Death by Meeting or Writers Market 2009

Death by Meeting: A Leadership Fable About Solving the Most Painful Problem in Business

Author: Patrick M Lencioni

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 unraveled 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 centered around a cure for the most painful yet underestimated problem of modern business: bad meetings.  And what he suggests is both simple and revolutionary.

Casey McDaniel, the founder and CEO of Yip Software, is in the midst of a problem he created, but one he doesn’t know how to solve.  And he doesn’t know where or who to turn to for advice.  His staff can’t help him; they’re as dumbfounded as he is by their tortuous meetings.

Then an unlikely advisor, Will Peterson, enters Casey’s world.  When he proposes an unconventional, even radical, approach to solving the meeting problem, Casey is just desperate enough to listen.

As in his other books, Lencioni provides a framework for his groundbreaking model, and makes it applicable to the real world.  Death by Meeting is nothing short of a blueprint for leaders who want to eliminate waste and frustration among their teams, and create environments of engagement and passion.

Publishers Weekly

The business meeting-a necessary evil or a vital and invigorating component of running an organization? According to management consultant Lencioni (The Five Temptations of a CEO), meetings should fit the latter description, but more often than not, he says, they don't. In this lackluster audio fable, Lencioni offers practical advice on how to revitalize your business by energizing your business meetings, but his pallid, passive prose would challenge the most skilled narrator, and Arthur is no exception. The voice Arthur lends Will, the young hero of this tale, resembles that of Sesame Street's Ernie on downers, and the various inflections he gives business owner Casey McDaniel and his management team don't make up for the characters' lack of character. Nevertheless, Lencioni's message comes across loud and clear-meetings should be interactive, not passive, and they should be structured (i.e., issues of immediate importance should be discussed in "weekly tactical" meetings, and issues that will fundamentally affect the business should be addressed in "monthly strategic" meetings). Although managers will find this advice worthwhile, they would gather just as much if they skipped the sluggish fable and listened to the last few tracks. Simultaneous release with the Wiley hardcover. (Mar.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

What People Are Saying

Ken Wilcox
Death By Meeting is about much more than meetings; it's about an entire management philosophy. I read a lot of books on management, and Lencioni's are among the very best. They form the basis for our approach at Silicon Valley Bank. (CEO, Silicon Valley Bank)

Kris Hagerman
Finally, a real solution to an age old problem. Meetings may never be the same. (executive vice president, Strategic Operations, VERITAS Software Corporation)

Table of Contents:

Introduction.

The Fable.

Preview.

Part One: Flashback.

Part Two: Plot Point.

Part Three: Protagonist.

Part Four: Action.

Part Five: Resolution.

The Model.

The Paradox of Meetings.

Executive Summary.

Problem #1: Lack of Drama.

Problem #2: Lack of Contextual Structure.

The Biggest Challenge of All: “The Myth of Too Many Meetings”.

A Final Thought on Meetings.

The Weekly Tactical Meeting Guide.

Acknowledgments.

About the Author.

Go to: George Washington on Leadership or Going Overboard

Writer's Market 2009

Author: Brewer

For 88 years, Writer's Market has given fiction and nonfiction writers the information they need to sell their work--from completely up-to-date listings to exclusive interviews with successful writers. The 2009 edition provides all this and more with over 3,500 listings for book publishers, magazines and literary agents, in addition to a completely updated freelance rate chart. In addition to the thousands of market listings, writers will find up-to-date information on becoming a successful freelancer covering everything from writing query letters to launching a freelance business, and more.