'Level up' | CEO says leaders should hire an exec assistant - is he right?

Undoubtedly, one of the biggest constraints that leaders face in their careers is that of time. To put it plainly, there simply aren’t enough hours in the day to complete the tasks that most leaders deem essential.

In fact, Harvard University data stated that the average leader works nearly two hours of overtime each day, along with 79% of weekend days and 70% of their annual leave. “We found that, indeed, time is the scarcest resource for CEOs,” Harvard Professor Michael Porter told CNBC, commenting on the shocking, but not surprising research.

A whopping 75% of leaders’ time is pre-arranged, the data also highlighted – with meetings taking up the vast majority of their working hours. With such a packed daily schedule, some may question exactly how leaders are meant to make time to set out a future roadmap for their businesses, let alone make investments in innovation.

Taking the plunge