Mamie Kanfer Stewart on Meeting Smarter: How to Stop Wasting Time at Work (Shortcast)

Beyond the To-Do List - Productivity for Work and Life

Erik Fisher

Business, Entrepreneurship, Self-improvement, Careers, Education

4.5 • 875 Ratings

🗓️ 26 June 2025

⏱️ 12 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this Shortcast edition, Mamie Kanfer Stewart, co-author of Momentum: Creating Effective, Engaging and Enjoyable Meetings, explains why meetings are one of the biggest productivity drains—and how to fix them. From clarifying desired outcomes to optimizing who’s in the room, Mamie shares practical, people-focused strategies to make meetings more effective, purposeful, and energizing. In this Shortcast, we explore: Start With the Outcome: Don’t ask, “What’s the purpose of the meeting?” Ask, “What do we want to achieve?” This mindset shift transforms how meetings are planned and executed. Alternatives to Meeting: Mamie highlights when meetings aren’t needed—and how tools like email or asynchronous comments can often deliver the same outcome with less time. Before, During, and After: She outlines a full meeting workflow—from designing the agenda around outcomes, to assigning timekeepers and capturing key decisions and next steps. Fixing Meeting FOMO: We dive into how a culture of over-inviting people to meetings can waste time and lead to disengagement—and what to do instead. Reframing Meetings as Real Work: When done right, meetings are collaborative work, not interruptions. Mamie encourages giving them the same intentionality as solo tasks. Mamie’s insights help shift meetings from draining distractions to meaningful, productive moments that move work forward. Find more Shortcasts like this one on Blinkist here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This episode is sponsored by Plaud, an AI wearable gadget that takes notes of meetings and calls.
0:06.4	With Plod, you don't have to take notes and make summaries anymore.
0:09.3	I don't know about you, but I'm tired of taking notes, and I'm happy to let AI do it for me.
0:13.6	Are you zoning out in meetings and forgetting key takeaways?
0:17.3	Meet Plod, your AI-powered meeting sidekick.
0:20.9	Let this tiny AI gadget, a perfect accessory for your phone.
0:25.1	Take notes, instantly generate transcripts, summarize critical points and action items so you
0:30.8	can stay focused without frantic note-taking.
0:33.9	It's simple.
0:34.9	You talk, Plaud handles the rest.
0:36.9	Find peace of mind at work today. Ready to work smarter?
0:40.3	Type PL AUD into Google and get a discount with my code Beyond. That's PLAUD. Welcome to Beyond the
0:49.9	to do list, a podcast about productivity. I'm your host, Eric Fisher, and this is a special
0:54.9	shortcast edition, brought to you in partnership with Blinkist, the app that delivers
0:59.7	key insights from top nonfiction books and podcasts in just 15 minutes. With Blinkist, you can
1:05.9	explore more episodes like this one, covering topics like productivity, mindfulness, leadership, personal growth.
1:12.9	And after listening to this episode, click the link in the show notes or go to blinkist.com
1:18.2	and start a free trial and then search for Beyond the To Do List to find the over 70 plus episodes
1:24.6	of Beyond the To Do List that are in there as shortcasts. You're going to love them
1:29.1	just like this episode.
1:35.7	How many meetings do you have in an average week? According to Forbes, there are 55 million
1:41.3	meetings a day in the United States. As valuable and energizing as good meetings can be,
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 13 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Erik Fisher, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Erik Fisher and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.