“Everyone wants better meetings, but no one seems to know how—until now.” —Reid Hoffman, New York Times bestselling author and cofounder of LinkedIn
“Warning: This read may save you countless hours.” —Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author and host of the podcast Re:Thinking
From Rebecca Hinds, PhD—organizational expert who has helped Fortune 500 companies fix their fractured collaboration—comes a bold, battle-tested blueprint for tackling the workplace’s biggest time-wasters: meetings.
Meetings are broken. They are relics from a bygone era of top-down hierarchies and factory-like procedures—designed to issue orders, flaunt power, and keep the hierarchy intact. In today’s digital, collaborate-or-bust era, this model isn’t just inefficient, it actively harms employees and organizations.
Drawing on decades of research and stories from leading companies like Google, Salesforce, Pixar, YouTube, and Dropbox, Your Best Meeting Ever provides a blueprint to transform your meetings from monotonous, soul-crushing time sinks into powerful tools for collaboration. The secret? Treat them like products. Using seven product design principles, you’ll turn your meetings into well-designed products that actually drive work forward and serve your most important users—the people in your organization. You’ll learn:
- Why every organization needs a “Meeting Doomsday” to reset collaboration, and how to strategically orchestrate one at your company.
- How to fix your communication system so meetings are a last resort, not a knee-jerk default.
- Which meeting metrics matter—and which do more harm than good.
- How to inject moments of delight into your meetings so people genuinely want to show up.
- When to integrate technology into your meetings so you enhance collaboration, rather than detract from it.
More than just a practical guide, Your Best Meeting Ever is a rallying call to rethink how we collaborate in the modern workplace. Whether you’re a leader or an individual contributor, this powerful book will nudge you to be audacious—to challenge the existing norms and embrace new paradigms—so you’ll never dread another meeting again.
“This book is fantastic! It is well-grounded, compelling, and offers such a fresh take on the topic of meetings. Although it is sometimes cliché to call something a must-read, this book is truly a must read.”—Steven Rogelberg, bestselling author of The Surprising Science of Meetings
“Everyone wants better meetings, but no one seems to know how—until now. Hinds not only diagnoses the root causes of bad meetings, but offers a brilliant core insight – we should design great meetings like we design great products – and practical tools based on both academic research and what’s worked at real companies. Grab a copy of this book before your next week of meetings begins!”—Reid Hoffman, cofounder of LinkedIn and coauthor of New York Times bestseller Superagency
“Warning: This read may save you countless hours. As a professional meeting hacker, Hinds offers a wealth of knowledge for eliminating pointless gatherings and making the most of our time. Her book should be required reading for everyone who runs meetings.”—Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Hidden Potential and Think Again, and host of the podcast Re:Thinking
"A low point in my career was realizing that everyone in my staff meeting felt it was a waste of time, and everyone who was not there felt sad, bad, and left out. If only I'd read Hinds's book! Full of practical tips, it will ensure your meetings help you get sh*t done and build better relationships."—Kim Scott, New York Times bestselling author of Radical Candor and Radical Respect
