“2026: The year of fewer bullshit meetings”
We’re only weeks into 2026, and I’ll bet your calendar is already drowning in meetings that should’ve been emails.
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Reflecting on my 2025 highlights — a river cruise with my wife, launching CPO Studio, and completing my Shelby Cobra LEGO model — not a single meeting made the list. While sometimes essential for alignment, most meetings steal time from the actions that actually move the business.
The biggest culprits are "standing" meetings. They often devolve into aimless status updates with no moderator or agenda. As Patrick Lencioni notes in Death by Meeting, a meeting must have a purpose: making a decision or solving a problem collaboratively.
Next time you go to accept an invite, do this instead: Ask what the intended decision or result is. If there isn't one, don’t go. If you’re the organizer, keep it small. Invite only those essential to the decision and send a summary to the rest. If you get pushback, ask for forgiveness, not permission. Reclaim your time for the work that actually makes the "highlight reel" next year.
Decision-Driven Leadership
If you’re a CPO, a big part of your job is making sure meetings actually lead to decisions — not just motion.
That’s exactly what we work on in CPO Studio: executive-level product leadership, stakeholder alignment, and decision-making when the stakes are high and time is short.
If your calendar is full but nothing is getting decided, you’re not alone — and you don’t have to figure it out solo.
Learn more at CPO.studio.