Our leadership team wants to eliminate the five-minute segue from our Level 10 Meeting agenda, arguing it is unproductive corporate fluff. How do we justify keeping the segue, and how do we run it so it does not waste time?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Eliminating the segue is a common mistake made by teams that confuse speed with traction. The five-minute segue is not social fluff. It serves a precise psychological function: it forces busy leaders to disconnect from their previous phone call, Slack message, or fire drill, and transition their focus into the room.

Without a deliberate segue, team members bring the stress and mental distraction of their morning directly into the Scorecard review. That scattered energy drags out the first half of the agenda. The segue creates a clean boundary between the whirlwind outside and the discipline inside the Level 10 Meeting™.

To keep it tight and effective, enforce the standard format. Every leader shares two items: one personal best and one professional best from the previous week. Each person gets thirty seconds. That means a six-person leadership team completes the segue in three minutes, leaving two minutes of buffer.

Do not allow follow-up questions, side conversations, or commentary. The Integrator simply acknowledges each share with a quick nod and moves to the next person. If someone attempts to turn their good news into a business update or complains about a vendor, cut them off cleanly. Remind them that business issues belong on the Issues List.

Traction requires psychological transition. Keep the segue, hold the thirty-second line per person, and use it as the airlock that locks your team into executive mode for the next 85 minutes.