Seriously, don’t be rude.

Let’s just say it plainly: Being distracted in meetings is rude.

Not inefficient. Not suboptimal. Rude.

If someone is speaking and you’re half-listening while scanning emails, typing messages, or checking your phone, you’re telling them, without saying a word, that they don’t matter enough to deserve your attention.

Flip it around. How would you feel if your boss did that to you? If you were sharing something important and realized they weren’t really there?

For the person talking, this might be their most important conversation of the day. Maybe their week. You don’t know what it took for them to speak up, present an idea, or raise a concern.

Your behavior sets the tone for the whole room. The moment you disengage, everyone else silently gets permission to do the same. Presence spreads. Distraction spreads faster.

So ask yourself a simple question. If this meeting isn’t important enough for your attention, why are you there? Seriously. Get off the screens. Close the laptop if you can. Look at people when they talk. Listen like it matters, because it does.

Attention is one of the rarest forms of respect in modern work. When you give it fully, you change the quality of the conversation, the trust in the room, and your own clarity.

Being present isn’t complicated. It’s just uncommon. And it’s one of the best gifts you can give your team and yourself.