Mark Zuckerberg says the secret of his calendar management is leaving it empty, and not packing it tight. "I try to generally keep a bunch of time open," the Meta (NASDAQ:META) chief told Stripe co-founder John Collison, adding that over-scheduling drives him "in a bad mood ... I just like explode."
What Happened: Speaking to Collison at a recent fireside chat, Zuckerberg scrapped recurring one-on-one meetings — "I talk to all these people constantly, more than they want to talk to me," he joked — because every day's priorities change and he wants blocks to chase the top three tasks that pop up each morning.
"I get really frustrated and in a bad mood if my whole day is scheduled and there's a thing that I know is really important and I don't get time to do it because I'm sitting in other things that are not the most important thing to be doing," he tells Collison.
His self-styled flexibility mirrors the "80 Percent Rule," a Google productivity mantra that advises leaders to book only 80% of the workday and leave the rest for surprises. Productivity coach Laura Mae Martin says leaders who "shoot to under-commit" hit the right workload sweet spot and avoid burnout.
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Zuckerberg echoed that rationale: leaving "a meaningful amount of your time open" lets him pounce on high-impact issues without delaying decisions.
The Growing Anti-Meeting Club: Zuckerberg now joins at least four other big-name bosses who shun standing check-ins. According to a CNBC report from 2018, Tesla's (NASDAQ:TSLA) Elon Musk told staff to "walk out of a meeting" that adds no value, pressing for fewer, shorter gatherings. Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos enforces the "two-pizza rule," capping any session at the number of people two pizzas can feed.
Nvidia's (NASDAQ:NVDA) Jensen Huang "prefers not to schedule one-on-one meetings," keeping himself available on demand instead. Airbnb's (NASDAQ:ABNB) Brian Chesky has banned internal email and blocks all meetings before 10 am to curb "grind culture."
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