We're about to go into one of our semi-weekly (or is it bi-weekly-it's every second Friday anyway) programs meetings. It's a meeting in which the whole crew comes together around our conference table to talk about our ongoing programs (new business, client appreciation, idea adoption, stuff like that). It usually takes two or three hours (today we're having lunch brought in from Two Chefs). The whole crew. Two hours. That's some brain power. And it's some man hours.

The thing is, our culture is constantly evolving, with new personalities, new clients, new services, new skill sets, and a dynamic industry. It's important for us to learn all the time. These meetings are great as huddles, to remind ourselves of our progress and our priorities (I've just now remembered how to seem).

The meetings are also great as an efficient way to learn, as a company. Everybody is expert on some topic. And each person is constantly learning new things...and teaching those things to the group. I actually get the benefit of reading 24 books a year, while only having to read three or four (I actually do read more than that, but that's all I have to read).

So, it costs us a lot of valuable man hours. But it makes us what we are. So, that's that.