Business leaders love to debate the myth of work-life balance. But for Netflix cofounder Marc Randolph, the rule was simple: every Tuesday at 5 p.m., he walked out—no matter what.
“I’ve worked hard, for my entire career, to keep my life balanced with my job,” Randolph wrote in an old LinkedIn post that has recently been recirculating on social media.
“For over thirty years, I had a hard cut-off on Tuesdays. Rain or shine, I left at exactly 5 p.m. and spent the evening with my best friend. We would go to a movie, have dinner, or just go window-shopping downtown together.”
It’s no question that it can be difficult for founders and CEOs to set strict work-life boundaries; sometimes they need to tune into late-night meetings with clients in different time zones, or feel that they should always be on call in times of business emergency.
But even while serving as chief executive of $467 billion entertainment giant Netflix for seven years, Randolph stuck true to his Tuesday exception for the sake of his sanity.
“Nothing got in the way of that,” Randolph said. “No meeting, no conference call, no last-minute question or request. If you had something to say to me on Tuesday afternoon at 4:55, you had better say it on the way to the parking lot. If there was a crisis, we are going to wrap it up by 5:00.”
“Those Tuesday nights kept me sane. And they put the rest of my work in perspective.”
The CEOs who think work-life balance is impossible for big success
There are many CEOs who put no limits on their professional lives, contrary to Randolph’s work-life philosophy—and they think it’s essential to be successful. Lucy Guo, the cofounder of Scale AI, often starts her workday at 5:30 a.m. and will keep going until midnight. At just 30 years old, she became a self-made billionaire from her 5% stake in the $29 billion AI company. And she might not have reached those heights if it wasn’t for her intense work ethic.
“I probably don’t have work-life balance,” Guo told Fortune earlier this year—adding that those who chase it are probably in the wrong job. “For me, work doesn’t really feel like work. I love doing my job…I would say that if you feel the need for work-life balance, maybe you’re not in the right work.”
Andrew Feldman, the cofounder and CEO of $8.1 billion AI chip company Cerebras, said it’s possible for workers to have a “great life” clocking in at 9 a.m. and heading out at 5 p.m. However, if they want to launch the next unicorn company or generation-defining product, they won’t get very far working a traditional work schedule.
“This notion that somehow you can achieve greatness, you can build something extraordinary by working 38 hours a week and having work-life balance, that is mind-boggling to me,” Feldman said on the 20VC podcast last month. “It’s not true in any part of life.”
“The path to build something new out of nothing, and make it great, isn’t part-time work. It isn’t 30, 40, 50 hours a week. It’s every waking minute. And of course, there are costs.”
The case for setting work-life boundaries
Operating on hyperdrive with no breaks has become a badge of honor for CEOs—but others warn against the grind. JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon encouraged the up-and-coming generation of business leaders to break away from work for the sake of their relationships and well-being.
“You need to have work-life balance,” Dimon said to students at the Georgetown University Psaros Center for Financial Markets and Policy last year. “What we tell our people at JPMorgan is you have to take care of your mind, your body, your spirit, your soul, your friends, your friends, your health. You really have to.”
Whole Foods CEO Jason Buechel isn’t willing to overwork himself in the top role, either. Despite frequently traveling for business and having a “minimum of 10 meetings per day,” he fully uses up his PTO benefits each year. He’s also made changes within the company to ensure that all employees of the $13.7 billion grocery store chain take all their days off by placing a cap on how many hours can be banked. Buechel told Fortune last year it “really forces people to make sure they are taking PTO…and ultimately having a great work-life balance.”
“I think it’s important for me to help set that example.”
