Quote of the Day (Virginia Heffernan, on the Horror of Meetings)

‘‘ ‘Meetings’’’: The very word is enervating. With the freedom to peaceably assemble so high up on America’s founding priority list, you’d think that the workers of the free world would gather with more patriotic vigor, just as we speak, bear arms and pursue trials by jury. Instead, the spirit in which we come together, almost hourly in some professions, is something closer to despondency. Fifteen percent of an organization’s time is spent in meetings, and every day, the transcontinental conference room known as the white-collar United States plays host to 11 million meetings...One study mysteriously calculates that the nation wastes more than $37 billion in ‘unproductive meetings.’’’ —Virginia Heffernan, “Meet Is Murder,” The New York Times Magazine, Feb. 28, 2016