A Billionaire Holds a 10-Hour Meeting With No Phones That Ends in Silence and Applause

Brad Jacobs, the founder of the logistics company XPO, the equipment rental company United Rentals, and the building products company QXO, runs his most important session as a 10-hour meeting with the phones off. Twenty-five executives sit around a table with two breaks, one for 10 minutes and one for five. As Jacobs puts it, one person holds "the proverbial microphone at a time" while everyone else listens closely, debates each point, and settles on action steps.

The example he describes is the second monthly operating review for Beacon, a company his firm had bought. There are no slide presentations in the room. Jacobs sends charts, metrics, and reports ahead of time through an app, and each executive reads them, then submits takeaways and questions about what will create value.

Everyone then ranks everyone else's questions from 1 to 10, and only questions rated 8 or higher make the agenda, grouped into categories like technology, people, strategy, and acquisitions. Jacobs says the agenda is better than anything he could write alone because it reflects every angle in the room, and everyone stays involved because the group made it together. He calls the result a "super organism," his term for a group whose combined judgment is more powerful than any individual.

He limits the review to 25 people after experimenting with 40 or 50. He says he does not know what is magic about 25, but in his experience 20 to 25 brings enough diversity for honest debate without encouraging people to show off. That safety matters, he says, because he wants leaders willing to say they were wrong and change their minds.

After hours on business, he turns to what he calls human interactions, going around the room to ask each person in turn. First, is there something said that day the person disagrees with. Jacobs asks, "What's your single biggest takeaway from today?" Next, who outside the room deserves recognition as a most valuable player, and why. Then, whose standing around the table rose that day because of a sharp insight.

He sends a personal email to each worker nominated as a most valuable player, explaining who praised them and why. He says the notes are deeply validating for people in the field, and that he is often the one who starts crying when he writes them.

Then Jacobs has each executive stand and finish the same sentence out loud: "I resolve to improve the company by" followed by a specific pledge.

When there is time, he says, he ends by moving everyone to another room to stand in a silent circle for a couple of minutes. Colleague by colleague, he asks them to reflect privately on a strength they admire, on gratitude for having that person on the team, and on wishing that person success as the company grows. He says smiles start to spread around the circle.

Then he declares the day a success and the group applauds, sometimes for five minutes. People leave feeling so uplifted, he jokes, that they "levitate" home.