Among the most-frequently heard complaints by employees, no matter how large or small their organization, or its reason for being, is that they get pulled into too many meetings. A calendar full of meetings as far as the eye can see.

That most of them are pointless or run poorly.

We can't eliminate the need for people to gather, nor would we want to. Such gatherings are the basis of a group's culture and provide humanity and the bonding to create a shared sense of purpose in an enterprise. What we can do is make our work gatherings more meaningful, more human, more purposeful, more creative-maybe even more fun. What you'll get in our book are a bunch of ways to do just that. The same old processes won't resolve brand new problems.