Who checks your calendar?

I learned a lesson from the world's richest man today. You see... I recently took an IT sales job to support my family. So at the job I'm perusing CIO Magazine and stumble upon this article... Why CEOs Don't Get More Value from Their "Human Capital" (a.k.a. People). Here are the first two paragraphs.

"At Microsoft's CEO Summit this May, Bill Gates took a few moments to talk about time management. He noted that, somehow, his calendar seemed to be filled with commitments that—upon reflection—only seemed like a good idea at the time. In retrospect, he had been foolish to make them.

Things changed for the better, he said, when he began sharing his calendar with his colleague—and now Microsoft Chief Executive Officer—Steve Ballmer. "Steve would ask me why I would want to schedule that and I would look at his calendar to review what he was spending time on," Gates recalled. This peer review, he observed, made both of them more efficient, more effective and more collaborative time managers."

How amazing is that? Bill Gates, the richest man in the world, has realized that he might not even be the best at managing his own time. So he invites a trusted friend to challenge his calendar. How much better might we manage our time and resources if a trusted friend, a mentor, our wives or even a mentoree had the freedom to review our calendars?