“A leader is not an administrator who loves to run others, but someone who carries water for people so they can get on with their jobs.”
Robert Townsend, professor of economics.

I used to work for a brilliant CEO who was a great mentor to me. His mantra was “People from 9 to 5; Paper later.” He instinctively knew what current research is affirming: when people feel paid attention to, they are more productive.

This week the Harvard School of Business shed some light on this topic with new research. HBS professor, Raffaella Sadun, found that a CEO’s schedule is especially important to a firm’s financial success.

This raises a few questions: What do CEO’s do all day? Can they be more efficient time managers? Should they subscribe to my mentor’s “People from 9 to 5; Paper later.” philosophy?

Key finding of the report include:

On average, some 85 percent of a CEO’s time was spent working with other people, with only 15 percent spent working alone. In the most successful firms, most of the CEOs time was spent working with people inside the organization.

The time CEOs spent with outsiders had no measurable impact on firm performance. But time spent with other people inside the company was strongly correlated with positive increases in productivity.

In companies with stronger governance, CEOs spent more time with insiders and less time with outsiders, and at the same time were more productive.

As a leader in an organization, take a good hard look at the amount of time that you are spending with people inside the company. Could you increase your firm’s financial success by living by the “People from 9 to 5; Paper later.” mantra?

Lead Well, Live Well, Do Well!