Hamster Revolution for Meetings. How to Meet Less and Get More Done. Mike Song

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      Kim, our flight attendant, had just informed us that a violent thunderstorm was rapidly rolling in.

      “If we get seated quickly, we’ll be able to take off a few minutes early and miss the bad weather,” she said.

      Unfortunately, one final passenger was arriving at the last possible minute, spoiling the plan. Everyone was grumbling and straining to see who it was.

      “Uh, welcome aboard!” said Kim, sounding confused. She was talking to someone, but from our vantage point, no one appeared to be there.

      What was going on?

      Kim turned to watch the invisible passenger trudge down the aisle. At the front of the plane, heads turned and people gasped.

      “Did you see that?”

      “Oh my!”

      Straining to see, I leaned into the aisle to get a better look. Suddenly I was face-to-face with an attractive yet extremely frazzled female hamster. She was no more than two feet tall and wore a dark blue business suit.

      My fellow passengers were stunned. The plane fell silent.

      “Hi, I’m Iris,” she gasped. “I just ran all the way through the airport.”

      A shocked-looking businessman across the aisle said, “You’re a…a...”

      “Late, I know,” said Iris apologetically as she motioned to the empty seat next to me. “That’s mine.”

      After stowing her computer case, she hopped into her seat and buckled in.

      Iris seemed to sense the stares of her fellow passengers.

      “Sorry everyone, I was in a meeting that ran way over,” she announced tersely. “And my twins, it’s their birthday tomorrow and I had to make this flight.”

      Kim reviewed the safety instructions as our plane backed slowly away from the gate.

      Glancing over at Iris, I said, “Meetings can suck the life out of you.”

      “Tell me about it,” she replied. “This one was hideous.”

      “How so?”

      “It was a presentation to some of our top execs for a major productivity initiative – the most important thing I’ve ever worked on.”

      “So what went wrong?” I asked.

      “Everything,” groaned Iris. “It started late and veered into total chaos. David, my assistant, couldn’t get the LCD projector working and no one wanted to follow the agenda.”

      She looked up, shut her eyes, and grimaced as if she was replaying every painful minute in her mind.

      “This was a productivity project?”

      “Operation Elevation,” said Iris sarcastically as she glanced out the window. “We’re transitioning 500 colleagues from our corporate headquarters to home offices in order to eliminate commute time and building costs.”