First it was the conference call, then it was the Skype meeting – could the next thing to revolutionize the business meeting be something as simple as standing up and walking around? Nilofer Merchant thinks so.
In this exclusive TED talk, Merchant, a business visionary who’s worked for Apple, Autodesk and Golive and launched more than 100 products netting $18 billion, shares her thoughts on how a simple walk and talk brings “fresh air and fresh thinking” to the standard conference room session.
“More than the internet or that little mobile device we keep talking about, the technology we’re using the most every day is our tush.”
If you have three and a half minutes to spare (really, that’s how long it is!), here’s a look at what Merchant had to say about the newfangled walk and talk…
- “Sitting has become the smoking of our generation.”
- “Nowadays, people are sitting 9.3 hours a day, which is more than we’re sleeping at 7.7 hours. Sitting is so incredibly prevalent we don’t even question how much we’re doing it and because everyone else is doing it, it doesn’t even occur to us that it’s not okay.”
- “Someone invited me to a meeting once, but couldn’t fit me into a regular conference room setting, and said ‘I have to walk my dogs tomorrow, could you come then?’ I’ve taken that idea and made it my own.”
Learn more about why the standard conference room session might be doing your team more harm than good by watching Merchant’s full video – and hopefully pick up some talking points for your next walking meeting.
