Balance Or Burnout? Why Top CEOs Like Jeff Bezos, Satya Nadella And Others Think Work-Life Balance Is A Myth
Despite criticism, these leaders remain firm in their belief and argue that true innovation and breakthrough success rarely come from a 9-to-5 mindset.
Top global CEOs like Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Satya Nadella of Microsoft and Jack Ma of Alibaba have often voiced views that challenge the idea of work-life balance, something that is likely to unsettle many employees.
Despite criticism, these leaders remain firm in their belief that long hours are a gift, not a burden. They argue that true innovation and breakthrough success rarely come from a 9-to-5 mindset.
For Bezos, focusing on the phrase work-life balance implies a “tradeoff”, something he is wary of. “I don’t love the word ‘balance’ because it implies a tradeoff…..I like work-life harmony because if you’re happy at home, you’ll be better at work. If you’re better at work, you’ll be better at home… These things go together. It’s not a strict tradeoff,” the Amazon founder was cited as saying by Fortune.
In 2018, Bezos called work-life balance a “debilitating phrase”. Instead, he likes to use the word “harmony” and likened the concept to a “circle.”
Echoing a similar sentiment, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella also believes that harmony, not balance, should be the goal. Meanwhile, Nespresso’s UK CEO Anna Lundstrom advocates for “work-life fluidity.” Anna believes that a strict separation between the two is not realistic, particularly for those who are at the top.
According to Cerebras CEO Andrew Feldman, many workers are perfectly content with 9 to 5. However, he argues that anyone aiming to build the next billion-dollar company won’t get there on a 40-hour workweek.
Lucy Guo, the cofounder of Scale AI, told Fortune earlier this year: “I probably don’t have work-life balance… those who crave it are simply in the wrong job.”
Sharing his personal experience, Zoom CEO Eric Yuan stressed that he’s even given up hobbies to focus on work. But in moments when he’s forced to prioritize work or life, the former will always take the backseat: “Whenever there’s a conflict, guess what? Family first. That’s it.”
According to LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman, if you're serious about launching a company, you need to give up evening Netflix binges and lazy weekend mornings.
You need to be on the work grind all hours of the day, he was cited as saying by Fortune.
“I personally think that being able to work 996 is a huge blessing,” Jack Ma, the cofounder of $338 billion e-commerce giant Alibaba, had said on Alibaba’s WeChat account in 2019.
“Many companies and many people don’t have the opportunity to work 996…If you don’t work 996 when you are young, when can you ever work 996?” he added, stressing that long-work hours are godsend for staffers.
