Subject to Evidence

Part 1 of 11 in our series on meetings, memory, power and interviews.

We usually judge a meeting by what it decides. But recurring meetings also make things: who belongs, what counts as a priority, and whose authority is recognised. So what is lost, or changed, when you redesign or cancel one?

Clare and Lena draw on anthropological and organisational research on meetings to ask how recurring meetings help make an organisation, and when that insight justifies changing or cancelling one.

Takeaway: before you redesign or cancel a recurring meeting, look at what it does for belonging, priorities and authority, not just its decisions.

Readings

• Helen Schwartzman, The Meeting (1989)
• Joseph Allen, Nale Lehmann-Willenbrock and Steven Rogelberg (eds), The Cambridge Handbook of Meeting Science (2015)
• Jen Sandler and Renita Thedvall (eds), Meeting Ethnography (2017)
• Cliff Scott and Joseph Allen, "Toward an organizational theory of meetings" (2023)

Workplace examples in this episode are hypothetical.

Part 9 of 9 in our series on strategic leadership — the series finale.

Clare and Lena bring the whole series together in one case: a constrained consulting firm with 90 days to learn. Which interpretation should guide the choice? Who should decide what? What should the experiment learn — and could they recognise a misleading success?

Takeaway: choose no more than three experiments, each with a mechanism, an action, the observations to collect, the costs and a trigger for revising it.

Workplace examples in this episode are hypothetical.

Part 8 of 9 in our series on strategic leadership.

When a key expert leaves, a shared drive full of documents rarely replaces them. Clare and Scott ask when individual knowledge becomes an organisational ability that survives someone's absence and can still adapt.

Takeaway: specify the work, the conditions, the people and relationships, the authority, the routines and the evidence of dependable performance.

Workplace examples in this episode are hypothetical.

Part 7 of 9 in our series on strategic leadership.

Most organisations have to keep today's services running while building something different for tomorrow — with the same people and budget. Clare and Lena explore how leaders can sustain current provision and develop a different future at the same time, under real constraints.

Takeaway: specify protected outcomes, learning questions, resource trade-offs, how the work is separated and joined up, and who owns the conflicts that keep coming back.

Workplace examples in this episode are hypothetical.

Part 6 of 9 in our series on strategic leadership.

Every organisation decides, often without noticing, which issues reach the leadership table and which never become evidence at all. Clare and Scott ask how structures and communication shape what becomes important, legitimate and actionable — and whether leaders can design that on purpose.

Takeaway: trace one priority from first signal and category, through interpretation and decision, to ordinary work and the evidence that comes back.

Workplace examples in this episode are hypothetical.

Part 5 of 9 in our series on strategic leadership.

Partnerships, networks and member organisations have no single boss. So how does strategic leadership work among autonomous members? Clare and Lena look at the mechanisms that can take the place of command — and why agreements that almost work so often fall apart.

Takeaway: distinguish authority, expertise, legitimacy, resource dependence, brokerage, agreement and implementation.

Workplace examples in this episode are hypothetical.

Part 4 of 9 in our series on strategic leadership.

Strategy isn't only made at the top. Middle managers carry issues upward, translate decisions downward and negotiate sideways. Clare and Scott explore how people below the top shape strategy while remaining accountable.

Takeaway: trace upward, downward and lateral contributions, role conflicts, and the point where a local issue changes direction or commitments.

Workplace examples in this episode are hypothetical.

Part 3 of 9 in our series on strategic leadership.

An organisation chart shows a senior team. It doesn't show whether they actually work as one. Clare and Lena ask when relationships among capable senior people produce coordinated strategic judgement — and when they quietly don't.

Takeaway: follow interdependent choices, information exchange, power and changed commitments, rather than assuming the organisation chart is a team.

Workplace examples in this episode are hypothetical.

Part 2 of 9 in our series on strategic leadership.

Two capable leaders look at the same report and reach different conclusions. Why — and what does that difference actually justify concluding? Clare and Scott work through a concrete organisational dilemma, look at what research says about how experience, values and roles shape interpretation, and test what would change in practice.

Takeaway: examine the facts that were selected, the comparisons people inherited, their values and role obligations, and the evidence that could change the interpretation.

Workplace examples in this episode are hypothetical.

Part 1 of 9 in our series on strategic leadership.

When an organisation does well, the leader gets the credit. When it struggles, the leader takes the blame. But how much of what happens is really down to the person at the top?

Clare and Scott work through a concrete organisational dilemma to separate leadership influence from context, selection, chance and inherited conditions. They look at what the research can and can't tell us, and what that means for the way boards judge their leaders.

Takeaway: ask what changed, through which action, under which conditions, and what else could explain it.

Workplace examples in this episode are hypothetical.