to mirror Best Buy’s results-only work environment strategy of the early 2000s, which made meetings optional and moved focus “away from surveillance and toward measurable results,” as Cal Newport writes in the The New Yorker. Employees had almost complete freedom, with the expectation of hitting certain targets and full accountability. The program boosted employee happiness and productivity and cut turnover, until new leadership took over and steered the ship back toward the status quo.
Even if making all meetings optional isn’t in our immediate future, I want to empower our team to place greater demands on their time. It’s time to start placing the onus on meeting organizers to convince us why we should be there. Rather than get FOMO from meeting exclusion, I want my team to feel JOMO — the joy of missing out on purposeless, time-sucking activities. When I think of great novelists and creatives, I don’t picture people scuttling from one conference room to another. They have their own process to get work done without a publisher stuffing their calendar with status meetings and check-ins.
It’s true that some employees need more structure, and for some we need to take a more active role in understanding their needs. But in my eyes, the answer is never more recurring meetings. This year, I’ve removed every regularly scheduled 1:1 and replaced them with open office hours. Now, we can have productive conversations rather than simply meeting to check a box.
Ultimately, meeting-free alternatives come down to trust. When I see team members with empty calendars, I still know they’re getting work done. Frankly, I don’t care if they’re out getting groceries or going for a run, as long as they meet expectations. We don’t all have to become recluses, but I encourage everyone to block off working time on their calendar. Get invited to a meeting that’s “urgent?” Make them prove it first.
Embracing the Empty Calendar
Candidly, it’s easy for me to skip meetings. I’m the CEO: People tend to accommodate my schedule and respect my “no” on the invite. But as leaders, it’s up to us to model this behavior and empower employees at every level to value their time. If I can cut even 10% of clutter from my team’s calendar, it’s worth it.
I understand the allure of hustle culture and the superficial high of a calendar filled to the brim. There’s validation that comes with feeling like Atlas with the world — or your department’s performance — on your shoulders. But it’s a one-way track to burning out. It’s time for organizations to stop rewarding employees who “do it all,” and start valuing those who do it right.
After nearly two years of widespread remote work, the workforce demands better. Salary bumps and more vacation time are easy solutions, but we must also consider workplace culture. Leaders need to stick their neck out and experiment with new policies before their team asks. I’ll make mistakes and adjust as I learn, but that’s what I’m trying to do.
Watching Jim present amid chaos, all you want to do is scream “Leave!” With such an extreme, the solution feels obvious. I think we can all agree that no one should be trapped in a pointless meeting as the world is ending. But why should we any other day?