The New Yorker has a great article up on Reid Hoffman titled The Network Man. Reid founded LinkedIn and is a huge believer in networks and the power of relationships. In the article, the author plays back a power meal between Reid and Mark Pincus, founder of Zynga.
Here’s how the power meal works (in this case it was dinner):
- One-on-one meal
- Each person writes down a list of topics to discuss (the bigger the ideas, the better)
- Topics are prioritized in order or importance
- Each person shares their topics with the other person to find what the other person is most interested in
- One person starts and goes through their topics and then the other person goes through their topics
While not dissimilar from an agenda at a team meeting, writing down topics to discuss, and prioritizing them with the other person, makes for a much more impactful meal. Read The Network Man and try out the Reid Hoffman approach at your next power meal.
What else? What are some more thoughts on the idea of adding more structure to one-on-one business meals?
David Cummings on Startups 
Gee Whiz….make a list and swap it with a business person to make the meeting more productive? Give me a break. What happened to a good old fashioned get to know you ( or “let’s catch up”) lunch with some business person you view as interesting or important to you?