"Meetings are indispensable when you don't want to do anything"
About this Quote
Galbraith’s line is a scalpel aimed at the modern institution’s favorite alibi: process. Calling meetings “indispensable” is the joke’s quiet engine. The word belongs to wartime logistics and serious public purpose, yet he attaches it to the emptiest kind of activity - time spent performing the appearance of work. The wit lands because it flatters our lived suspicion: much organizational life is theater, and the meeting is its stage.
The specific intent is less to bash gathering itself than to indict how bureaucracies metabolize uncertainty and risk. When action would require judgment, accountability, or conflict, a meeting offers a low-stakes substitute. You can circulate an agenda, “surface concerns,” and leave with “next steps” that mostly rearrange responsibility. Nobody did nothing; everyone did something. That’s the point. The subtext is that institutions often prioritize defensibility over effectiveness. A decision made in a room can be blamed on “the group,” a perfect diffusion of authorship.
Context matters: Galbraith spent his life around large systems - government agencies, universities, corporate America - and he understood their incentives. These are environments where information is imperfect and careers are fragile, so the safest move is to convert problems into discussions. Meetings become a ritual of legitimacy: a way to signal diligence upward and consensus outward, even when the real constraint is fear of choosing.
The line endures because it’s not just a complaint about wasted hours; it’s a diagnosis of how organizations protect themselves from action. The punchline stings precisely because it’s plausible - and because most of us have sat through the proof.
The specific intent is less to bash gathering itself than to indict how bureaucracies metabolize uncertainty and risk. When action would require judgment, accountability, or conflict, a meeting offers a low-stakes substitute. You can circulate an agenda, “surface concerns,” and leave with “next steps” that mostly rearrange responsibility. Nobody did nothing; everyone did something. That’s the point. The subtext is that institutions often prioritize defensibility over effectiveness. A decision made in a room can be blamed on “the group,” a perfect diffusion of authorship.
Context matters: Galbraith spent his life around large systems - government agencies, universities, corporate America - and he understood their incentives. These are environments where information is imperfect and careers are fragile, so the safest move is to convert problems into discussions. Meetings become a ritual of legitimacy: a way to signal diligence upward and consensus outward, even when the real constraint is fear of choosing.
The line endures because it’s not just a complaint about wasted hours; it’s a diagnosis of how organizations protect themselves from action. The punchline stings precisely because it’s plausible - and because most of us have sat through the proof.
Quote Details
| Topic | Witty One-Liners |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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