
A day in the life of a CEO - ryancarson
http://ryancarson.com/post/25923386691/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-ceo
======
tatsuke95
> _@ryancarson can you blog about how you spend your day running your biz?
> What biz activities do you focus on now that the product is up?_

The person on Twitter _clearly_ asks about the _business_. The author then
proceeds to write 18 points about his day, only five of which are actually
about the business, including some gems like, _"Crank through todos"_.

Does this guy think he's a celebrity or something? Why am I interested in his
personal life whatsoever? He's the "CEO" of a small company most people have
never heard of.

Someone in the comments asks him why he calls his phone an iPhone, rather than
just a phone, to which he replies that he wants us to know the all the details
and specifics. Oh, so you go into detail about how eating right away boosts
your metabolism, but 3 hours of the day is "meetings"? Thanks for being
specific.

~~~
mindcrime
_Does this guy think he's a celebrity or something?_

Does that matter? If you find the content valuable, does it matter whether or
not he thinks he's a celebrity? Conversely, if you don't find it valuable,
does it matter whether or not he thinks he's a celebrity? Maybe it would be
better to focus on the message and not the personality behind it?

 _He's the "CEO" of a small company most people have never heard of._

I'm not sure why you put CEO in quotes there... are you saying he isn't
actually CEO of a company? And what difference does it make whether or not
most people have heard of the company? Most people haven't heard of most of
the companies founded by people who post on HN... and it sounds like Ryan has
already done more than most of the wantrepreneur types who hang around these
kinds of forums. What try to put him down for what he's accomplished?

~~~
kevinskii
_What try to put him down for what he's accomplished?_

He isn't being put down for what he has accomplished. He's being put down for
writing a shallow self-serving blog post that is completely devoid of
intellectual content, and then submitting it to HN. I hope enough others here
flag this as well.

~~~
mindcrime
When somebody writes about him as a "CEO", with an implication that he's
somehow less than a "real" CEO, then yes, that is putting him (and his
company) down. It's ridiculous, IMO. This guy is out there, in the trenches,
building a real company, and tries to share his experience, and he's getting
slammed for it. This isn't what I've come to expect from HN. :-(

~~~
kahawe
> _and tries to share his experience_

I think the point is: he might be trying but he is doing a horrible job at
sharing that experience because the only thing he gives us is "he is a big
picture thinker", he "cranks through to dos" and that Paul is important. There
is hardly any "meat" or really interesting, helpful stuff in there - that's
what the slamming is about. Is this really so difficult to see or
differentiate?

~~~
mindcrime
_Is this really so difficult to see or differentiate?_

Not at all. I never said it was wrong to provide feedback or constructive
criticism. But the tone of the earlier post - that kicked off this thread -
just seemed (to me) a bit overly antagonistic and demeaning, as opposed to
constructive.

As far as I know, the social norm here at HN is not to "slam" somebody when
constructive criticism would suffice instead. I mean, this is something of a
community of (largely) like-minded peers in many ways. And I, for one, would
like to think that that we're sort of "on the same team" here.

------
kanwisher
Am I the only one that feels Ryan's blog is mostly hacker news link bait,
every article is pretty fluffy stuff that gets a lot of upvotes. I'm not sure
how much actual value you get from knowing his schedule

~~~
nhangen
Feel the same way, and can't help but wonder why these articles keep getting
upvoted.

Side note - reminds me of my first FOWA, where Ryan hogged a majority of the
QA time from each presenter to ask questions about his own business. I admire
his business success, but to me, he comes off as self-centered.

------
yesimahuman
Hey Ryan,

I'm just curious how you handle spending quality time with your employees.
I've worked at companies where the CEO is never around, and when you do meet
with him, it's in meetings that feel rushed and they are always looking at
their watch for the next meeting. Frankly, it's disrespectful and it _does_
negatively impact the morale of the team.

I'm in the CEO role right now, and I'm realizing a lot of meetings that we
schedule are frankly worthless. We'd be better off canceling them and spending
time working on stuff with the team.

As a side note, I enjoyed watching some of the making of the Boeing 777
(<http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3551731641323350192>). Then-CEO Alan
Mulally is often in meetings with the employees and not trying to control
every thing. It's pretty refreshing.

~~~
ryancarson
I agree - it's really important to be fully present and not rush. As you said,
if you're rushing the meeting then it's probably not important

~~~
yesimahuman
Well, what I meant was that if you _are_ rushing meetings with your own
employees, something is wrong on your end.

------
DanBC
Thanks for this. The BBC Radio Four programme "The Bottom Line" recently had
some discussion with business people about one of their days.

Here's the link to the Podcast, which should be available in different
regions.

(<http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01jxtfb#synopsis>)

They also mention some research (that he read via the London School of
Economics) about days in the life of Italian business people (but quite large
businesses, 8,000 employees) - I haven't found that report yet.

The Bottom Line should be interesting to many people on HN - it's a less
formal discussion guided by Evan Davis with business people.

~~~
ryancarson
I love The Bottom Line. One of my favorite podcasts. Thanks for sharing the
link.

------
ryancarson
Thank you to everyone who took time to stick up for me here. I can take it
though, don't worry. I appreciate it nevertheless.

I wrote the post because I'm interested in the details behind everyone's daily
life. It's where talk meets action. I don't think I'm a celebrity. I merely
wanted to be transparent about my routine so that other CEOs could see how
their life compares.

I submit my articles to HN, but it's the community that puts them on the front
page. Take them or leave them. It's just my blog :)

~~~
larrys
"I don't think I'm a celebrity."

Not a celebrity yet.

Julia Allison was roundly made fun of a few years ago for her ability to
garner press on some blogs and people felt she was totally overexposed. (So
was Bethenny Frankel for that matter). Both of them now have TV shows.

------
blhack
>5:05 AM - Make a point of appreciating all that is good about my life,
instead of immediately rushing into my day. I often take a deep breath and sit
out on our deck for a few minutes.

Is this meant to be satire or something? This was seriously put into his
schedule as a 5 minute task?

~~~
bgilroy26
I'm not sure I'm understanding what you're saying, but how much time you put
into a particular scheduling item does not necessarily correspond with its
importance/urgency.

When it's just you and your thoughts, 5 minutes can be a long time. I don't
think it would be a good idea to stretch this activity out longer for the sole
reason of showing how important it is.

~~~
blhack
No, it's the fact that it's literally on the schedule as a task.

Imagine telling a designer:

"From the hours of 12:00pm to 3:00pm, be creative."

Life doesn't work like that, and if you're scheduling your life down to
individual minutes, then I can't imagine how you're also managing to be
creative.

------
dbecker
CEO's say how busy they are, but it seems like most execution is handled by
people below the CEO. So I'm left wondering what are specific tasks that are
the right level to keep the CEO so busy?

The author had a great chance to address this... but all we're told is
"meetings" and "todo list."

~~~
ivanr
There's a blog post from Fred Wilson that I've found to be most insightful:

<http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2010/08/what-a-ceo-does.html>

The main point is this:

"A CEO does only three things. Sets the overall vision and strategy of the
company and communicates it to all stakeholders. Recruits, hires, and retains
the very best talent for the company. Makes sure there is always enough cash
in the bank."

------
Deezul
I really appreciate hearing about the very paced/zen schedule you seem to
keep. I'm a firm believer that productivity is an easily exhaustible resource
and you can't simply extract more of it per week with additional desk hours.
You can have all the money and time in the world, but true freedom is the
ability to bask in every small moment of the day, revel in the experience and
reflect on life as it happens. Don't wait for the big payoff.

------
UnoriginalGuy
He can go to bed at 10 pm and wake up at 5 am? I go to bed at 10 and wake up
still extremely tired at 7 am...

~~~
evilbit
that may be because you actually oversleep. unless you're very young (<20yo),
7h of sleep is likely all you need, and anything less than 6h or more than 8h
will leave you tired and lacking energy.

~~~
UnoriginalGuy
I could be oversleeping but I cannot really fix that. I don't use drugs to
sleep or wake, and I don't wake via an alarm most days (alarm is for 7, I wake
up at 6:40~55).

I could set an alarm for 5 am but I predict that I would be even more tired
compared to my 10 to 7 schedule.

~~~
BruceM
Try it for a week and see. What do you have to lose?

Alternatively, have some children and your sleep will not be the same for a
long long time.

Ryan Carson says he has a 1 year old child, so I doubt he's sleeping through
the night. :)

------
justjimmy
The gem I found from his post is this:
[https://www.philrichardsperformance.co.uk/index.php/goodness...](https://www.philrichardsperformance.co.uk/index.php/goodness-
greens.html)

I have never tried supplements, always thought they were a bit extreme and
only for hardcore athletes and fitness buffs. As I get older, I realize the
importance of metabolism (who cares about it when you're a teen and it's sky
high), knowing eating breakfast really kicks up your metabolism and how fibre
and greens play in your health.

Now I'm actually very tempted to try this supplement out - seems really
healthy even though it comes packaged in a plastic jar and powder form.

~~~
mertd
> knowing eating breakfast really kicks up your metabolism

I'm not sure this is experimentally verified. There is also the "skip the
breakfast" camp that advocates remaining in the catabolic state a little
longer to keep burning the fat.

Also, why not throw the exact same greens into a blender. Surely that powder
in the tub cannot be any better than fresh vegetables.

------
mej10
I love reading things like this and it sounds like you live a very balanced
life. Honestly, this sounds like a pretty ideal schedule.

Any advice for someone that still has a day job? I don't have kids but do try
to spend a good amount of time with my SO.

~~~
bmj
I'm not a CEO, but I keep a similar schedule (replace his meetings and
schedule reviews with development), and it works well for me. I'm up early,
work for ~90 minutes, then get the kids up and ready for the day. Same thing
in the evening--unless something is truly on fire, I leave the office between
4:30 and 5:00 every day (or close the computer if I'm working from home),
spend time with my family 'til 8:00 or 9:00, then work again for an hour or
two (if necessary--I don't do this every night).

Obviously, this doesn't work for everyone who works for someone else. I'm
fortunate to have a job with a great deal of flexibility. If I'm in the
office, I'm rarely there longer than 7-8 hours a day.

------
mikeleeorg
The important thing to note is:

 _"When Treehouse was <25 people, I actually did a lot of execution. I’d write
newsletters, sketch wireframes, answer support emails, start marketing
campaigns, etc._

 _Now that we’re about to hit 50 full-time employees, I spend all my time
‘steering the ship’._

I suspect some of the vitriol here is due to the relatively large audience of
entrepreneurs in startups less than half his size. To be more relevant, I'd
love to see his schedule when he was a 3-5 person company.

~~~
rdl
I'm more interested in people who remain operational as founders or CEOs in
larger (>25) person companies. I've never seen good come from being entirely
about todos, delegation, etc. in large companies -- all the great people I
know remain hands-on even past the point where it's necessary.

------
davidw
Very detailed: except for what sort of things the "todos" actually are - and
that's a significant portion of the time.

~~~
StuieK
[http://ryancarson.com/post/25580650719/7-dos-and-donts-
for-f...](http://ryancarson.com/post/25580650719/7-dos-and-donts-for-founders)
some more info in there for you mate.

------
johnndege
I don't know many people who wake up at 5am. Is that necessary to get the job
done or just your preferred wake up time?

~~~
mhurron
> I don't know many people who wake up at 5am

Maybe because you know intelligent people.

[http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-scientific-
fundament...](http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-scientific-
fundamentalist/201005/why-night-owls-are-more-intelligent-morning-larks)

------
abalashov
That sounds terrible. If this is being a CEO, I don't want any part of it,
especially the dull evenings.

~~~
jmduke
If you're calling 'spending three hours with your family' a dull evening, then
I guess you might be technically correct -- but keep in mind your priorities
are different than most people's.

------
yankoff
A well structured, balanced life with the focus on family. It possibly leads
to some degree of happiness and stability, but this seems so boring for being
a CEO. Where's the action! Most the time seems wasted on minor daily routines
that could be squeezed into 1 hour.

------
taurussai
Close to 9 hrs of work/day and with 4 day work weeks this seems to be a well
balanced life! One can argue that quality of work is way better than quantity
but this looks primarily for a later stage startup founder...

------
Timothee
Question for Ryan: I know you said you work 4 days a week at Treehouse. How
well do you respect that? Do you do any kind of work during the weekend or
just errands, relaxing and family time?

~~~
ryancarson
I respect it a ton. I rarely work over the weekends. I check email
occasionally, but not often.

------
samstave
According to this, he puts in 28 hours per week, which doesn't account for
time in the restroom, sidebar chats, walking between appointments, personal
life issues that pop up etc.

Sounds like a dream job.

------
Paul_S
I turn up at 9-10am and then churn out code for 7-10 hours.

This is why I don't have a blog.

