Your Team Meetings Are Probably Killing Your Company (And Nobody Told You Because They're Too Busy Checking Slack)

Incoming bombshell: we've all become digital ghosts pretending to be leaders.

I just got off a call with Tracy Cobb—healthcare wizard, Client Success Director at Unlock Health, and someone who actually gives a shaet about the humans in "human resources"—and she absolutely torched the corporate playbook we've all been following since 2020.

You know the one. The "let's do everything on Zoom, check our phones during meetings, and wonder why our team feels like a bunch of strangers who happen to share a Slack workspace" playbook.

Here's the Uncomfortable Truth Nobody Wants to Admit

Your employees can tell when you're not actually there.

Tracy told me about her non-negotiable meeting ritual, and honestly? It made me realize how many of us are completely phoning it in (pun absolutely intended):

• Slack notifications? OFF.

• Email? Minimized.

• Phone? Do Not Disturb.

• Apple Watch? Face down, silenced, pretending it doesn't exist.

"You carved out 30 minutes of your incredibly precious time," she says to her team members, "and I'm going to actually show up for it."

And I'm sitting here thinking: when was the last time ANY executive actually did this? Like, consistently? Without acting like they're doing their team a favor?

The Millennial CEOs Are Eating Your Lunch (And They're Doing It With Empathy)

Here's what's wild: while old-guard leadership is out here playing chicken with layoffs and "efficiency gains" (aka: cutting humans to pad margins), a new crop of leaders is realizing something revolutionary.

Ready for it?

People work better when you treat them like people.

I know. Groundbreaking stuff.

Tracy starts every team meeting with 10-15 minutes of actual human connection. Not work stuff. Not KPIs. Not "circle back on synergies."

She asks: What's going great in your life right now? What are your kids up to? What are you looking forward to this weekend?

And you know what happens? That nurse she supports shows up differently for their patients. That Client Success Director brings more energy to client calls. That human connection cascades down through the entire organization like the world's most profitable domino effect.

Meanwhile, your competitors are scheduling back-to-back Zoom calls where everyone's on mute with their cameras off, mentally writing grocery lists.

The "Digital Tools Are Ruining Everything" Take Is Lazy (And Wrong)

Tracy dropped this nugget that made me actually pause and think:

"When you misuse technology, you lose that human connection. But when you use digital tools with intention, you actually restore that human connection that's been slipping away."

See, we've been blaming the tools. "Zoom fatigue." "Email overload." "Slack is destroying deep work."

But the tools aren't the problem. You are.

The way you're using them is the problem.

Think about it: we've got more ways to connect than ever before—video, chat, voice, async messaging, screen sharing—but somehow we feel more disconnected than when we just had landlines and conference rooms.

Because we forgot the human part of human-to-human communication.

That "I'm Fine" Your Team Member Just Said? They're Lying

You know this. Deep down, you know this.

When someone sighs and says "I'm fine" with that specific tone and that specific facial expression, they're not fine. They're drowning. They're overwhelmed. They're one Slack notification away from updating their LinkedIn.

But we've gotten so comfortable with surface-level check-ins that we just accept "fine" and move on with our day.

Tracy's point hit me hard: Active listening means taking a breath and asking "Is what they said really what they mean?"

Especially in digital communication where you can't read body language or hear vocal tone or see the tears forming. You have to choose to dig deeper. To ask the follow-up question. To give them the benefit of the doubt instead of assuming the worst from their tersely-worded Slack message.

The Chain Reaction You're Not Paying Attention To

Here's the part that should scare every healthcare and B2B SaaS executive reading this:

When Tracy shows up for her team with genuine empathy and care, they pass it forward to clients. When clients feel truly heard and supported, they stay. They expand. They become evangelists.

When YOU show up distracted, dismissive, and detached? That cascades too.

Your team treats clients transactionally. Clients churn. Revenue tanks. And you're sitting in board meetings talking about "market conditions" when really, the market condition is that nobody wants to do business with ghosts.

Your Move

Look, I get it. You're busy. You've got investors breathing down your neck, revenue targets to hit, and 47 unread Slack DMs.

But here's the thing: every other company in your space is also busy. The ones winning aren't the ones working harder. They're the ones who figured out that investing 10 minutes of genuine human connection at the start of a meeting will save you 10 hours of cleanup when that employee or client walks.

The math isn't just about retention rates and LTV. It's about building the kind of relationships that can't be disrupted by your competitors' slightly better features or 10% discount.

So maybe this week, try this:

1. Turn off your notifications. Like, actually turn them off. I know it feels like career suicide. Do it anyway.

2. Ask one real question. Not "how are you" on autopilot. Ask something that requires an actual answer. Then listen to it.

3. Stop multitasking in meetings. If the meeting isn't important enough for your full attention, don't take the meeting. (Yes, that means declining some calls. The world will survive.)

4. Give your team 10 minutes. At your next meeting, steal Tracy's move. Ask everyone to share something non-work that they're excited about. Watch what happens to the energy in that room (digital or otherwise).

This isn't soft skills BS. This is the competitive advantage your competitors haven't figured out yet.

Because at the end of the day, whether you're in B2B, B2C, or any other alphabet soup of acronyms, it's really just H2H. Human to human.

And humans? We can tell when you're actually there.

P.S. If you're a CEO reading this thinking "but I don't have time for 10-minute connection moments," I have bad news: you're about to have LOTS of time when your best people leave for companies that do. The exit interview will be very enlightening. Trust me.

P.P.S. Watch the full episode with Tracy Cobb. She's got stories about healthcare transformation, building remote teams that actually function like teams, and why meeting patients in digital spaces with real intention is changing outcomes. Plus, she's got four kids and a pug, so she's clearly figured out something about managing chaos that we could all learn from.

Karl Pontau hosts The Human Connection Podcast, where we talk about the stuff that actually matters in business: the humans running it. Because whether you're B2B or B2C, it's really H2H, human to human. Subscribe so you don't miss the next episode where we probably say something that'll make your HR department uncomfortable.