13 tricks Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, and other famous execs have used to run effective meetings

Americans sit through some 11 million meetings every day - with the unproductive ones costing companies an estimated $37 billion a year.

We know that meetings tend to fall apart thanks to sloppy agendas and unclear ground rules, but what makes them successful?

We researched how some of the most effective executives in history - from the late Apple founder Steve Jobs to Amazon chief Jeff Bezos and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg - run the meetings that invariably fill their calendars.

Here's what we found.

Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through hispersonal investment company Bezos Expeditions.