Leading CEO Morning Standups

Meeting Structure (15-20 minutes):

1. Quick wins from yesterday (2 min)
2. Critical blockers/risks (5 min)
3. Key decisions needed (5 min)
4. Round-robin updates (5 min)
5. Action items & close (3 min)

Pre-Meeting (5 minutes before)

• Review yesterday's action items status
• Check Slack/email for urgent overnight issues
• Prepare priority stack-rank of agenda items
• Set up note-taking template

Meeting Facilitation

• Open: "Good morning, let's keep this tight. Quick wins from yesterday?"
• Blockers: "What's stuck or at risk today?"
• Decisions: "What decisions do we need from this room?"
• Updates: "30 seconds each - what's your focus today?"
• Close: "Action items recap, anything else critical?"

Post-Meeting (within 30 minutes)

• Send formatted summary to team
• Update action item tracker
• Flag urgent items requiring follow-up

Example 1: Input: "We need to run today's morning standup" Output:

Quick Wins Yesterday:

• Product: Shipped user dashboard v2.1
• Sales: Closed $50K Enterprise deal

Critical Blockers:

• Engineering blocked on API rate limits
• Legal review holding up partnership contract

Decisions Needed:

• Approve $15K additional AWS spend
• Green light Q2 hiring plan

Action Items:

• @Sarah: Resolve API limits by EOD (HIGH)
• @Mike: Legal follow-up by Wed (MEDIUM)
• @CEO: Budget approval by noon (HIGH)

Next standup: Tomorrow 9am

**Example 2:**
Input: "Track these action items from standup"
Output:
```markdown
# Action Item Tracker

| Owner | Task | Deadline | Priority | Status |
|-------|------|----------|----------|---------|
| Sarah | API rate limit fix | Today EOD | HIGH | In Progress |
| Mike | Legal contract review | Wed | MEDIUM | Waiting |
| John | Hire 2 engineers | End of month | HIGH | Not Started |

**Overdue:** None
**Due Today:** API rate limit fix
**This Week:** Legal review, hiring pipeline

• Start exactly on time - respect everyone's calendar
• Use a timer - keep each section within bounds
• Stack rank ruthlessly - address highest impact items first
• Assign owners immediately - no "someone should..." items
• Follow up same day - action items lose momentum quickly
• Keep standing - maintains energy and pace
• One topic at a time - defer side conversations
• Document everything - memory fails, notes don't

• Don't let updates turn into problem-solving sessions
• Don't skip follow-up when meetings run over
• Don't allow phones/laptops during standup
• Don't rehash decisions already made
• Don't let the same people dominate every meeting
• Don't schedule back-to-back - need buffer for urgent items
• Don't forget to celebrate wins - team morale matters