Winging It

A confession: I don't "wing" major meetings. 

I prepare and not just for substance and delivery but also for mood. People who can go from one major meeting to another without giving themselves time to collect their thoughts have always baffled me.

Of course, their performance at some of those meetings is evidence that insanely busy schedules are a practice of the shallow. In my entire career I've only seen one person - a judge - who was able to walk into a meeting cold and quickly grasp the subject and its nuances. [You might argue that he'd had extensive experience at seeing through smoke and mirrors but I've seen other judges who didn't come within 100 miles of his performance.]

A savvy executive once told me why he studied certain subjects: "So I'll know when they are bullshitting me." He was on to the fact that the executive who does not do the homework and who lacks a finely-tuned B.S. detector is at the mercy of the staff. 

Wing a major meeting and you have handed control to others. 

And yes, they will know when you are winging it.