You’re extremely busy but have just been asked to drop everything to attend a required meeting. When you arrive in a timely manner, only half the participants are present. Worse yet, the first 15 minutes of the meeting are taken up with small talk about someone’s recent win on the golf course When the meeting does start, there is no agenda, but there is a long-winded monologue, essentially summarizing a document you’ve already read. Two hours later you leave and realize that you have not only learned nothing new and were never asked for your opinion but also wasted two hours when you could have been doing something else. If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. Most American workers find most meetings to be a waste of time. Fortunately, managing meetings is something nearly all managers and leaders could do if they simply adopted just a few guidelines.