Our highly talented head of engineering refuses to attend our weekly Level 10 Meetings, claiming that ninety minutes of meetings is a waste of time and they are too busy coding. How do we handle this pushback?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

This pushback is common among highly technical leaders, but it is a major red flag. When a leader refuses to attend the weekly Level 10 Meeting™, they are prioritizing their departmental tasks over their responsibility to the leadership team.

You must remind your head of engineering that their primary team is the leadership team, not the engineering department. Their job is not just to code or manage their team. Their job is to help run the entire company. If they are absent from leadership discussions, they are leaving their peers in the dark and creating an operational silo.

Explain that the Level 10 Meeting™ is actually designed to save them time. By spending ninety minutes once a week resolving high-priority issues, they eliminate the need for dozens of disruptive emails, ad-hoc meetings, and Slack messages throughout the week.

Address this issue directly through the lens of GWC™. Does this leader truly Get, Want, and have the Capacity to be a member of the leadership team? If they refuse to participate in the meeting that keeps the leadership team cohesive, they are failing to fulfill their role. Use the IDS® process to discuss their concerns, but make it clear that attendance is non-negotiable for anyone holding a seat on the leadership team.