'Office Meetings Are The Biggest Time Killer,' Says Billionaire & Shark Tank Judge Mark Cuban

Last year, a survey claimed that unnecessary meetings are a $100 million mistake at big companies. Reluctantly going to non-critical meetings wasted about $25,000 per employee annually, i.e. about $101 million a year for any organization with more than 5,000 employees.

And now, in contrast to what usually happens in most offices around the world, a billionaire and Shark Tank judge has the point of view that meetings are in fact the biggest time killer in offices.

"That Meeting Could Have Been An Email"

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"That meeting could have been an email", says billionaire Mark Cuban, who is also a judge at Shark Tank. He doesn¡¯t have much time to waste and thinks meetings are the number one workplace habit killing people¡¯s productivity and eating away at their time.

Earlier this year, Cuban had also said that he would be just as happy without 99% of his wealth (his current net worth is $5.1 billion as per Forbes).

In a recent conversation, he said that people ¡°over-meet and over-call¡±, and that meetings kill so much time. The Shark Tank judge has been pretty vocal about his commitment to having power over his own time ¡ª he says it¡¯s partly what drove him to want to become successful. To him, meetings are an obstacle to controlling his own schedule, as per CNBC.

His daily routine starts with a 6:30 a.m. wake-up where he responds to a morning round of emails, eats breakfast and works out before diving into the rest of his workday.

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"Only Do Meetings If There Is No Other Way"

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¡°I try to only do meetings if I have to come to a conclusion or there¡¯s no other way ¡ª same with phone calls,¡± Cuban said. He says that most meetings get sidetracked by trivial small talk like ¡°Who got the donuts?¡± and ¡°How are the kids?¡± instead of working through a productive agenda.

When Cuban Adopted A 'No Chair Policy' For Meetings

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Cuban has always been a meetings critic. He told that early in his career, if he had to hold a meeting, he would get rid of all the chairs in the conference room so that anyone who was in attendance had to stand.

¡°It¡¯s amazing how quickly meetings get over with if no one has a chair or some place to sit,¡± Cuban lightly joked, the report mentioned.

The no-chair policy didn¡¯t necessarily stick, Mark Cuban had said. He thinks since he was still early on in his career, he may not have been ¡°established enough to get away with it.¡±

But even now, Cuban prefers to communicate business matters via email. ¡°I can respond to those in the middle of the night. Or I can respond to those on my schedule as opposed to have to arrange everything around other people,¡± the billionaire says.

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