What do the famous rich people think about Work-Life Balance? They are brutal

– People say: “I need a balance between work and private life” ” – he said.” If you want to work from 9 to 17, you can have it. But if you want to be the best in your field, someone works 24 hours a day to beat you, “he added.

Leon Cooperman: Love what you do – but remember that life is more than a job

The billionaire and manager of the Hedge Fund Leon Cooperman said in an interview with Business Insider, That life is about more than just hard work.

“I have been married to the same woman for 61 years,” he emphasized, adding that his greatest success is that his children are still “coming home”.

“Love what you do – and it will be too demanding and difficult to do not do it,” said Veteran Wall Street. Cooperman added that although he spent 25 years at Goldman Sachs, he never felt that it was a job because he liked her so much.

Jeff Bezos: Work and life should create a circle, not balance

The founder of Amazon Jeff Bezos in 2018 said that instead of a balance between work and private life, You should strive for harmony.

At the event organized by Axel Springer – the mother company Business Insider – Bezos He called the concept of work-life balance “paralyzing”because it suggests the need to choose.

– It's not balance. It's really a circle – he said.

Bezos explained that if he feels happy at home, he gives him energy and increases productivity at work – and vice versa.

Satya nadella: focus on harmony, not on balance

The General Director of Microsoft also believes that “Balance” is not a goal.

Instead, Satya Nadella says that you should strive for “harmony between work and life”.

In 2019, in an interview with “Australian Financial Review” he admitted that he once thought that he had to separate relaxation from work.

With time, however, he changed his approach, combining his “deep interests” with professional work.

CEO TIAA believes that the whole concept is a “lie”

“Balance between work and private life is a lie” – said Thasund Brown Duckett, CEO of TIAA, in 2023.

Brown Duckett had previously admitted that she was struggling with guilt, trying to reconcile the demanding work with her mother's role.

Currently, he sees his life as a “wallet” of roles – mother, wife and business leader. Although she can not always be physically present with children, she tries to be fully present in the time that he spends with them.

There was Google Eric Schmidt CEO: not balance is the reason why Google is in AI – then he withdrew from these words

During the lecture at Stanford University in 2024, the former president of Google, Eric Schmidt, criticized the remote labor policy and the concept of Work-Life Balance, claiming that Google is going behind them behind startups such as OpenAi in the field of artificial intelligence.

“Google decided that the balance between work and life and earlier going home and remote work are more important than winning,” said Schmidt. “And the start-ups work because people work like crazy,” he added.

He emphasized that people establishing companies today “will not allow employees to work remotely and come to the office once a week, if they want to compete with other start-ups”

After his statement aroused controversy, Schmidt withdrew from these words.

“Eric has touched, talking about working hours on Google and regrets his mistake” -said a spokesman in an email to Business Insider.

Arianna Huffington: You shouldn't choose between work and life

The founder of Thrive Global and Huffpost, Arianna Huffington, said in an interview with Great Place to work that productivity and relaxation should not be seen as opposing forces.

According to her, the improvement of one sphere of life has a positive effect on the other.

Huffington believes that employees should focus on “integration of life and work” because “we bring all of ourselves to work.”

At the same time, he emphasizes that private life should always be in the first place.

“The work is of course important and can give sense and purpose, but it should not replace life,” she said. “Work is part of a full life, but this life should be in the first place,” she added.

Don't expect a balance between work and life if you work for Elon Musk

Elon Musk is known for his workaholism and expects the same from his employees.

In 2022, just after taking over X (formerly Twitter), he sent an e-mail to employees in which he ordered them to sacrifice their work or leave the company.

According to reports, X employees worked 84 hours a week.

Although many people think that remote work has improved their work-life balance, Musk has criticized it many times, calling “morally bad”.

According to the biography by Walter Isaacson, Musk slept in the office in 1995 and used the shower in YMCA.

He continued this lifestyle in Tesla and after taking over Twitter, often sleeping at work.

In 2018, Musk said he was working 120 hours a week, or 17 hours a day.

Jack also has long working hours

Co -founder of the Chinese technological giant Alibaba, Jack MA, in 2019 supported the controversial work system “996”, i.e. from 9:00 to 21:00, six days a week.

“Many companies and people do not have the opportunity to work in the 996 system,” he said. “If you don't work 996, when you're young, when?” He asked rhetorically.

“If you find a job you like, the 996 problem does not exist. If you have no passion, every minute at work is a torment” – he emphasized.

The Chinese government found the 996 system illegal in 2021, although it is believed that it is still widely used in many companies.

Co -founder of the skimts Emma Grede: Balance is your business, not the employer

Emma Grede, co -founder Marek Skims and Good American, said in the podca “Diary of a CEO” that the balance between work and private life is a “personal responsibility”, not something that should be expected from the employer.

-Work-life balance is your problem. This is not the employer's obligation – she said.

Grede admitted that she did not control whether her employees are at her desks all day, and that they have flexibility to go to an interview or to a hairdresser.

However, he considers this as a warning signal if the candidate for work raises this topic during the interview.

– When someone tells me about the balance between work and life during a recruitment conversation, I think: “something is wrong with you” She said.

CEO Cognition: Our employees “do not believe in the balance between work and life”

After taking over the AI Windsurf CEO Cognition, Scott Wu startup, he offered Windsurf employees to buy out if they do not want to work for 80 and more hours a week.

“We do not believe in the balance between work and life – building the future of software engineering is a mission that is so important to us that it cannot be separated,” Wu wrote in a note, which was first published by “The Information”.

“We know that not all who joined Windsurf enrolled in work at Cognition, where we spend 6 days in the office and work over 80 hours a week” – he emphasized.

The article is a translation from the American edition of Business Insider.