Teddy Roosevelt & the 5 Minute Meeting

I was stunned when I read Teddy Roosevelt held meetings for just 5 minutes.

People lined up outside his office at the White House. TR granted their 5 minute audience, decisions were swiftly made, and he moved on to the next guest. Time was carefully managed down to the second, no exceptions.

One day I decided to try 5 minute meetings myself. I was visiting a Yext office in London with 120 people. I wanted to get a first hand sense of what was happening in the office. And, I figured that more than a few on my team wouldn’t mind an audience with the CEO. I spent 600 minutes meeting with everyone. I learned to open with a question, “what are you working on?” and then take notes to avoid overly strong eye contact, as people opened up more. I tried to get as specific as possible. Not: “I am working on process improvements”. Instead: “I fixed the lead gen flow that was accidentally sending new dupes away, catching an extra 178 leads last week”.

With 600 minutes, it was necessary to religiously manage the clock. Like TR, no exceptions. I had an assistant give a “warning knock” with 30 seconds left, and then abruptly open the door and introduce the next person right at 5 minutes.

If I was stunned to learn of TR’s 5 minute habit, I was even more stunned to experience first hand just how much you can get done in a 5 minute meeting. Having the constraint of short time forces the most principled discussions and decisions. I emerged from the day with a clear sense of everything going on, the strengths and weaknesses of the team, and was able to connect with everyone on the team directly. “Teddy Roosevelt Meetings” earned a permanent page in my management playbook.

There is awesome power in brevity.