More Coupland Character Provocation

Yesterday's entry was a thought-provoker from a novel I'm reading by Douglas Coupland. I mentioned that some of the more interesting parts of the novel are actually found within the verbal exchanges of the software developer characters.

Ethan, who develops all sorts of theories and then observes them, had this one on meetings:

"That's why meetings become toxic--they put uncreative people in a situation in which they have to be something they can never be. And the more effort they put into concealing their inabilities, the more toxic the meeting becomes. One of the most commone creativity-faking tactics is when someone puts their hands in the prayer position and conceals their mouth whle they nod at you and say, 'Hmmmm. Interesting.' If pressed, they'll add, 'I'll have to get back to you on that.' Then they don't say anything else.

The uncreative people who run a meeting say such things as 'Does anybody here have something to say about Ethan's idea? The ensuing silence makes even a good idea look stupid.

...In a way, the best meetings are the ones where nobody is creative and nobody has any ideas about anything. People sit around, stare at their notepads, and then, after a plausible amount of time has passed, everyone leaves. Everybody's happy because nothing was demanded of them, and nobody was made to look bad.

Knowing all of this doesn't make meetings any less numbing, but at least now you know why they're numbing."

Granted, my my world, we have meetings but oftentimes we have meetings for the express purpose of creativity in what we do. But we have our share of "business-type" meetings...and they may be a necessary evil. That doesn't make them any more bearable, though. At least now I know why they're numbing.