In my work with teams, one of the biggest challenges is to get leaders to stick to the meetings that matter.

Especially when the boss is the owner of the company and trying to streamline her schedule, she’ll have a tendency to cancel the weekly check-in meetings with her direct reports once things are under control.

This is a big mistake. First of all, it means that she’s training her team to only communicate (and communicate with her) when there’s a problem.

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Trying to get a new venture off the ground can be lonely at first.

This thing is so new that you barely believe in it. How are you going to get someone else to come along for the ride?

You may have had some life experiences that reinforce the narratives we hear all around us:

“You just can’t find good help.”

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A mentor I once worked with required her clients to come with questions.

She wasn't the person to go to when you needed to talk things out. She didn't want to hear the ideas, the works-in-progress, or the emotional processing, and she definitely didn't want to hear the whining.

Instead, you showed up with a distinct, discrete question. If you didn't offer a question and instead launched into a bunch of context and backstory, you would be politely interrupted and asked to formulate a question.

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I like to be on the move whenever possible.

I have a very hard time sitting still. I prefer to take meetings by phone while out for a walk, weeding the garden, or folding laundry. I do the same when listening to lectures. It actually helps my concentration.

But naturally, it's not always feasible to work and learn this way, especially in the age of Zoom.

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You will never, ever be able to see your own face.

(Unless you’ve mastered astral projection, I guess.)

You can see a reflection of your face. You can see a reflection of a reflection of your face and see how you look to other people. You can see a photograph of your face. But your own eyes can’t perceive themselves. All they can do is get a glimpse of part of your nose, if it’s big enough. We can never truly see ourselves as others see us—or as we see others.

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