Moments of Impact

December 9, 2013
Strategic advisor Ertel and innovation expert Solomon want to make strategic meetings more valuable and inspiring to all involved. Designing these essential conversations should be a craft, not an accident. The results will feel like regular meetings or like brainstorming sessions, but they will get your team thinking creatively and emotionally. Ertel and Solomon identify the five key elements of creating a well-organized meeting: identify participants, assemble content, set the agenda, find a venue, and declare the objectives. Don’t just throw people in a room, they caution; participants need significant preparation. The trick is to allow the right people to arrive at the meeting with the right materials, entering an environment that’s conducive to the right kind of conversations. Chock-full of graphs and case studies from companies such as Natura and Facebook, the authors cover the essentials of engaging multiple perspectives, navigating alignment, framing key issues, and setting the scene. They finish with a substantive and comprehensive starter kit (60 pages) that, by itself, is worth the price of the book. Tightly focused on one particular area of leadership, this is a guide every frustrated meeting-goer should read, with advice they should all implement. Agent: Christy Fletcher, Fletcher & Company.