Research on that has tended either to cover a small handful of CEOs, like the 1973 study in which Henry Mintzberg closely observed five chief executives (some of whom led nonprofits) for five days each, or to rely on large surveys that cover short periods (such as our HBS colleague Raffaella Sadun’s 2017 study based on daily phone surveys with 1,114 CEOs from a wide variety of companies in six countries over one week). A CEO’s schedule (indeed, any leader’s schedule), then, is a manifestation of how the leader leads and sends powerful messages to the rest of the organization.Ī crucial missing link in understanding the time allocation of CEOs-and making it more effective-has been systematic data on what they actually do. A CEO who doesn’t spend enough time with colleagues will seem insular and out of touch, whereas one who spends too much time in direct decision making will risk being seen as a micromanager and erode employees’ initiative. Where and how CEOs are involved determines what gets done and signals priorities for others. The way CEOs allocate their time and their presence-where they choose to personally participate-is crucial, not only to their own effectiveness but also to the performance of their companies. Despite this, CEOs remain accountable for all the work of their organizations. There is never enough time to do everything that a CEO is responsible for. However, they, more than anyone else in the organization, confront an acute scarcity of one resource. While CEOs are the ultimate power in their companies, they face challenges and constraints that few others recognize.ĬEOs, of course, have a great deal of help and resources at their disposal. Yet surprisingly little is known about this unique role. In the lexicon of management, the CEO is the epitome of leadership. Leaders must learn to simultaneously manage seemingly contradictory dualities-integrating direct decision making with indirect levers like strategy and culture, balancing internal and external constituencies, proactively driving an agenda while responding to unfolding events, exercising leverage while being mindful of constraints, focusing on tangible decisions and the symbolic significance of every action, and combining formal power and legitimacy. The resulting data set offers deep insights not just into time management but into the CEO’s role itself. The authors tracked the activities of CEOs at 27 large companies 24/7 for 13 weeks and then held intensive debriefs with them. Yet knowledge about how CEOs actually use time is almost nonexistent. Managing the immense demands on their time is one of the biggest challenges CEOs face. The complete Spotlight package is available in a single reprint. In an interview, Tom Gentile, the CEO of the $7 billion aviation supplier Spirit AeroSystems, shares what he learned from tracking his time in Porter and Nohria’s study-and what he’s trying to change as a result. What Do CEOs Actually Do?Ī look at the data on how CEOs allocated their time among various activities, places, priorities, and constituencies One CEO’s Approach to Managing His Calendar CEOs need to learn to simultaneously manage the seemingly contradictory dualities of the job: integrating direct decision making with indirect levers like strategy and culture, balancing internal and external constituencies, proactively pursuing an agenda while reacting to unfolding events, exercising leverage while being mindful of constraints, focusing on the tangible impact of actions while recognizing their symbolic significance, and combining formal power with legitimacy. This article presents the findings, offering insights not only into best time-management practices but into the CEO’s role itself. To date Porter and Nohria have gathered 60,000 hours’ worth of data on 27 executives, interviewing them-and hundreds of other CEOs-about their schedules. Porter and Nitin Nohria launched a study tracking how large companies’ CEOs spent their time, 24/7, for 13 weeks: where they were, with whom, what they did, and what they were focusing on. In 2006, Harvard Business School’s Michael E.
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