Protect the boss from bad meetings. (Winning Edge).

Tough times often mean more meetings, since executives tend to respond to problems by calling meetings to fix them. And when these meetings fail to produce results, executives often call more meetings. In some companies, people have even called meetings to figure out why their meetings didn't work!

Rather than watch your boss trudge off to an endless roster of meetings, ask these questions to help him or her decide which ones are worthwhile:

1. What's the agenda? When someone calls to schedule a meeting, find out what it's about. If there's no agenda, check to see if your boss still wants to attend. The lack of an agenda is the number-one cause of bad …