{"id":8391,"date":"2026-03-02T09:12:54","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T15:12:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/?p=8391"},"modified":"2026-03-02T09:12:54","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T15:12:54","slug":"the-hidden-message-behind-i-hate-meetings-and-why-great-leaders-never-say-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/02\/the-hidden-message-behind-i-hate-meetings-and-why-great-leaders-never-say-it\/","title":{"rendered":"The Hidden Message Behind \u201cI Hate Meetings\u201d \u2014 And Why Great Leaders Never Say It"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When you say, \u201cI hate meetings!\u201d, your team could be receiving a message that might be damaging your culture more than you ever realized.<\/span><\/h2>\n

In recent years a virtual movement concerning trend has sprung up in leadership circles where it has become increasingly fashionable to announce, \u201cI hate meetings!\u201d<\/p>\n

When You Say \u2018I Hate Meetings\u2019 Your Team Hears Something Different<\/h2>\n

Leaders, whether we\u2019re talking about Zoom meetings or in-person gatherings, we need to stop saying this. Because when we say, \u201cI hate meetings\u201d, what our teammates hear is, \u201cI don\u2019t want to spend time with these people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Really.<\/p>\n

Think about it. If you overhear your team leader look at\u00a0their appointment calendar and say, \u201cWhat? Another meeting with the team? Why do I have to always meet with these people?\u201d you could easily translate that ranting into, \u201cI just don\u2019t like spending time with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s Not About Good Meetings vs Bad Meetings<\/h2>\n

Now, many leaders will protest at this point and will say, \u201cIt\u2019s only\u00a0bad<\/em>\u00a0meetings I don\u2019t like.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fair point. And there are thousands of books and articles written about how to hold good meetings. This is not one of those articles.<\/p>\n

Do They Know How You Really Feel?<\/h2>\n

When your team believes you don\u2019t like having meetings, they believe you don\u2019t want to spend time with them. And it hurts your team\u2019s culture, and ultimately their performance.<\/p>\n

Your team runs on the fuel of your personal approval and even affection for them. In fact, your team runs on the fuel of your love for them.<\/p>\n

And one of the surest ways to pop that balloon is to make it known that you don\u2019t like spending time with them.<\/p>\n

So, by all means, make sure your meetings are effective, well-run and purposeful. Whether on Zoom or\u00a0 in person, even if your meetings suck, don\u2019t let your team know you don\u2019t like to meet with them.<\/p>\n

Let them know that the highlight of your day is to be able spend time with them.<\/p>\n

And let\u2019s turn those \u201cI hate meetings\u201d chants into \u201cI love my team\u201d rants.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When you say, \u201cI hate meetings!\u201d, your team could be receiving a message that might be damaging your culture more than you ever realized. In recent years a virtual movement concerning trend has sprung up in leadership circles where it has become increasingly fashionable to announce, \u201cI hate meetings!\u201d When You Say \u2018I Hate Meetings\u2019…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":7165,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1033,4,1032,769,7,1023],"tags":[984,216,62],"class_list":["post-8391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-authentic","category-community","category-credibility","category-culture-2","category-leadership","category-meetings","tag-leadership","tag-meetings","tag-team"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8391"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8391\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8392,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8391\/revisions\/8392"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}