Forget about work-life balance. Twilio CEO Khozema Shipchandler starts checking emails at 4:30 in the morning, works until 9 pm and, between meetings, runs around the house to relieve tension. “The break I allow myself without thinking about work is six to eight hours on Saturdays,” says the Generation X executive to Fortune.
He attributes this discipline to becoming CFO (financial director) of a multibillion-dollar business at the age of 31 and, today, CEO of a technology giant valued at US$30 billion, arguing that sacrifice is what differentiates leaders from other people.
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For most 20-somethings fresh out of college, 4:30 in the morning is the time to call it a night, after a night out. For Khozema Shipchandler, CEO of Twilio, it was the start of the day.
The 51-year-old executive says he’s always been a morning person — at least on weekdays — and that starting his day while others were still asleep is what allowed him to move forward faster than most.
“I was kind of made that way,” he told Fortune last summer, adding that people set “benchmarks based on life experiences.”
“My parents were the classic immigrant success story, and like many immigrant parents, they wanted their children to go further than them and create opportunities for themselves,” he recalled of his family, who moved from Mumbai (India) to the United States.
“They really encouraged working hard and enjoying life — and, by the way, I enjoy it a lot when I’m not working — so that was the goal.”
Shipchandler graduated from Indiana University Bloomington in 1996, and that summer began his career with the industrial conglomerate. And this dedication brought results early. By the time he turned 31, Shipchandler was CFO of a multibillion-dollar GE business.
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“If you were willing to put in the effort, they were willing to give you opportunities,” he added. “So I had a lot of opportunities there.”
While Gen Z workers and millennials are rewriting the rules of corporate life — demanding flexibility, autonomy and clear limits on personal time — Shipchandler isn’t convinced it’s possible to reach the C-suite without long hours and sacrifices.
“Each of us has to make certain work-life choices,” said the Gen X executive. “That balancing act has consequences. I wasn’t there for all of my son’s tennis matches.”
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“If you want to work eight to five, coach your kids’ sports team, have evenings to yourself, and maybe some other hobbies or interests, that’s great,” adds Shipchandler — but adds that “I’ve never spoken to a colleague” who didn’t have a similar routine and level of balance to his.
A day in the life of the Twilio CEO
If before your mornings started early to get ahead of the competition, now, running a US$30 billion company with more than 5,500 employees, the goal is to get ahead of your own schedule: “Most people haven’t woken up yet, so I can get a lot of work done.” Fortune detailed her daily routine.
4h30
Shipchandler wakes up and starts checking Slack, emails, and messages for any “very urgent” issues that require immediate attention.
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After that, you always follow the same routine: coffee, breakfast — usually a smoothie —, a quick browse through the day’s headlines and then exercise “immediately afterwards”, always in that specific order.
“I do it in that order on purpose because while I’m exercising, I have the opportunity to think about different things that have happened, the news, what I’ve seen in emails, on Slack, and things like that.”
7h30
Shipchandler is “officially working,” before most of Twilio’s engineers, who he says typically start at 9 a.m.
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6:30 p.m.
He takes a break for dinner—at home with his family or with clients and senior leaders when he’s traveling. “I tend to be on the road about 75% of the time, but I keep the same routine,” says Shipchandler.
20h
He fits in about another hour of work before winding down by watching 20 to 30 minutes of SportsCenter when he’s traveling or anything “that makes his wife fall asleep faster” when he’s at home, he jokes.
21h30
Time to sleep.
Weekends
Shipchandler wakes up at 6:30 am on weekends. Although his routine is a little calmer, he still works most Sundays. “It’s part of the nature of the job. I usually keep thinking about work, and the break I allow myself without thinking about it is six to eight hours on Saturdays.”
High-Performance Habits: Running around the house between meetings to relieve tension
When asked if he believes there is work-life balance at the top of his career, Shipchandler quickly responds: “I don’t.”
But that doesn’t mean letting the hours slip away. “I’m all for working smarter,” he says, adding that in addition to making the most of every productivity tool available, he leans heavily on high-performance habits to stay focused.
For example, he is very strict with his schedule and making time to move throughout the day: “I don’t participate in meetings that I don’t think will move the company forward or that don’t bring me energy.”
“I typically do just 25-minute meetings in 30-minute blocks and 50-minute meetings in hour-long blocks; in between, I might take a quick run around the house to get my circulation going or get some fresh air.”
After lunch, he always immediately goes to the treadmill and walks for 10 minutes to avoid the afternoon energy crash. He also doesn’t use social media — and says it helps him stay focused.
“I think habits really matter,” explains Shipchandler. “When you have a set of habits, you can conduct your work in a very intentional way and not allow so many distractions to take hold.”
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