#166 — Meeting of the Bored

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Things sure have come a long way since the Dark Ages. A few centuries ago we’d all have been living in a kingdom where any autocrat could summon all of the peasants into the castle for a meeting at a whim. At the same time, if two of the local knights had a disagreement — say, over ownership of a pig, a plot of land, or some serfs — they would meet on a field of honor and duel until one of them was dead or seriously injured.

It’s amazing the difference one enlightenment and a few centuries can make. Now we all work in some company where any manager can summon all of the employees into a conference room for a meeting at a whim. If a couple of supervisors have a disagreement — say, over control of a resource, an office, or some ser…employees — they meet in an executive board room and argue until one of them is deaf or seriously tired.

Measured in terms of “gallons of blood” spilled, the modern approach is infinitely superior to the medieval equivalent. However, the meetings haven’t changed much in nearly a millennia.

Oddly, you see a lot more movies about knights and lords than you do about business meetings. There’s a simple reason for this; meetings are dull.

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Like this excerpt? Want the whole story? Listen to the audio version by clicking the ‘Play’ button at the top of this post. If you’d rather read it, you can find the full text at

http://myfavoriteshortcomings.wordpress.com/2009/08/15/meeting-of-the-bored/

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Notes:

• Thanks to Sam @TheMoneyGeek for his kind comments about my new avatar.  You can find it here and here.
• My sincere apologies for the Yoda impression.  It won’t happen again.