Most leaders want to improve their business. After all, these improvements lead to increased profits through greater productivity and efficiency.

Sometimes clues to important improvements lay hidden in events that everyone takes for granted.

For example, how well do you score on the following quiz about your meetings?

* How much time do you spend in meetings?

0% - - | - - 25% - - | - - 50% - - | - - 75% - - | - - 100%

* How productive are your meetings?

0% (terrible) - - | - - 25% - - | - - 50% - - | - - 75% - - | - - 100% (effective)

* What do meetings cost your business?

* How much do meetings earn for your business?

* What would you work on if you spent less time in meetings?

My surveys show that (on average) people spend 40% of their time in meetings that they rate 50% effective. That translates to wasting 20% of their time in meetings.

This is equivalent to spending a full day each week doing nothing. It also represents a monstrous lost opportunity because that day could be spent working on things that make money for the business.

But most executives dismiss meetings as just another business activity. They say, "It