311. Your Best Meeting Ever: How to Fix Broken Meetings with Rebecca Hinds

What if your calendar isn’t a badge of honor but a map of wasted potential? We sit down with Rebecca Hinds, PhD and author of Your Best Meeting Ever, to challenge the idea that more meetings mean more value—and to rebuild meeting culture from the ground up. Rebecca unpacks the visibility bias that equates busyness with status, explains why meetings multiply when clarity disappears, and shows leaders how to design time together like a product with purpose, users, and measurable outcomes. We dive into the 4D rule—only meet to decide, debate, discuss, or develop—and how that single filter slashes status updates and nudges real work back to async. You’ll learn why eight is a magic ceiling for decision meetings, how to include voices without overinviting through pre-reads and transparent notes, and the art of closing the loop so people feel heard even when their idea isn’t acted on yet. Rebecca shares counterintuitive time design: odd-start meetings to beat Parkinson’s Law, strategic buffers to prevent “meeting hangovers,” and the cultural signal sent when you end early because the purpose is done. Ready for a reset? This episode explores “meeting doomsday,” a 48-hour calendar cleanse where every meeting must earn its place. The biggest gains come from small redesigns like shorter meetings and fewer attendees. You’ll also learn how to use ROTI feedback, clearer agendas, and technology the right way to improve focus and decision-making. If you’re tired of back-to-back Zooms and wondering when real work happens, this conversation gives you a practical blueprint. You’ll gain clear norms, language to protect your team’s time, and leadership moves that turn meetings into a competitive advantage.

You can listen to 311. Your Best Meeting Ever: How to Fix Broken Meetings with Rebecca Hinds online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

311. Your Best Meeting Ever: How to Fix Broken Meetings with Rebecca Hinds is an episode from The Leadership Project by Mick Spiers.

This episode is 67:45 long.

This episode was published on Feb 24, 2026.

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