business
Dropbox co-CEO has just shared the simple rule he follows for when to turn down a meeting
Meetings have become a constant annoyance for white-collar professionals: they often drag on, interrupt focused work, and don’t require everyone’s participation. Now, business leaders are protecting their time by setting boundaries around when they join the conversation. Dropbox co-CEO Ashraf Alkarmi follows a simple rule to decide what calls make the cut.
TL;DR
- Dropbox co-CEO Ashraf Alkarmi filters meeting invitations by evaluating if he can achieve significant quarterly progress on his set goals.
- Alkarmi uses five main objectives (e.g., people, business, performance) to shape his weekly schedule and prioritize efforts.
- He communicates his priorities to his team to ensure alignment and clarify when his direct involvement is necessary.
- Other CEOs, like Bob Jordan (Southwest Airlines), Jensen Huang (Nvidia), and Brian Chesky (Airbnb), also implement meeting-avoidance strategies to safeguard focus time.
- These strategies include blocking entire afternoons for uninterrupted work and reducing the frequency of one-on-one meetings to foster broader collaboration and efficiency.