I confess I have the mother of all pet peeves. It really bothers me when people in business are not on time. They're cheating one another.

And if a CEO doesn't show up for his own meeting on time, well, he's just an idiot. He's cheating himself.

The fact is there are only so many ticks on our life clock. Time is not a renewable resource. For gosh sakes, popcorn is a renewable resource.

But here is how many internal meetings play out…..I call it the meeting dance.

Yes, the meeting dance, more exotic than the African Samba. More frenzied than the Cuban Rumba and more deadly to an organization than the venomous black Mamba.

You get the alliterative point.

It begins with a precise meeting time, usually at the top of the hour or at the half hour. A few people timidly gather around the conference table.

One person pokes his head in the door, coughs like a cat with a fur ball to get attention, and then quickly retreats, realizing that not all people are present.

Then, in turn, another person currently at the table, in one fluid and exquisite move gets up, does a slight curtsy and slowly strolls out the door, usually leaving a pen and paper on the table, a sign he or she will return.

This is repeated to the tune of the Virginia Waltz for 15 or 20 minutes, when, quite by accident, all arrive at the same place at approximately the same time.

Then, of course, someone's cell phone rings.

The basics of a good meeting never change, sort of like a pair of argyle socks that stay on those stinky feet for luck until the home team's winning streak ends.

It is made up of an objective and an agenda on how to get there. Nothing more elaborate.

But the first thing that needs to be done is to show up.