We've all seen their work. They hide under desks and meeting tables, they pop out, spew their poison, take a few prisoners and return to their hides. They are one of the big reasons people hate meetings. They are...the meeting trolls.
In his blog today, A Field Guide to the Meeting Troll, popular thinker and commentator Seth Godin sets down the ways you can recognize the Meeting Troll. This unendangered species has ruined more projects than all the bad engineering and lousy marketing in the entire universe. Have I mentioned that I HATE meeting trolls?
Godin's guide is right on the money, especially with #8: "One particularly noxious type of meeting troll says not a thing at the meeting. He uses body language and eye rolling to great advantage, though, and you can be sure that there will be quiet one-on-one undermining going on as soon as the meeting is over. The modern evolution of this is the instant messaging of snide remarks during the meeting."
So, go read Seth's blog, have a good laugh, and then that kind of chilly, goose-bumpy feeling when you realize that somewhere in the meeting room with you lurks one or more meeting trolls.
