I have found a revolutionary way to get major company CEOs to work for you! Imagine a hustling, grinding, no life CEO doing all of that for your benefit. Just listen to a CEOs daily schedule, and imagine if this person put in all that effort for you!
Wake up early – usually around 5:00/6:00AM. Check e-mail, respond to any pressing issues so they don’t grow until you get into the office. You might have time for breakfast, but typically skip it to get right in the office and get a handle on the work day. During the commute you mostly handle business calls and respond to additional e-mails. The mornings are a combination of meetings, e-mails, metrics and project updates, and handling any and all emergencies. Lunch is either quickly eaten at the desk or meeting with clients or associates if time permits for lunch hour. The afternoon consists of additional meetings, planning and executing the culture of the business, and being accountable to everything that happens. Typically you leave the office around 6:30 and you try and be home before 8:00. You spend some time with the family and then try and get in another hour or two of work to catch up from earlier in the day. You attempt 6-7 hours of sleep before starting everything again tomorrow. Most weekends you try and disconnect but find by midday Sundays you try and get a jump start on the next work week.
That is a typical day for a CEO of a major company. That is a hard working person. Almost too much, some literally work themselves to death. There is even a word for it in Japanese (karoshi). Here is the kicker. This multi-millionaire can work for you. Yes, you making $30k a year.
Its called the stock market.
Jeff Immelt (the CEO of GE) can work for you (a shareholder) for about $25 out of your pocket. GE stock currently trades around $25 and you own (yes literally) a part of that company. The CEO works for the shareholders. You buy stock in a company and let the CEO do all the work. While you are sitting on couch watching TV the CEO is checking e-mails (working for you). While you are spending time with your family, the CEO is on a conference call with international clients (working for you). While you are relaxing at a happy hour, the CEO is stressing about quarterly revenues (working for you). The more stock you own the more the CEO works for you. Some people take this to the extreme and forcibly remove CEOs because they don’t think they work hard or smart enough for them. Let that sink in – Someone spends almost all their week working for you and while you are sitting on couch can decide they are not doing it right.
I don’t know about you, but I laugh to myself knowing Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerburg, and Elon Musk are all hard at work for me while I relax and watch this cool Youtube video.