How CEOs Spend Their Time – How Do You Stack Up?

“We just don’t have the resources” bemoan my clients, in whatever type of assignment we are working on.
“Is it money or time you lack?” I ask.
“Time. There just aren’t enough hours in the day” is the overwhelming response

Time. It’s the one finite, non-renewable resource that’s given to everyone in equal measure. There’s nothing we can do about that. Yet as fixed as time is, some people seem to have many more hours than we do. But they don’t. It’s the same 24/7 that we all have. Typically the more successful amongst us, they have mastered the art and perhaps the science of managing time. Any leader who is serious about becoming more effective with less stress must focus on this very precious and limited resource.

I was fascinated to read “How CEOs Manage Time” in the July/August 2018 issue of the Harvard Business Review. Since 2006, the authors, Michael Porter and Nitin Nohria of the Harvard Business School, have tracked how 27 CEOs of large, complex organizations use their time. “Excruciating detail” is an understatement – time usage of each CEO was tracked in 15-minute increments, 24 hours per day, 7 days per week for 3 months each. Here are 10 of the findings that stood out for me:

1. They work long days – 9.7 hours per week day on average, conducting business on 79% of weekend days. And it seems they haven’t read my blogs on vacations – they work on 70% of vacation days!
2. They are on the road a lot, spending half of their time visiting other company locations.
3. They sleep … 6.9 hours per night on average, which was a big surprise to me, considering that sleep deprivation in North America is considered to be at epidemic proportions. And they have another healthy habit – they exercise about 45 minutes per day.
4. That leaves on average 6 hours per day when the CEOs are neither working nor sleeping – what are they doing? Half is spent with family and the other half on person hobbies and downtime.
5. CEOs are not locked up in their offices – they spend 61% of their time in face-to-face interactions, 15% on the phone and 24% on electronic communication. Unlike many of us, they are putting down their phones and paying attention to people!
6. Who are they meeting with in those face to face meetings? Direct reports – they spend about half their time with them.
7. CEOs have to strike a balance between being strategic, forward thinkers, and speedy responders to problems that invariably arise. They actually spend on average 36% of their time on the latter.
8. THEY ARE ALWAYS IN MEETINGS! On average, 37 meetings per week, which takes up about 72% oi their work time. Take heart if you think you have a lot of meetings!
9. So, with all this, how do they get things done? They schedule 75% of their time, leaving room for flexibility and responsiveness to spur of the moment situations. Their Executive Assistants play a key role in managing their calendars, and there’s a very useful sidebar in the article on “Four Behaviours of Great Executive Assistants.”
10. They actually spend very little time with their customers – only 3%, which surprised them as much as it surprised me. (On the light side – they spend more time with external consultants than they do with customers!)

I urge you to read the article and then consider how you allocate your time – who you spend it with, how you are interacting, what you are working on, how you are spending your non-work time, how much time you spend on self-care. Track your time 24/7 for at least week to become aware of where it is being spent. Only then will you be able to manage it.

PS: Follow up to my last blog: how is your summer reading coming along? I have finished one book – “The Girl Who Smiled Beads” and am now reading “The Mindful Leader.” What are you reading?

For similar blog posts by Marguerite:

Make Peace With Time – click HERE to view article
Don’t Be On Time … Be Early – click HERE to view article