Most meetings are a waste of time.

But we still sit through them. Every week. Every quarter. Every time someone feels uncertain and wants to feel important again.

The meeting culture didn’t begin as a time-waster. It began as ritual.

In the early 1900s, as corporations scaled post-industrial revolution, coordination became crucial. The boardroom became the nerve center. Meetings were where coal barons, factory owners, and rail magnates gave commands. Back then, decisions were centralised. Access was limited. The room mattered because power lived inside it.

But then the structure outgrew the purpose.

In the 1980s, management consultants institutionalised meetings. They sold frameworks. Brainstorming. Standups. Syncs. Feedback loops. Post-mortems. The corporate world took the bait. Meetings became proof of thinking. Activity became confused with progress.

And in India, it took a more layered form.

Here, meetings became theatre. A hierarchy showcase. The higher you are, the later you arrive. People repeat what’s already in the email. Junior folks stay quiet. Mid-levels agree. Senior folks speak in metaphors. The real work is deferred. And the one person who dares say, "Can we wrap this up?" gets labeled rebellious.

But here’s the deeper issue.

Meetings give the illusion of control. In companies where people don’t trust outcomes, they try to control input. Where ownership is missing, presence becomes currency. “Let’s discuss” replaces “Let’s decide.” Time gets filled instead of problems getting solved.

Some meetings are necessary. When crisis hits. When hearts are breaking. When a new direction needs shared conviction. But those are rare. The rest are coping mechanisms. A way to avoid the loneliness of real decision-making.

I’ve been in rooms where people discussed what to present in another meeting. I’ve attended hour-long calls to align on a one-line email. I’ve seen meeting invites arrive like weather. Unpredictable. Unplanned. Unproductive.

One of my managers was obsessed with meetings. He kept us in them all day. Then, in the end-of-day review, he would complain that work wasn’t moving. When I asked when I was expected to actually work, he got angry.

A calendar filled with meetings signals one of three things:

• A lack of clarity
• A fear of action
• A culture of control

If your team needs to meet to decide everything, it means something deeper is broken. Trust. Autonomy. Direction. No template can fix that.

The teams I’ve led didn’t meet to show work. They met to sharpen it. They didn’t talk for an hour to say nothing. They sent a crisp update and got back to building. They used time like capital. Rare. Valuable. Never wasted.

So ask yourself before scheduling: is this a meeting or a mirror? Are you aligning the team or avoiding the real issue?

Because progress doesn’t need a room. It needs responsibility.

And most of the time, it just needs a clear, well-written email.