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How does Jeff Bezos spend his time?

Jeff Bezos of Amazon has a very clear view on how to dedicate his time as a leader of his business:

  • Time working on the Future
  • Time working in the Present

How does Jeff allocate his time?

50/50?  80/20?  90/10?…

What do you think is the allocation of time that Jeff aims for himself?  What is the allocation of time in your life as a leader?  Watch the video for Jeff’s answer.

(If you want to skip all the introduction and go straight to Jeff’s answer, go to 3:05 in the video or click Jeff Bezos’ ideal allocation of CEO time)

If you liked this idea from Jeff Bezos, check out Amazon: Why Jeff Bezos banned Powerpoint and Jeff Bezos on High Standards (and why you don’t achieve your goals).

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6 responses to “How does Jeff Bezos spend his time?”

  1. What do excellent CEOs do? (according to McKinsey research) – Moving People to Action

    […] Bezos says that he spends 5% of his time running the company, and 95% of his time building the future […]

    Reply
  2. Manuel Avatar
    Manuel

    I agree with you Conor, that the best way for a Ceo to spend his time in the future is to build a great team capable of running the current business. But I also think that a great Ceo should be able to hire people who could also visualize the future and challenge Ceo´s perspectives and assumptions.,Besides that, the Ceo should also work hard with the board and with other experts beyond the organization in order to create a team of capable people with different perspectives and interests that could add value to the vision of the Ceo.

    Reply
  3. Javier Diaz-Gimenez Avatar
    Javier Diaz-Gimenez

    I loved it! But who besides Bezzos can afford the amount of delegation that is required to achieve the 5/95 split?

    Reply
    1. Conor Neill Avatar
      Conor Neill

      The question (I don’t know the answer…) is whether Jeff began this after Amazon was successful, or before (and during) the rapid growth of Amazon from nothing to retail superpower? What do you think? I suspect you don’t grow a business if you are stuck in the operations.

      Reply
  4. epertinez Avatar
    epertinez

    What is the present and what is the future? Would you say Elon Musk is working on the present or working on the future? You could argue he is working on the present, as long as he is trying to solve actual problems his factories are having now. Yet you could argue he is working on the future as he is trying to solve problems on his factories to double production quarter after quarter, so clearly his time is used for future meanings and not for present which would be maintaining his factories production.

    Reply
    1. Conor Neill Avatar
      Conor Neill

      Eating McDonalds = in the present
      Working out in the Gym = in the future
      Reading/Writing emails = in the present
      Writing your vision, manifesto, Point of View in an article = in the future
      Dealing with people problems = present
      Attracting great people to your team = future

      Reply

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