CEOs are often considered the most successful business people, but in any field, time management is one of the most important determiners of success. How do CEOs manage their time to maximize their success?
A good CEO needs to be capable of juggling their work hours to ensure the customers’ needs are always met. Many CEOs work very long hours but know how to manage their time effectively. Elijah Norton is an excellent example of such a CEO; he understands the value of providing excellent customer service and prioritizing work needs.
From the outside, a CEO’s day can look overwhelming – so let’s learn more about how CEOs generally manage their hours, maximize their efficiency, and ensure they get some downtime too.
Is Time Management Important for CEOs?
Good time management is one of the most important things in determining whether a CEO will likely be successful. You will struggle to run a business if you can’t manage your time well.
CEOs face many challenges every day. If you’ve watched a CEO working, you’ll see that they are almost constantly busy, with little downtime. Many CEOs work through lunch breaks, and some even work in evenings and weekends. This is an aspect of success, and most CEOs do nearly 10 hours of work every weekday.
Various studies by reputable companies, such as Forbes and Harvard Business Review, have found that CEOs are doing long hours. A study by Michael Porter and Nitin Nohria found that many CEOs work around 62.5 hours every week.
That’s a lot of hours, and they tend to be jam-packed with activities – so what do CEOs focus on throughout the day?
Elijah Norton, the CEO of Veritas Global Protection, talks about the importance of responsiveness to the customer. He says his company stands out because they consistently call their clients back and spend a lot of time innovating and looking to meet each customer’s needs.
He believes every challenge has an answer, and you should never give up on a problem. That sort of tenacious attitude is crucial to success when you are the CEO of a company. CEOs are often advised to maximize their visibility when things are going wrong, and Norton is well-placed to follow this advice.
What Challenges Does a CEO Face?
CEOs have to deal with many problems since it’s their job to fix any situation the managers below them can’t handle. Norton recognizes that managing people is one of the biggest challenges they have to deal with.
He points out that a great leader knows when to be friendly and tough and how to deal with other professional individuals successfully. This is at the heart of keeping the company happy and functional and ensuring that all employees are treated well.
He also understands the challenges of hiring the right people and discusses the importance of getting this right the first time. He runs with the philosophy that it would be better to hire nobody than to take on a bad fit – because he knows how much extra time an incompetent employee can cost the company and the people at the head of the organization.
Furthermore, he talks about the value of having a team that can work well together. A top tip for success as a CEO is limiting your routine responsibilities and remembering to delegate so that your calendar doesn’t get completely blocked up.
Having a great team and a good working relationship allows a CEO to delegate and increase efficiency because they can trust that others will correctly fulfill their roles. Norton has done this very effectively, and he fully recognizes the value and importance of this.
Another difficulty that CEOs often face is maintaining their motivation so that they don’t end up procrastinating and wasting time. Fortunately, Norton has a solution to that issue, too: he gets up daily to make a difference in the world. That’s enough to keep him motivated and always looking to excel.
Being motivated can help with many of the time sinks that CEOs encounter, such as getting bogged down in emails, spending too much time on small tasks that other people could do, and failing to create an agenda. By being committed to making life better for his customers, Norton sets himself up for success because he has a clear goal that drives him.
How Much Time Do CEOs Need to Give to Customers?
Finding time for the business’s customers is one of the most important aspects of being a CEO for many people. Not all CEOs interact face-to-face with their customers, but it’s still essential to be highly focused on customer feedback, customer needs, and changes in their clientele’s demographics.
When asked how important customers are to his business, Norton points out that without the customers, there simply is no business. He is highly focused on how his company can more successfully serve those customers and is always looking for innovation opportunities.
It’s worth noting that the Porter and Nohria study discovered that only around 3 percent of CEOs spend time with their customers. However, spending time with customers provides invaluable insights into the people the business is serving, so it’s critical to do this – and it can create all sorts of opportunities that might otherwise be missed.
Time management can be challenging for any CEO. Norton is an excellent example of how a CEO can manage people, hire well, deal with crises, and stay motivated. He also knows how important it is to stay connected with customers.
