As an organizational psychologist, I am driven to study and work to improve work activities that are causing great frustration and not working effectively—meetings are the perfect fit. And, for 20 years I have been actively publishing in this space and have spoken to well over 100,000 leaders through my keynotes/events/videos. What excites me is that meeting science can truly help leaders, teams, and organizations. The books I recommend are well-aligned with the science, and can be difference makers. I hope you enjoy them and find them helpful.
This is a really unique and different meeting book – it basically teaches about how to run meeting effectively by inserting them naturally into a fable. The fable is really quite engaging and something most of us can relate to. The learnings, although not extensive, align quite well with the science. Overall it is a fun and informative book.
Casey McDaniel had never been so nervous in his life. In just ten minutes, The Meeting, as it would forever be known, would begin. Casey had every reason to believe that his performance over the next two hours would determine the fate of his career, his financial future, and the company he had built from scratch. 'How could my life have unravelled so quickly?' he wondered. In his latest page-turning work of business fiction, best-selling author Patrick Lencioni provides readers with another powerful and thought-provoking book, this one centred around a cure for the most painful yet underestimated problem of…
There are many reasons to really like this book. It is certainly thoughtful, intriguing, and well-grounded. The advice and guidance around meetings are plentiful and meaningful. I particularly appreciated that it addresses meeting practices that high-performing organizations use to drive results and build an excellent meeting culture. Overall, I appreciate the systems-based approach to addressing meeting issues.
How well you meet determines what your group can achieve
When you ask leaders in a high performing organization about the key to their success, the answers are all over the place: failing fast, radical transparency, operational excellence, strong core values... so many different North Stars to follow.
Then, if you ask them for an example–to tell you what that looks like in practice–they will all describe a meeting. Leaders at these organizations have learned to design a sequence of tailored meetings that create a healthy organizational culture and drive forward momentum. They know that meetings are where the action…
This book is chock full of good ideas and thoughts on how to gather effectively. It is very easy to read. Lots of great stories to help bring the content to life and engage the reader. She goes beyond just meetings at work, discussing a broader set of informal and formal gatherings in a variety of settings.
"Hosts of all kinds, this is a must-read!" --Chris Anderson, owner and curator of TED
From the host of the New York Times podcast Together Apart, an exciting new approach to how we gather that will transform the ways we spend our time together—at home, at work, in our communities, and beyond.
In The Art of Gathering, Priya Parker argues that the gatherings in our lives are lackluster and unproductive--which they don't have to be. We rely too much on routine and the conventions of gatherings when we should focus on distinctiveness and the people involved. At a time when…
The book takes on a very tricky meeting type, hybrid
meetings. It is easy to read and has a
nice set of evidence-based practices to elevate these meetings. As we move past
Covid, this is a helpful resource to managers as they meet in our new normal. I really enjoyed the discussion of challenges
and best practices from research to overcome.
Discover the challenges and opportunities of hybrid meetings with this science-based guide from an Emmy-award winning communications expert and renowned organizational psychologist
As remote work becomes less of an unusual exception and more of an everyday necessity, hybrid meetings-meetings in which some attendees are physically present while others are virtually present-are becoming the norm.
In Suddenly Hybrid: Managing the Modern Meeting, Emmy award-winning communications expert Karin Reed and veteran industrial and organizational psychologist Dr. Joseph A. Allen deliver a practical and actionable framework for attending, hosting, and managing hybrid meetings. The authors draw from their extensive experience in research and…
This is not a book about meetings per se, but a book about effective conversations. Clearly, conversation is at the heart of meetings. The book provides many tips for improving interpersonal communication. So many of the learnings from this book can be applied to meeting leaders and meeting attendees alike. It is easy to read and definitely a good complement to your more traditional meetings books.
The New York Times and Washington Post bestseller that changed the way millions communicate
"[Crucial Conversations] draws our attention to those defining moments that literally shape our lives, our relationships, and our world. . . . This book deserves to take its place as one of the key thought leadership contributions of our time." -from the Foreword by Stephen R. Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
"The quality of your life comes out of the quality of your dialogues and conversations. Here's how to instantly uplift your crucial conversations." -Mark Victor Hansen, cocreator of the #1…
While we often think about meetings as being places of drain, meetings done well can actually be places of personal and team gain. The key, leveraging evidence-based practices to make meetings genuinely engaging and inclusive. The goal, better meetings and people leaving your meetings energized and feeling valued, rather than frustrated, and suffering from meeting recovery syndrome. Most companies and leaders view poor meetings as an inevitable cost of doing business. But managers can take heart: researchers now have a clear understanding of the key drivers that make meetings successful.
One of the ten leadership books to watch for by The Washington Post and one of the top business books everybody will be reading by Business Insider. As seen on CBS This Morning.
