Effective Meetings: The Science of Making Every Meeting Count with Steven G. Rogelberg

Most leaders accept bad meetings as the cost of doing business. Steven G. Rogelberg says they don't have to. In this episode of the ScaleX Insider podcast, Brendan sits down with the internationally recognised organisational psychologist, meeting scientist and bestselling author of The Surprising Science of Meetings to explore the science behind effective meetings and why the way we meet can either accelerate a scaling business or quietly drain its time, talent and performance. They break down why agendas should be framed as questions, how to decide who really needs to be in the room, and why becoming a better steward of people's time can give your business a competitive advantage. . 00:00 Steven G. Rogelberg on scaling with purpose 02:00 Why an organisational psychologist chose to study meetings 04:00 The hidden cost of bad meetings 06:30 Why meeting culture matters from your second employee 09:00 How meetings can become a competitive advantage 12:00 Why leaders overestimate how good their meetings are 15:00 Becoming a steward of other people's time 18:00 The organisational blind spots around meetings 21:00 What makes a great meeting 23:00 Why having an agenda is not enough 24:30 Turn your meeting agenda into questions 27:00 How to decide who actually needs to attend 29:00 Parkinson's Law: stop defaulting to one-hour meetings 31:00 Inclusion by input, not inclusion by invite 33:00 Why meeting leaders need to talk less 35:00 How the leader's mood shapes the meeting 37:00 How to end meetings with clarity and accountability 39:00 Brendan's ScaleX meeting cadence put to the test 42:00 Why you should regularly audit your meetings 45:00 Virtual, walking and standing meetings 47:00 Zoom fatigue, silent brainstorming and better virtual meetings 49:00 Why hybrid meetings often fail 51:00 The science of effective one-to-one meetings 53:00 Three timeless takeaways 54:00 What's next for Steven: AI, hybrid meetings and asynchronous collaboration 55:00 Closing Guests referenced: Steven G. Rogelberg, Taki Moore Resources mentioned: The Surprising Science of Meetings by Steven G. Rogelberg, Steven G. Rogelberg's work on one-on-one meetings Book: The Surprising Science of Meetings by Steven G. Rogelberg Website: stevenrogelberg.com Book: Simple Scaling: 10 Proven Principles to 10x Your Business ScaleX Elevate (under £3M revenue): https://simplescaling.com/solutions/scalex-elevate ScaleX Accelerator (over £3M revenue): https://simplescaling.com/solutions/accelerator Website: https://simplescaling.comEmail: hello@simplescaling.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/simple-scaling Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simple_scaling If you are an SME or B2B leader serious about scaling your business: Like this video Comment: What is the biggest waste of time in your meetings? Share with a founder whose calendar is full of back-to-back meetings Subscribe for more scaling insights Host: Brendan McGurgan, Co-Founder Simple Scaling Guest: Steven G. Rogelberg