In the cutthroat world of business, some of the wealthiest and most powerful CEOs are doubling down on a controversial view: work-life balance is overrated, and the key to success is working nonstop.
Billionaire titans like Jeff Bezos and Reid Hoffman have openly denounced the concept of work-life balance, arguing that it's incompatible with building a massively successful company. What this really means is that they believe the only path to the top is to sacrifice any semblance of a personal life in service of the grind.
Harmony, Not Balance
Bezos, the founder of Amazon, has been particularly vocal in his opposition to work-life balance. He prefers the term "work-life harmony" instead, claiming that the two aspects of life should complement each other, not be at odds. "If you're happy at home, you'll be better at work. If you're better at work, you'll be better at home," Bezos has said.
Similarly, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella believes that "work-life balance" is the wrong goal, and that "harmony" is a more accurate description of the relationship between one's professional and personal lives.
The Grind is Non-Negotiable
The bigger picture here is that these billionaire bosses are sending a clear message: If you want to achieve the same level of success, you need to be willing to sacrifice your personal time and embrace a nonstop, grinding work schedule. As Cerebras CEO Andrew Feldman bluntly put it, "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. It's not true in any part of life."
Of course, not everyone agrees with this extreme view. As Nespresso UK CEO Anna Lundstrom pointed out, "separating the two in half is [not] possible when you're at the top." And a growing number of workers, especially younger generations, are pushing back against the idea that grinding 24/7 is the only path to success.
But for now, it seems the titans of industry are doubling down on the notion that work-life balance is a myth - and that the true secret to their massive wealth and influence is a willingness to sacrifice everything else in pursuit of their ambitions.