The Meeting I Never Miss

Business is meetings. The only thing businesspeople do more often than go to meetings is complain about going to meetings. But like it or not, meetings are more important than ever. Meetings are the workplace equivalent of 500 channel programming - low on content, high on noise. Today, the question is not "To meet or not to meet?" but, "Which meeting can I not afford to miss?" Increasingly, The Meeting I Never Miss (MINM) is a cultural event -- less a scheduled obligation than a tribal experience. It's where the "loop" begins and ends.

To find out what separates a MINM from a JAM (Just Another Meeting), Fast Company enlisted five MINM veterans, from advertising legend Laurel Cutler to 28-year-old Internet wunderkind Jerry Yang, to help demonstrate the difference.

Who: Nina Jacobson
Company: DreamWorks SKG
Title: No titles at DreamWorks
MINM: The Pitch Meeting (AKA The Dog and Pony Show)
The Players: Jacobson, a writer, an agent or producer, a junior executive
(the scribe)
Frequency: Daily
Purpose: To sell me an idea.
Why I Never Miss It: Because hope springs eternal.

As the key gatekeeper of movie ideas for Steven Spielberg's fledgling megastudio, Nina Jacobson, 31, makes multimillion-dollar bets on a regular basis. The pitch meeting is a make-or-break proposition for writers, producers, and agents alike. For Jacobson, who snagged the obscure story that became the critical hit 12 Monkeys while a senior VP at Universal, it's the difference between the next "Schindler's List" and "Bonfire of the Vanities."

Ground Rules

We start with the obligatory chat about the weather, traffic, sports or politics. Then somebody concludes the chitchat (usually me) and the writer does his or her schpiel. The 'dog and pony.' The desired outcome is for me to love the story and want to buy it. But a big part of my job is to pass. I leap only once every six to eight weeks.

Rites & Rituals

Setting: A semi-circle of comfortable overstuffed chairs in a corner of Jacobson's Santa Fe-style office.

Power Seat: I never sit behind my desk, and I always make sure the writer can't see my mesmerizing psychedelic screensaver, which makes them lose their train of thought -- the last thing I want.

Dress Code: It's a free-for-all, though I often still wear suits. Writers never wear suits. In fact, if you see a writer in a suit you should get worried immediately. Producers, I find, like sweaters. The agent is wearing a powersuit back in his office waiting for me to pass.

Talking Stick

The writer has the floor, but to show that I'm paying attention, I interrupt with questions during the pitch. If I know I'm going to pass I usually lay the groundwork by bringing up my concerns. If you hear me say, "It's an interesting story but my concern is ... " it's a good indication that you're toast.

Energy Source

My assistant makes great cappuccino. Of course Diet Coke and bottled water. If I'm hungry I pass out BioZone bars.

Audio/Visual:

Every now and again I'll whip out my Newton to make notes.

Postgame

In the best case scenario I flip my nuts for the pitch and become completely obsessed with buying it. This just happened. I caught Steven [Spielberg] outside on his golf cart right after the meeting and he sparked to the idea.

Who: Laurel Cutler lcutler@truenorth.com
Company: FCB/Leber Katz Partners
Title: Vice Chairman
MINM: The Hannaford Brothers board meeting
The Players: Thirteen directors, top management team, general counsel (scribe)
Frequency: Bimonthly
Purpose: To guide the company to success and profit
Why I Never Miss It: The Mind Rub -- the quality of the other minds is amazing.

Laurel Cutler's feelings on meetings are clear: "I never met a meeting I didn't dislike." Yet she wouldn't dream of skipping the meeting of the directors of the $2.6 billion Portland, Maine-based Hannaford Brothers supermarket chain. In fact, Cutler supplements her day job as a director of Foote, Cone & Belding Communications, the largest advertising agency in the United States, with posts on three other public and several nonprofit boards. Why? Because "understanding another business, another culture, and another set of problems is incredibly valuable in any leadership position."

Ground Rules

Hannaford has a split management. Management is supposed to do and the board is supposed to advise. Everyone does their homework beforehand, and the chairman runs the meetings. Any gung-ho director who starts saying how he would run the company is severely out of line.