Are some people more intelligent than others? If so, should their thoughts be more seriously considered at a business meeting? I say yes and no: the near-universal consensus among Western management scholars is that, by definition, managers should have more intelligence available to them than any other employee of an organization. It’s upon that intelligence “collection” that managers should base their decisions. And the “no” part? Managers are in no way more intelligent than other employees, except (hopefully) concerning aspects of their own management domain. That’s why Mark Smutny’s concept of radically inclusive (business) meetings is so powerful. Presumably, every invitee has been invited to bring their intelligence to a meeting – that is, proprietary intelligence presided over by no other meeting participant – and share it to the benefit of all others. But, in practice, that doesn’t happen very often; it’s more common that one or two participants speak while all others – for a myriad of reasons – silently keep their intelligence to themselves. Of course, when it’s breaktime, everyone goes outside and boisterously talks about what’s not being shared at the meeting. Mark Smutny, author of Thrive: The Facilitator’s Guide to Radically Inclusive Meetings, now published in its second edition, joins us to present his step-by-step guide to unleashing the power of radically inclusive business meetings.
Vienna Live with Simeon Morrow - Weekly interactive Show 