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Stephanie Dismore, managing director of HP Inc. North America, speaks during South By Southwest (SXSW) festival in Austin, Texas, on March 12, 2022. As business travel and events returned—while schedules remain filled with Zoom calls—she did an audit of all her meetings to see what was unnecessary. “I tell my team ‘no objective, no attendance,’” she says. Photographer: Matthew Busch/Bloomberg© 2022 BLOOMBERG FINANCE LP
© 2022 Bloomberg Finance LP“I tell my team ‘no objective, no attendance,’ ” HP North America managing director Stephanie Dismore told me in a recent interview. If there’s not a clear goal, she says, “I just decline the meeting. If it’s important, it’ll get back on my calendar with an objective at some point.”
After returning to business travel while balancing a schedule full of back-to-back Zoom calls that remained on the calendar—despite the return to pre-pandemic norms—Dismore and her assistant went through each meeting on her calendar, scrapping those that were just for sharing information, delegating some meetings to others, and telling teammates that gatherings without a clear agenda had to wait until there was one.
“The actual meeting schedule has not come down to where it was pre-COVID,” Dismore says. “Everyone is feeling that same pressure.”
Not everyone has the authority—or the executive assistant—to go through that sort of exercise in calendar hygiene. But after more than two years of remote work-fueled meeting bloat, I’ve talked to more companies and executives who are having to take a hard look at their calendar—and sometimes do an exercise of starting from scratch.
Open-source software platform GitLab has annual “meeting cleanup” days to reset which recurring meetings are needed, and some teams have “async weeks” with greatly reduced meeting time. Software firm Asana conducted experiments this spring using a process they call “meeting doomsday.” It involves having workers review which standing meetings are valuable, and then scheduling a time to delete them all, only adding back the valuable ones after considering how often they need to happen and who really needs to attend.
And Slack said in June it had not only added “Focus Fridays”—a practice many companies, including HP, have used to ban internal meetings on certain days—but “Maker Weeks” twice each quarter. During those weeks, all internal recurring meetings are canceled, offering not only more time to focus but a “reset” to review which meetings still matter.
“It’s basically a ‘kill all the recurring meetings’” exercise for a week before adding back the necessary ones, says Brian Elliott, a senior vice president at Slack who leads its “digital first” task force. Executives at Slack call the process “calendar bankruptcy.” “This [meeting] used to be eight people. Now it's 25 people. Can't we scale it back?”
As summer wanes and a busy fall looms, is it time to consider doing the same on your own calendar? Removing everything and auditing what really needs to stay—and if you’re in a leadership position, who really still needs to attend? It’s smart advice that could make your life—and those who work with you—a little less busy this fall. We hope that, and other tips and ideas in the newsletter below, help make the rest of your week productive—and manageable. As always, thanks to assistant editor Emmy Lucas for her help compiling this week’s newsletter.
FEATURED STORY
This High School Dropout Sold Shipt To Target For $550 Million. His Next Startup Could Be Worth Double
Serial entrepreneur Bill Smith, 36, launched Landing in 2019, offering members fast access and short-term stays to move-in-ready apartments. Catering to the work-from-anywhere generation, the rental firm expects $200 million in revenue this year, Forbes senior editor Amy Feldman reports.
WORK SMARTER
As a potential recession and inflation continue to create economic uncertainty, you may be considering a job change. Here’s how to mitigate risk and evaluate an employer.
Your mind goes blank in a job interview? Here are things you can do.
Here’s how to embrace the “it’s not about you” mantra and not take things personally at work.
Unplugging from work—or just our phones in general—can be hard. Here’s how to set boundaries with technology and grant yourself compassion.
Here’s tips to create a cohesive work-from-anywhere team and make the most out of interactions.
ON OUR AGENDA
HBS—at no cost: Harvard University’s Business School (HBS) announced Tuesday it would award full need-based tuition and fee scholarships to its MBA students with the greatest financial need—representing approximately 10% of its student body—reports senior contributor Michael Nietzel. HBS said it will also offer more scholarship support to students from middle income backgrounds.
CEO posts crying selfie: LinkedIn keeps getting more personal as employees share testimonies and confessionals. HyperSocial CEO Braden Wallake took to LinkedIn last week to post a photo of himself crying in response to having to downsize its staff. Forbes senior contributor Jack Kelly provides advice to leaders on how to avoid mass layoffs. “It’s high time that CEOs be held accountable,” he writes.
A changing tide in the employee-employer power dynamic?: Between high jobless claims and layoffs, analysts say the market’s mixed signals aren’t cause for too much concern yet, Forbes’ Jonathan Ponciano reports. But does this uncertain job market mean the power is shifting away from employees? Workers are becoming more worried about job security as the economy tightens, which may alter expectations of flexible work, Forbes contributor Tracy Brower writes.
A changing tide in the employee-employer power dynamic?: Between high jobless claims and layoffs, analysts say the market’s mixed signals aren’t cause for too much concern yet, Forbes’ Jonathan Ponciano reports. But does this uncertain job market mean the power is shifting away from employees? Workers are becoming more worried about job security as the economy tightens, which may alter expectations of flexible work, Forbes contributor Tracy Brower writes.
New talent marketplace aims at climate change: As climate change’s adverse effects around the world become more visible, companies are looking for new ways to go green and people are starting to upskill themselves for “tomorrow’s green economy,” Forbes contributor Ankit Mishra writes. California-based global climate career platform Terra.do is looking to bridge the two, connecting industry experts and workers with environmental and climate knowledge to companies to help drive green initiatives forward.
Biden cancels $3.9 billion of student loan debt: More than 40 million student loan borrowers await President Joe Biden’s decision about whether to grant student loan forgiveness. Meanwhile, targeted loan relief for 208,000 students who attended ITT Technical Institute from 2005 to 2016 was announced Tuesday, Forbes senior contributor Zach Friedman reports.
Adam Neumann may be making a comeback: VC firm Andreessen Horowitz is reportedly investing $350 million in the WeWork cofounder’s new venture: Flow, a new commercial real estate company reportedly valued at more than $1 billion, the New York Times reported Monday. What keeps Neumann landing deals, Forbes contributor Shaun Harper writes, may be his good ideas—but also his privilege.
BOOK CLUB
A new book by Temple University president (and Forbes contributor) Jason Wingard, The College Devaluation Crisis, makes the case for a college degree’s declining value proposition, arguing courses no longer keep pace with the rapidly evolving skill sets and technology needed in today’s workforce. The book, aimed at managers, draws on case studies from companies such as Google and Ernst & Young to detail talent development strategies outside a traditional classroom.