The meeting started at 10:00 AM.

Nobody knew why.

The invitation said:

Important Staff Meeting.

That was the entire invitation.

No agenda.

No attachment.

No explanation.

No mercy.

The Owner arrived.

The MD arrived.

Sheru arrived.

Riya arrived.

Prita arrived.

Dakota arrived.

Shumi arrived.

The projector arrived emotionally unprepared.

The MD stood up.

"Good morning everyone."

"Good morning."

"We have gathered here today."

Everyone waited.

"To discuss important matters."

Everyone continued waiting.

The important matters did not arrive.

The Owner nodded confidently.

The team nodded respectfully.

Nobody knew what they were agreeing with.

Sheru opened his notebook.

Page title:

Meeting.

Nothing underneath.

The most accurate document in the room.

The MD clicked the first slide.

It was a pantry report.

Chocolate biscuits led the quarterly performance rankings.

Dakota suddenly became interested in the ceiling.

The second slide appeared.

Nobody understood it.

The horizontal axis was mysterious.

The vertical axis was ambitious.

The graph itself looked worried.

"What does this chart show?"

"Trends."

"What trends?"

"Business trends."

"What business?"

"Various business."

Nobody challenged this.

The answer sounded expensive.

Riya suggested expansion.

Prita suggested training.

Dakota suggested fewer meetings.

The entire room applauded Dakota.

The applause lasted longer than expected.

The MD tried restoring order.

The order could not be located.

Shumi proposed a committee.

The room became silent.

Even the air conditioner stopped for a second.

The Owner asked:

"What would the committee do?"

"Study future meetings."

"What would they study?"

"Future meetings."

"Have we had those meetings yet?"

"No."

A powerful proposal.

Ahead of its time.

Possibly ahead of reality.

Twenty minutes later.

Everyone was speaking.

Nobody was listening.

Three conversations were occurring simultaneously.

A marker rolled off the table.

A biscuit disappeared.

The projector restarted itself.

Sheru remained calm.

The way mountains remain calm.

Or tax authorities.

He walked to the whiteboard.

Drew three circles.

Customers.

Shipments.

Revenue.

"Everything belongs inside one of these."

Silence.

Actual silence.

The rarest sound in corporate history.

Suddenly everything made sense.

Training?

Customers.

Expansion?

Revenue.

Operational improvements?

Shipments.

Committee for future meetings?

A wildlife conservation issue.

The Owner smiled.

The MD smiled.

The projector recovered.

Dakota opened another biscuit packet.

The meeting finally achieved clarity.

After eighty three minutes.

The useful part had taken approximately four.

As everyone left, Riya asked Sheru:

"What's the secret to meetings?"

Sheru packed his notebook.

"Keep them shorter than the confusion they create."

The next morning another invitation arrived.

Subject: Lessons Learned From Yesterday's Meeting.

Dakota called in sick.

The projector did not show up at all.