Yesterday, my company’s owner called another meeting about improving effectiveness and product benefits, which is to say a meeting about how we never seem to get done around here.

The meeting was four hours long.

At the beginning of the meeting, a coworker asked him, “Do I need to be in this meeting?”

He replied, “Yes, I would say so, because even though a topic like stressing product benefits and effectiveness criteria may not necessarily appear on the surface to be material to the day-to-day activities of the more production-oriented departments or staff, it is nonetheless important for guiding behaviors like inbound telephone dialogue and drafting future marketing copy, and I think those two functions alone make the discussion worthwhile to at least listen to, even if you find you do not personally have anything substantial to contribute per se. Simply to gain an understanding of the process, sitting in would most likely have some value.”

At the sound of the word “Yes,” the coworker being addressed left the room to get a notebook. The boss, who was looking right at him and plainly saw him leave, continued speaking without pause as if he had stayed right there in the doorway, listening to the whole thing.

So, let’s consider the question, “What the f*** is wrong with him? Does he just enjoy the sound of his own voice?” asked and answered.

We never did figure out why nothing gets done.