On Time and Present

I often have team members recommend books to me and before Christmas I was recommended “The CEO Within” by Matt Mochary.  Matt is a Silicon Valley based coach who helps Tech company CEO’s such as Sam Altman of Open AI to be the best leaders and build the best organisations possible. 

The book is full of useful nuggets for all company leaders. However, one of the Chapters in particular chimed with me about being on time and present for meetings. 

Everyone who has worked with me will know that one of my biggest bug bears is not being on time and present for meetings.

Mochary stresses that it is critical to be on time for every appointment but if you are running late, accepting that life sometimes gets in the way with traffic or other meetings over running, it is vitally important to call and let the others know. 

He stresses that whilst it is good manners it also has a greater significance.  That is, there is a person on the other side of your agreement to start the meeting at a specific time. They have stopped what they are working on to attend the meeting on time. If you do not show up on time, they cannot start the meeting, but they also cannot leave to do something else because they don't know if you'll show up at the next minute or not.  This action is not only disrespectful but also counterproductive.

If the attendee is a customer, they will have formed a view of you and your company and it is highly likely they will not engage with your company in the future. If they report to you, they will invariably keep quiet but will have a view about you which trust me will not be positive!

As Ted Turner, the founder of CNN’s father's used to say "You can't always be right, son, but you can always be on time" .

Once you are on time, it is also important that you are present.  Being present means you are prepared, engaged and listening with your phone away or face down and computer away (or email closed if using it for notes).   If you are constantly checking your phone or on your laptop answering emails, it is sending a message that the meeting is unimportant and for me is another sign of disrespect.

Also on his website Mochary has also very helpfully created a fantastic googledoc resource library which you can access here which I would highly recommend.

Would be interested to hear your business bug bears in the comments.

Have a good day!