Playground Rules for Grown-up Professionals

Over many years and thousands of hours of professional interactions (meetings, con-calls, conferences, etc.) one gets enough behavioural substance to reflect on - most of all one's own. Why are most corporate meetings unproductive? -There was something weird about this meeting but I can't put my finger on it? -etc... -Each one of us has experienced those long waits before a meeting could get actually started, meetings that never end, ends with a 'so-what?', colleagues going on a random verbal diarrhoea, others bragging they know better, toothless decisions made through complacent consensus 'to keep everybody happy' and most of all, the time lost on gossips, making excuses, judgments and other complaints. There's also enough substance to read and watch, from the recent 'Science of team chemistry' on HBR to TED-Talks, all of which very comprehensive and inspiring. In an effort to compile best recommendations and personal observations, I'm herewith for the first time publicly sharing a version of my personal meeting state-of-mind. The title of this list evolved over many years from 'Rules of Engagement' -which some of my close friends are familiar with (No, not the movie!), to today's 'Rhetorics of Effective Engagement', because these are meant for active, self-consumption as opposed to imposing them upon people you've never met. Increasingly, friends I've shared this last version with, found it very helpful when they had their peers aligned around its principles. Nobody's perfect, but next time you catch your informed colleague making excuses on a call, you can just say 'Number 9' and everyone will have a laugh and move on to more important topics -quickly (as opposed to rolling your eyes and staying frustrated with him for hours). These 10 'rules' have saved me a lot of time and effort in keeping most of my engagements effective, to the point and most of all on time. For friends, an interactive pdf version is available upon request. Feedback welcome and if you find it useful, please share the love. The more people are aware of these things, the more your life will become easier when dealing with them. This is a boomerang.