The Meeting That Should Have Been an Email

The meeting began at 9:01 AM.

Nobody knew why they were there.

This was not unusual.

Aditi 2: Thank you everyone for joining.

Aditi 1: Who called this meeting?

Aditi 2: I did.

Aditi 3: Why?

Aditi 2: I don't remember.

The room became quiet.

Aditi 1: Excuse me?

Aditi 2: It seemed important yesterday.

Aditi 3: What was the agenda?

Aditi 2 checked her notebook.

Aditi 2: Good question.

Aditi 1: You scheduled a meeting without an agenda?

Aditi 2: Apparently.

Aditi 3: Wow.

Aditi 1: This is embarrassing for Operations.

Aditi 2: I know.

Aditi 3: Historically you've been very critical of this behavior.

Aditi 2: I know.

Aditi 1: Interesting.

Aditi 2 flipped through several pages.

Nothing.

More pages.

Still nothing.

Aditi 2: Huh.

Aditi 3: What?

Aditi 2: I have absolutely no idea why we're here.

Aditi 1: Incredible.

Aditi 3: Historic.

Aditi 2: Please maintain professionalism.

Aditi 1: You don't know why the meeting exists.

Aditi 3: There is no professionalism left.

The room dissolved briefly into chaos.

As most organizations eventually do.

Aditi 1: Can we leave?

Aditi 2: No.

Aditi 3: Why not?

Aditi 2: Because now I'm curious.

Aditi 1: That's normally my department.

Aditi 2: Today it's cross-functional.

Aditi 3: I support this initiative.

Aditi 2 continued searching.

Then she stopped.

Aditi 1: What?

Aditi 3: What?

Aditi 2: I found it.

Aditi 1: Well?

Aditi 2: It's one sentence.

Aditi 3: Read it.

Aditi 2 looked down.

Then read aloud.

Aditi 2: "Figure out what we're doing."

Silence.

Aditi 1: That's the agenda?

Aditi 2: Apparently.

Aditi 3: That's not an agenda.

Aditi 2: I know.

Aditi 1: That's a crisis.

Aditi 3: A philosophical crisis.

Aditi 2: Thank you for clarifying.

The room became quiet.

Aditi 1: Well...

What are we doing?

Aditi 3: Good question.

Aditi 2: Financially?

Aditi 1: No.

Aditi 3: Existentially.

Aditi 2: Oh no.

Aditi 1: I think we're building something.

Aditi 3: Agreed.

Aditi 2: What?

Aditi 1: A life.

Aditi 3: A business.

Aditi 2: Freedom.

The room paused.

Aditi 1: All of the above.

Aditi 3: Yeah.

Aditi 2: Huh.

Nobody spoke for a moment.

Aditi 2 looked at the notebook.

The mysterious agenda.

The dramatic meeting.

The existential crisis.

The completely unnecessary calendar invite.

And suddenly she remembered.

Aditi 2: Wait.

Aditi 1: What?

Aditi 3: What?

Aditi 2: I know why I scheduled this.

Aditi 1: Why?

Aditi 2: Because I thought we were lost.

The room grew quiet.

Aditi 3: And?

Aditi 2 looked around.

At the people she'd spent her whole life arguing with.

At the projects.

The dog.

The studio.

The dreams.

The work.

The mess.

The momentum.

Aditi 2: I don't think we're lost.

Aditi 1 smiled.

Aditi 3 smiled.

Aditi 2 immediately regretted being sincere.

Aditi 2: Don’t.

Aditi 1: Too late.

Aditi 3: Way too late.

Narrator:
The meeting ended at 9:47 AM.

No decisions were made.

No action items were assigned.

No strategy was documented.

It was unanimously considered one of the most productive meetings of the quarter.

End of Chapter 17.