The person explaining the minutes later discovers which agreement was only a pleasant sound.

LEADERSHIP

WHAT THIS MEANS

Nodding in a meeting is cheap, and writing down what was agreed is where the differences appear. Once a decision has to be stated in a sentence, the people who thought it meant one thing and the people who thought it meant another find each other. The disagreement did not arise from the notes; it was already there, unpriced.

Write the summary while everyone is still in the room, and read it out. The awkwardness of doing that is far smaller than the awkwardness of discovering the gap a month later.

A QUESTION TO SIT WITH

Which agreement fell apart the moment you tried writing it down?

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