Brad Jacobs is an entrepreneur who has built eight companies worth over a billion dollars, and whose teams have completed more than 500 mergers and acquisitions. Recently he was interviewed in one of my favourite podcasts by David Senra. There is a huge amount to learn from this conversation, where he describes the system that has supported his success across different industries. One of the most practical parts of the interview is his explanation of how he runs his Monthly Management Meeting. The level of clarity and detail he shares is rare, and I found it deeply relevant for leaders in fast-moving tech environments.

In tech companies, leaders often face the same recurring issues. Meetings feel unfocused. Agendas arrive late or lack purpose. Discussions skim the surface. People say the meeting could have been an email. Decisions take too long. Teams lose alignment across functions, locations and competing priorities. Productivity and engagement slowly decline when communication does not support the pace of growth. This is why I found Jacobs’ structure so refreshing. His meeting design is intentional, rigorous and surprisingly human.

How Brad Jacobs runs monthly management meetings

Here is the structure he uses. Any leadership team can adapt elements of it and experiment with what works for them.

Before the management meeting

The team receives a complete information pack in advance. They read everything before entering the room. Each leader sends two items through a shared tool: their main takeaways from the pre-read and the questions they believe the group should discuss. These questions are then shared with the whole team, and everyone scores each one from one to ten. Only the questions with an average score of eight, nine or ten form the agenda. This makes the agenda a collective creation, not the preference of one individual, not a top-down mandate.

Who is in the room and how they show up

Jacobs has learned that twenty to twenty-five people is the ideal size for this type of meeting. Devices remain off throughout the day. Only one person speaks at a time. People listen with full attention. Leaders are expected to speak honestly, remain open to changing their view when new information appears and challenge one another with respect.

Opening the meeting

He starts with an hour-long view of the organisation. He highlights successes, areas where expectations were not met and topics that deserve attention. The tone is honest and steady, with a focus on alignment and momentum. After this section he speaks less. The team leads most of the discussion.

Working through the agenda

The group moves through the highest-scored questions. They examine the data, share interpretations, explore options and agree where further work is needed. The meeting becomes a space for real collective thinking. People contribute actively, listen deeply and adjust their view as new insight appears. The focus is on shared problem solving rather than presentations.

Closing the meeting: the literal questions

The final part of the meeting shifts into reflection and connection, and this is where Jacobs uses a powerful sequence of questions. These questions are taken exactly as he says them in the transcript.

He asks:

• “What is something somebody said today that you have a different opinion on?”

• “What is something that somebody said, you disagree with, and you did not get a chance to talk about it?”

• “What is your single biggest takeaway from today?”

• “What is something that, 10 hours ago, you did not understand about how we are going to make money, and how we are going to serve customers better, and how we are going to improve employee engagement, and how we are going to kill the competition?”

• “What is something you did not know? What is something you learned?”

He then asks the team to look outward:

• “When I think about people not in this room, but people in the organisation out there in the field, who is an MVP? Who is the most valuable player?”

• “Who is somebody who is going above and beyond that you really respect, you really admire, you really think is amazing? I wish we had a thousand more like that person, and why?”

He then brings the focus back to the leaders in the room:

• “Who around this table today, in your mind, did their star go up?”

• “What is something that somebody said today in the meeting that impressed you, that made you go, ‘Aha!’ or made you say, ‘D***, that is a good insight. That is a good perception. I really like that.’ Who was it, and what did they say?”

Finally, he closes with personal commitment. Every attendee is invited to finish the sentence:

• ‘I resolve to improve the company by…’”

The final ritual

The meeting ends with a short ritual that reinforces trust and unity. The group stands together in silence, looks at one another and acknowledges the strengths they see. They imagine the organisation five years ahead and silently wish each colleague success. The meeting ends with applause, and people leave with a sense of clarity, connection and shared purpose.

Why this matters for tech leaders

This structure gives leaders something rare: a reliable way to create focused communication, alignment and engagement across a senior team. It encourages preparation, honest dialogue and shared accountability. It strengthens relationships and shifts meetings from status reporting into true collective thinking. It is exactly the kind of meeting design that helps tech companies scale with clarity rather than chaos.

You can start with the full structure or experiment with one element. You might introduce the pre-meeting questions, try scoring the topics, or test the reflection questions at the end. Even small adjustments often create noticeable improvements in communication and decision-making.

This year I discovered one podcaster who is now on my list of top favourites: David Senra. Every episode of his Founders and David Senra podcasts opens a window into how innovative and disruptive founders think and work to create game-changing companies. This interview is a great example of how much we can learn from leaders who create companies that disrupt and stand out.