A veteran leader argues that controlling meeting agendas is how you shape an organization's future. When long-term topics get pushed to the bottom, the organization drifts, costs rise, and goals take longer. Put future-focused items at the top and treat them as non-negotiable.
So let's return to our agenda. We finished our cookies. We've got a new cup of coffee here. Now we need to think about all the information we've got, and what are we going to do? I've been involved in a lot of organizations over the years, and, and I've learned, I've learned something powerful about agendas and minutes. The person who controls the agenda and the person who writes the minutes actually really direct the The future of the organization, because what goes onto the agenda is really important, and where it is in the order. So sometimes in a bureaucracy, when they're facing something that they don't like, they don't want to cause a big fuss about it. All they do is they just drop it to the bottom of the agenda, and we'll get to it next meeting, next month, next quarter. What— there's more bigger priorities right now. And my concern is very often that people say the future is very important, but we'll get to it later. If we postpone it, if we shelve it for now, if we defer it until later, all we're doing is like the airplane is we're allowing that plane to drift into the wrong direction, and it's going to take us a lot longer to get to the place we want to. It's going to be a lot more expensive to get there, and we're going to lose a lot along the way. We can't afford to not have the future on the agenda, and we can't afford to not have it right at the top of the agenda.
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