Insights
The True Cost of Unproductive Meetings
Nobody has the courage to cancel a meeting.
Think about that. 92% of recurring meetings have no end date. They just… run. Forever. Every Monday, every Wednesday, every Friday — the same room, the same agenda, the same people nodding through the same updates nobody needed to hear out loud.
Recurring meetings
Shopify figured this out in 2023. They canceled every recurring meeting with more than two people. 12,000 events. Gone. That’s 36 years of meeting time wiped from the calendar in one decision.
Their COO said something that stuck with me: “No one at Shopify would expense a $500 dinner. But lots of people spend way more than that in meetings without ever making a decision.”
The average 30-minute meeting
The average 30-minute meeting costs $700–$1,600. And 71% of senior executives admit their own meetings are unproductive.
So why don’t we kill them?
Productivity Theatre
Because canceling a meeting feels like saying “this doesn’t matter.” And in Productivity Theatre, that’s the most dangerous thing you can say. The meeting IS the work. The calendar IS the proof. Without it, what are you even doing all day?
That’s the real question AI forces you to answer.
When AI handles the status updates, the syncs, the “just making sure everyone’s aligned” — you lose the stage. There’s no more performance. Just you and the work you were always supposed to be doing.
The bravest thing a leader can do right now isn’t adopting AI.
It’s opening their calendar and asking: “Which of these actually needs to exist?”
Most of them don’t. And deep down, everyone in the room already knows it.