Many CEOs see meetings as the pinnacle of corporate bureaucracy — and have been on a tear to minimize them.
Snowflake CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy is no exception. Business Insider previously reported that Snowflake has tracked the number of phone calls and in-person meetings as it pushes for greater efficiency. Ramaswamy told Business Insider that “meetings are like bureaucracies,” and that “all of us hate bureaucracies except our own.”
Ramaswamy, who joined the cloud data-warehousing company in 2023, said he doesn’t make product or company decisions one-on-one with anyone, and expects published notes about them before and after.
To ensure that meetings are an effective use of everyone’s time, the CEO said he still tries to stick to clear principles. Here are the four requirements he has for all meetings:
No. 1: Agendas and notes
Ramaswamy’s first requirement is to share an agenda prior to the meeting.
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“I will not go to meetings whose agendas and materials are not published in advance,” the CEO said.
He said he’s an early riser and he spends every morning from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. prepping for the various meetings he’s going to that day. In addition to receiving an agenda before, he said he also expects notes after every meeting.
No. 2: Ensure there’s a purpose
Ramaswamy said he doesn’t hold meetings just to check a box. Instead, the CEO said he’s a “huge fan” of making sure meetings are run well — with the right people in the room and a clear point of view on the topic being discussed.
“Meetings should not become something for prestige or for being in the loop,” Ramaswamy said.
No. 3: Open discussion
Ramaswamy said he uses meetings as a place to push for open conversation instead of repeating facts.
“Facts can be read offline. It is more efficient,” the CEO said.
Ramaswamy said he makes an effort to ensure there’s a diverse range of viewpoints in his meetings. He said sometimes he attends sessions where one or two people take over — and he tries to steer the group away from those dynamics.
“If I am in any any meeting and I see that happen, I see that as my job to make sure that there is a fair distribution of time and people feel like their voices are indeed being heard,” Ramaswamy said.
No. 4: Keep it quick
Ramaswamy said he feels generally “itchy in meetings” and wants to get things done quickly. He said if he ends a meeting with achieving “glorious success,” he suggests everyone exits it on the spot.
“We should all leave quietly right now, in case we just create more problems for ourselves,” Ramaswamy said he tells employees.
