In a great Fast Company article, Mark McNeilly talks about what we can learn from the founding fathers about holding productive meetings when the participants are diverse with equally diverse interests. In his introduction he states:
“Consider this: meeting for the Constitutional convention in Philadelphia back in 1787, a group of strong-willed men representing states with very different interests sat down and created a document that has been foundation of America’s achievements for over two hundred years. That same document was both strong enough to provide a set of rules on how a growing nation would govern itself yet was flexible enough to be changed with the times.”
His first two principles set the tone. Have a good reason for the meeting and invite the right people. Read the entire article at http://bit.ly/Lw55bS .