I admit, I get impatient with people who say ‘that’s just talk’, or complain about meetings where ‘all we do is talk’.  It shows a lack of appreciation for the idea that conversation is almost always generative – it is where work gets done, it is where things happen.  There’s no such thing as ‘just talk’ – as though action takes place somewhere else.  Organizations are reflections of the conversations among the people who exist within the organizational structure.

Why is this important?  Because if you want to change the organization, you have to change the conversations that construct it.  And you do that by…. talking!  So the next time you think a meeting is ‘just talk’, stop and think about the work that is getting done, and see what happens then.