Comstock's magazine 0919 - September 2019

“Norms create safety,” says Fowl- er, meaning they help make a meeting more inclusive, and they can empower and embolden the introverts. An age- old meeting problem: The good ideas from the introverts are buried beneath all the mediocre ideas from the yap- ping extroverts. So when establishing norms, Fowler explicitly brings up the question of introverts vs. extroverts. “I’ll tell them, ‘If you’re an extrovert, challenge yourself to ask do you have more to add. And introverts, challenge yourself to speak up and to add some- thing without requiring a red carpet. You have a duty to challenge yourself too.’” McBride suggests three additional tactics for being more inclusive to the introverts. Send an agenda, and send it in ad- vance. “Introverts need time to pro- cess,” she says. “Having an agenda gives them time to consider what they want to contribute.” During the meeting, the leaders should directly check in with the in- troverts. “Hey, Sam, what are your thoughts on this?” After the meeting, ask for their ad- ditional input. Or you could invoke a more provocative technique that Rog- elberg calls “brainwiring.” For a brief period of time, in complete silence, ev- eryone jots down their ideas — wheth- er the topic is brainstorming, the pros or cons of a proposal, or the reaction to a marketing campaign — and then the ideas are shared and discussed. Espe- cially for those who fear public speak- ing, this boosts the odds that the best ideas are uncovered. If the meeting is to ratify a decision, brainwiring could lead to a more legitimate consensus, as all of the potential issues have been openly (and safely) aired. Finally, it’s important to remem- ber that meetings are not the enemy. They have merit. A good meeting is a reminder that you work with human beings who laugh and think and are made of skin and bones, not algo- rithms. It was a meeting, after all, that gave us the Declaration of Indepen- dence. So don’t stop meeting. Meet better. n Jeff Wilser is the author of six books, and he’s now (finally) working on a new one. His writing has appeared in print or online in New York Magazine, GQ, Time, Glamour, Esquire, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and others. For more, visit jeffwilser.com. The World (and beyond*) Brought to Your Stage. Experience Hendrix | OCT 7 Billy Cox, Joe Satriani, Jonny Lang, Dweezil Zappa and others Lila Downs—Día De Muertos: Al Chile | OCT 10 MOMIX—Viva MOMIX | OCT 13 *NASA Astronaut Terry Virts—View From Above | OCT 16 Béla Fleck, Edgar Meyer & Zakir Hussain | OCT 18 with special guest Rakesh Chaurasia Andrew Bird | OCT 21 with special guest Meshell Ndegeocello Joshua Bell, violin and Alessio Bax, piano | NOV 2 and more! mondaviarts.org September 2019 | comstocksmag.com 59

Comstock's magazine 0919 - September 2019 | Page 59