Why Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are right about meetings

The characteristics of meetings that their approaches focus on relate the, the procedural and attendee characteristics.

A study conducted by Leach, Rogelberg, Warr, and Burnfield looked at the characteristics on perceived meeting effectiveness that found agenda, punctuality, and facilities coincided with positive perceptions while attendee numbers had a negative effect.

Jeff Bezos' focus on the procedural characteristic of meeting agendas and structure reflects improved perceived meeting effectiveness found in Leach and colleagues' research. Improving the procedural characteristics of a meeting increase the focus on the meeting task, assist in accomplishing meeting goals, and enhancing follow-up processes.

Bezos' approach is simple.

A six page memo for an executive meeting frames the purpose of the meeting and the discussions that are to take place. The content of the meeting has been thought through and the content analysed. An initial thirty minutes dedicated to studying the memo ensures that attendees are on the same page about the purpose and content.

While Elon Musk's focuses on the attendee characteristic which relates to the number of attendees. Leach, Rogelberg, Warr, and Burnfield highlight that increased attendees decreases meeting effectiveness. Further research by Kerr, MacCoun, & Kramer showed that as the number of meeting attendees increases the amount of participation per participant decreases.

As Musk says:

If a meeting attendee is not gaining anything or contributing then either they are not a relevant stakeholder or the participant per participant too low because there are too many attendees. Musk is right to say they should leave but the question should be why were the included in the first place.

The Ringelmann Effect shows that:

Group decision-making shows that the number of attendees can affect the performance, interactions and the cohesiveness of those participating. Gladstein's research shows that size significantly affects interactions and the structuring of activities.