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\u201cA thing I do that people have thought is weird is that, throughout my whole career, when I\u2019m in the office, I\u2019ll close the door and take a 20-minute nap,\u201d Kirby recently said in an interview with McKinsey and Company.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I first got to United, people were, like, \u2018Oh my God, where do you take a nap?\u2019 I said, \u2018I lay on the floor,\u2019\u201d he continued. \u201cThey said, \u2018We\u2019ve got to get a couch in here!\u2019 They were all stressed out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kirby\u2019s habit may come as a surprise, but the leader says taking a break keeps him fueled to run the $30.1 billion airline giant.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I take a 20-minute nap, I\u2019ve accomplished more than anything else I would have accomplished in that time,\u201d the CEO explained. \u201cWhen you\u2019re tired, your brain is not 100 percent. If you\u2019re not 100 percent, you shouldn\u2019t be making decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n
And he\u2019s stuck by his routine break throughout his entire career\u2014from serving as the president of U.S. Airways and American Airlines for years, to his current six-year CEO stint at United. And research shows the U.S. Air Force Academy alum may have picked up on a leadership hack; a \u201cpower nap\u201d of 30 minutes or less has been found to boost alertness and mood, improve mental clarity, and fight off fatigue, according to a 2024 study from Harvard Medical School.\u00a0<\/p>\n
United Airlines\u2019 CEO caps his meetings at four hours a day to think and read<\/p>\n
In helming one of the world\u2019s biggest airline groups, Kirby has also laid some ground rules to avoid burnout. The United Airlines leader has one boundary on his packed calendar: \u201cno more than four hours of meetings a day.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Instead of constantly sitting in on long-winded conversations, Kirby said he\u2019d much rather use the time to think or call others. He described his workday as \u201cpretty unstructured,\u201d but makes an effort to be as efficient with limited hours in the day\u2014which also frees up the opportunity to invest in his intellectual pursuits.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome important things are, one, having time to think instead of sitting in meetings you don\u2019t need to be in,\u201d Kirby told McKinsey. \u201cAnd two, you need to be a genuinely curious person, reading about a very wide variety of subjects.\u201d<\/p>\n
Under his personal operating model, Kirby carves out reading sessions every day. And by picking up a book and squaring away tedious meetings, it could lead to better ideas for the business, he explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI read about three hours a day, on average,\u201d the CEO continued. \u201cAnd you just never know when the things that you\u2019ve read are going to click together.\u201d<\/p>\n
The leaders who have their own boundaries: no meetings or emails<\/p>\n
Just like Kirby, the CEO of Berlin-based tax app Taxfix, Martin Ott, isn\u2019t willing to waste work hours on duties that don\u2019t make much impact.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The executive, who also led as Facebook\u2019s managing director for Northern and Central Europe operations in 2012, picked up a few lessons working under Mark Zuckerberg. In those early days of Meta\u2019s evolution, Ott learned to pour all of his time into what matters most\u2014and that doesn\u2019t include inessential meetings.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the things I\u2019m also passing on is, there\u2019s only so many hours in a day,\u201d Ott told Fortune last year. \u201cAsk yourself, what is the real one thing you could do today to really have an impact, make a difference? Ask yourself, do you need to be in that meeting or not?\u201d<\/p>\n
Other CEOs have taken a more direct approach to the time-suck of meetings. Fellow airline leader Bob Jordan, the chief executive of Southwest Airlines, set a new rule in place for 2026: his calendar will stay completely clear every Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday afternoon. No meetings are allowed\u2014he\u2019s protecting his time to \u201cthink about what\u2019s important right now.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you first start, it\u2019s easy to confuse busyness and going to meetings with leadership,\u201d Jordan said at the New York Times DealBook Summit in December 2025. \u201cBecause what we all find, I\u2019m sure, is there\u2019s no time to \u2018work,\u2019 and you confuse going to meetings with the work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky is preserving his time by setting boundaries around both meetings and emails\u2014two daily menial tasks begrudged by workers everywhere. Instead of suffering through the pesky tasks, the short-term rental leader prefers to text and call rather than email: the one thing about his job he \u201chated the most\u201d pre-pandemic. Chesky has also pushed morning meetings back to at least 10 a.m.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t apologize for how you want to run your company,\u201d Chesky told theWall Street Journal in 2025. \u201cWhen you\u2019re CEO\u2026you can decide when the first meeting of the day is.\u201d<\/p>\n
#United #Airlines #CEO #Scott #Kirby #lies #office #floor #takes #20minute #napsand #doesnt #hes #accomplished<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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