How Level 10 Meetings Transformed One Leader’s Business

When I first met Greg, he was running a fast-growing biotech startup that had gained serious traction—but behind the scenes, it was a mess.

Greg was brilliant. A visionary. The kind of leader who could dream big, inspire investors, and rally a team behind cutting-edge ideas.

But organization? Structure? Focus?

Not his strong suit.

The Problem: Meetings That Weren’t Meetings

Greg’s leadership team was frustrated. They had meetings—lots of them—but they never seemed to solve anything.

❌ Meetings ran too long.
❌ People talked in circles.
❌ Issues kept getting revisited, but no one made decisions.
❌ Nothing felt urgent—until it was. Then it was a crisis.

They were reactive instead of proactive. Morale was dipping. Stress was rising.

And Greg? He was exhausted.

“I feel like we’re always chasing problems instead of solving them,” he admitted in one of our early coaching sessions.

He wasn’t wrong.

The Change: Implementing Level 10 Meetings

I introduced Greg and his team to the Level 10 Meeting framework. At first, they were skeptical.

“We don’t have time for another meeting,” Greg protested.

“You don’t have time for bad meetings,” I replied.

We committed to a 90-minute weekly meeting—same time, same place, every week.

At first, it was painful.

✅ The scorecard review forced them to confront numbers they usually ignored.
✅ The rock updates exposed how scattered their priorities had become.
✅ The IDS problem-solving process made it clear that most issues weren’t actually being solved.

But here’s the thing—they stuck with it.

The Hard Work: Staying Consistent

The first three months felt slow.

Greg’s team struggled with the structure. Some wanted to debate everything. Others hated the discipline of ranking their meetings.

One executive even told Greg, “This is too rigid for a startup.”

But Greg held firm.

They started to see small wins.

💡 Meetings ended on time.
💡 More decisions got made.
💡 Accountability improved.

By month six, something clicked.

✅ The team started anticipating problems instead of reacting to them.
✅ Their meetings went from time-wasters to time-savers.
✅ Each leader owned their role, instead of waiting for Greg to decide everything.

They weren’t just talking about problems anymore. They were solving them.

The Breakthrough: Measurable Results

By month nine, Greg saw the real impact:

📈 Revenue stabilized—instead of spiking and crashing.
📉 Team turnover dropped—employees were more engaged.
🚀 Customer satisfaction improved—because operations were smoother.

One day, Greg walked into our coaching session and said,

“I feel like I actually lead this company now, instead of it leading me.”

That was the moment.

The Transformation: What Changed?

And those “rigid” Level 10 Meetings?

They became the most valuable 90 minutes of their week.

The Lesson: Change Takes Time, But It’s Worth It

Greg’s success didn’t happen overnight.

It took months of consistency—showing up, doing the hard work, and committing to growth.

Most businesses don’t fail because they have bad ideas—they fail because they have bad execution.

If your team is stuck in endless meetings that don’t solve anything, it’s time to change the game.

Level 10 Meetings won’t fix everything instantly. But over time, they will transform how your business operates.

And when you look back, you’ll wonder how you ever worked without them.

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Adam Kreek is on a mission to positively impact organizational cultures and leaders who make things happen.

Kreek is an Executive Business Coach who lives in Victoria, BC, near Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and Seattle, Washington, USA, in the Pacific Northwest. He works with clients globally, often travelling to California in the San Francisco Bay Area, Atlanta, Georgia, Toronto, Ontario and Montreal, Quebec. He is an Olympic Gold Medalist, a storied adventurer and a father.

He authored the bestselling business book, The Responsibility Ethic: 12 Strategies Exceptional People Use to Do the Work and Make Success Happen. 

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