IBM CEO Arvind Krishna has weighed in on one of corporate America’s most debated workplace issues: whether employees should use phones and laptops during meetings.
He maintained that employees should remain attentive during small discussions. He added that someone scrolling through a phone while sitting across the table would not be fully engaged. “If it’s a very large meeting, it’s not really a meeting. It’s a communication vehicle. “It’s disrespectful. And people say, and you think you’re focusing and learning?”
Speaking to CNN in October 2025, Krishna said the rules should depend on the size and purpose of the meeting. He said, “There were 12 people in the room and four people on the screen and all four people on the screen were on their phone.
Krishna argued that banning technology altogether in meeting rooms would be “weird” for a technology company While JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has repeatedly criticized device use as disrespectful. “If it’s a small meeting, I would really frown upon if somebody is sitting opposite my desk and lost in their phone,” Krishna said during the 2025 CNN interview. “I would tell them: ‘Why don’t you come back when you have time?’” he said. “I distinguish between one-to-10-person meetings and very large meetings,” Krishna said. “If you have an iPad in front of me and it looks like you’re reading your email or getting notifications, I tell you to close the damn thing,” Dimon said.
