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Business Insider
5 days ago
- Business
- Business Insider
I'm the CEO of GoTo Foods. I start my day with memes and end it at a Steinway.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jim Holthouser, the CEO of GoTo Foods. It has been edited for length and clarity. The majority of my career has been in the hospitality business, making sure people feel welcome, well-fed, and taken care of. There's something deeply rewarding about creating experiences — whether it's in a hotel lobby or over a cinnamon roll. GoTo Foods is the parent company of brands like Cinnabon, Jamba, Carvel, and others you've probably grabbed lunch from before. We have more than 7,000 restaurants around the world and more on the way, including a new international expansion of Moe's Casa Mexicana into India. As CEO, my job is to ensure that everything runs smoothly, focusing on our culture and growth. I see my role as serving our people — customers, franchisees, and the 700 folks working in our headquarters. The only way I can achieve it all is with a routine that keeps me focused and steady. Structure, rhythm, and a little bit of piano every night — that's how I stay grounded. Here's what a typical day looks like for me. Business Insider's Power Hours series gives readers an inside look at how powerful leaders in business structure their workday. See more stories from the series here, or reach out to editor Lauryn Haas to share your daily routine. I don't sleep past 6:30 a.m. Even on weekends, I can't seem to sleep past 6:30. I usually set an alarm, but most mornings I'm already awake before it goes off. First thing? Coffee. Black. No cream, no sugar, no calories. Then I scroll through news summaries. I like The Wall Street Journal, Kiplinger Daily, Morning Brew, the 1440 newsletter, and a few others. After that, I do something a little ridiculous but very fun: I go meme-hunting. I've got friend groups from different chapters of my life, and we send memes to each other 365 days a year. Some are political, some are just absurd. It's not about the jokes so much as it's a way to stay connected to people I care about. I work out every morning — and love my Whoop ring. I'm pretty religious about my daily workouts. Three days a week are cardio, and three are weights. I'm on the Peloton at least once a week. If I'm not listening to coach Leanne Hainsby get me through an intense session, I'm listening to 70s music. My Whoop ring is always on to measure the intensity of my workouts and stress levels. It's sometimes too much information, but I like having the data. I'm at the office by 8:30 — then I start my rounds. I don't force myself to be in the office first, but I do go every day to walk the floors of our Atlanta headquarters. I try to know people by name, and remember what they care about — whether it's their dogs, new babies, or jazz music. It's just part of showing up. I see culture as an investment. It doesn't grow passively, so I make it a point to nurture it every day. I fast until lunch, otherwise I'd eat Cinnabon every day. I've been practicing intermittent fasting for years. It's a good discipline and helps me manage my weight — especially given the line of work I'm in. When I started at this company (back when it was called Focus Brands), they warned me about something called the "Focus 15" — as in, the 15 pounds you gain in your first year. Sure enough, I gained 11. For lunch, I'm pretty predictable: grilled chicken and salad four out of five days a week. I also bring a little bag of raw veggies and a hard-boiled egg for a snack. No dips, no sauces, just straight veggies. I get teased for it all the time, but it doesn't bother me — it works. I meet weekly with my 10 direct reports — and mentor others over lunch. I've organized the company to have 10 direct reports. I meet with most of them for an hour each week. I also do regular skip-level meetings with brand heads who don't report to me directly. We'll grab a beer, lunch, have a casual chat in my office — whatever works for them. It's not about metrics; it's about getting to know each other. A lot of people here have asked me to mentor them. If someone has the guts to reach out, I'll almost always say yes. Most of the time, it's just a monthly lunch. But it's meaningful for both of us. We have a purpose statement here: We feed people potential. Whether someone stays with us for 30 years or three, I want them to walk away stronger than they came in. I plan my life in my phone's Notes app. I usually list out my entire week's worth of tasks on Friday afternoons. I know what needs to get done, what can shift, and where I've got free pockets — usually two to three hours a day — to handle the unexpected and keep stress at bay. I have about 15 lists going at any given time, and I'm always updating them with tasks I need to complete or things I need to remember. I don't use fancy project management software — just Notes on my iPhone. I'll scroll through it if I'm feeling anxious or if I haven't heard about a project in a while. It helps me stay on top of things. After the typical workday, there are more meetings. My day doesn't end until 8 or 9 at night, often because I have a lot of entertaining and after-hours meetings and activities to do. We try to stay dialed into the local political scene to develop those kinds of contacts — you never know when you're going to need them. People think CEOs are there to set strategy and pull levers from the top. But I think the job is really about serving the people around you. I mentor, check in, give recognition, and stay connected — not because it's expected, but because it matters. I play piano nearly every night. I started playing the piano when I was six, and I've never really stopped. At age 11, I was invited to study at Juilliard. I didn't do that, but playing in piano bars and nice restaurants was how I paid my way through undergrad and grad school. These days, I play for 30 minutes most evenings to decompress. When I'm focused on music, I can't think about work. I have a Steinway and record albums for a nonprofit based in Nashville called American Entertainment Works. I assign my royalties to them to help fund their cultural preservation projects. I've recorded eight albums so far — jazz, blues, classical, Gershwin — and I'm working on four more. I clear my inbox every night before bed. I'm one of those inbox-zero people. If I don't clear my email before bed, I won't sleep well. I probably get around 100 emails a day, but only 30% of them are truly important. Franchisees always get top priority. We've got over 2,000 of them, and they're the lifeblood of our company. Their messages always rise to the top. I shut things down by 8 p.m. and spend the rest of the night with my wife. Unless I'm out for work, I aim to stop working by 8 p.m. My wife and I will catch up over tea or a glass of wine — depending on the day— and maybe watch a show or the news. I aim to be asleep by 10:30 or 11 p.m. I used to function just fine on five or six hours of sleep, but I've learned to value seven.
Business Insider
27-07-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Life in the C-suite: How top business leaders power through the day
Welcome back to our Sunday edition, where we round up some of our top stories and take you inside our newsroom. Looking to invest $10,000? Here's where you can put that cash right now, according to six Wall Street veterans. The drink of the summer is also a recession warning signal. Inside the whisper networks of laid-off former coworkers. Homebuyers could be the winners of America's next big land grab. Here's how much AI startups like OpenAI and Anthropic pay employees. But first: How do they do it? If this was forwarded to you, sign up here. Download Business Insider's app here. This week's dispatch A day in the life Ever wonder how the world's most accomplished business leaders make it all look so effortless? How do they conquer jam-packed calendars, build empires, and still find time to fly helicopters or sip matcha in peace? Welcome to Power Hours, a fresh Business Insider series that peels back the curtain on the daily routines of top CEOs, founders, and creative visionaries. We're going deep on what makes these high performers tick — and how you can apply their secrets to your own life. We've gone behind the scenes with leaders like Peter Beck, CEO of Rocket Lab, who starts his day before sunrise, ruthlessly cuts out unnecessary meetings, and flies a helicopter in his spare time. David Risher, CEO of Lyft, winds down with afternoon matcha and occasionally goes undercover as a driver to stay connected to his mission. Here's a snapshot of some of the leaders we've profiled. Anders Kurtén, head of the world's largest yacht brokerage, starts his day with a drive from France to Monaco and a 5K or 10K run, depending on his mood. Allison Ellsworth, cofounder and chief brand officer of Poppi, said she thrives on chaos and candidly admits she's never taken a formal lunch break. "I'm a creative person," she says. "So I'm very unorganized." Justin Nedelman, CEO of Pressed Juicery, begins his morning with meditation, hydration, and a sweat session—long before most of us are even awake. And just the other day, we caught up with billionaire Mark Cuban. At first, he told us his daily routine was "boring." But then he dropped a productivity gem that's surprisingly practical and one that everyone can use. Each Power Hours profile delivers a dose of inspiration — and a toolkit of takeaways — for readers to better understand how the pros do it all. So, what are your Power Hours? Let us know, we'd love to hear from you! Warning at the bar Surdyk's; Tyler Le/BI For years, the Spaghett — a mix of cheap beer and Aperol — was known almost exclusively by service industry workers. Now, it's making its way into the spotlight. The Spaghett's rise is also a sign that the economy is on the edge of disaster. It's a lot cheaper than other cocktails and easy to make at home — a standout choice for when you feel pressure on your wallet. No frills, great flavor. All in this together The silver lining of mass layoffs is that no one has to go through it alone. From former Big Tech workers to laid-off federal employees, old coworkers are banding together on networks like Slack and Signal. In their private channels, laid-off workers offer each other more than just emotional support. They're helping each other navigate the confusing administrative tasks that come with being fired, sharing job postings, and engaging in mock interviews. . America's next big land grab Secretive investors are betting big on the next homebuilding boom. Known as "land bankers," these investors are scooping up construction-ready real estate and waiting until builders are ready to put shovels in the ground. The result would be a more reliable homebuilding machine and even cheaper homes. That's great news for homebuyers in the near future. A new breed of land barons. AI startup salaries, revealed REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst Big Tech companies and startups are racing to dominate the next frontier of AI, and they're shelling out top dollar to the limited pool of tech talent who will join them. BI pulled federal filings from some of the top AI startups valued at over $2 billion. Companies like OpenAI are dangling mid-six-figure salaries amid the war for talent. What 13 startups are paying. Amazon salaries revealed: How much the cloud and retail giant pays What Microsoft pays software engineers, product managers, and more See how much Google pays key roles amid the AI boom This week's quote: "People won't remember in 10 years why they don't like Nike anymore, but they will still think slightly ill of it." — A guy who runs a website called Shop Canadian Stuff, following a wave of the "Buy Canadian" movement in response to Trump's tariffs. More of this week's top reads: Windsurf was a startup Cinderella story. Now it's become a cautionary tale. Sydney Sweeney is a meme stock icon now. Companies love trapping people in subscriptions. Savvy consumers are fighting back. Jerome Powell isn't flinching from Trump. Leaders should take note. West Point emails reveal how the prestigious military academy messed up Pete Hegseth's admissions status. Read Microsoft CEO's memo to staff explaining why the tech giant is laying off workers while making huge profits. Microsoft staffers react to the layoffs memo with suspicion, anger, and speculation. Internal xAI documents show how hundreds of AI tutors spent hours recording facial expressions to train Grok.
Business Insider
26-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Business Insider
I'm the CEO of Twitch. My day starts with a 5-mile run and often ends with playing country songs on a late-night livestream.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Dan Clancy, the 61-year-old CEO of Amazon-owned Twitch, who lives outside of Portland, Oregon. It's been edited for length and clarity. When I was an undergrad at Duke, I double-majored in computer science and theater — an unusual combination that often raised eyebrows. Most people couldn't see how the two fit together. Fast-forward a few decades, and my path led me deep into tech: earning a Ph.D. in AI and computer science and working at places like NASA, Google, YouTube, and Nextdoor. By the time I arrived at Twitch, I was seen primarily as a tech executive. But at my core, I've always been a creative. Being CEO of Twitch gives me the rare opportunity to bring both sides of myself — technologist and creative — into a single role. Here's what a typical day looks like for me. BI's Power Hours series gives readers an inside look at how powerful leaders in business structure their workday. See more stories from the series here, or reach out to the editor Lauryn Haas to share your daily routine. I wake up at 7 a.m. and run five miles I usually wake up naturally. I don't worry about an alarm clock. I try to exercise in the morning unless I have a super early meeting. If my meeting starts at 9 a.m., I'll wake up at 7 a.m. or so, and then I'll try to be out running by 7:30 a.m., and I'll run four or five miles. I will get back about 8:30 a.m. In 2017, I started running regularly. In the past, I'd run for three months and then I'd stop. This time I gamified it and it stuck. Then I started biking, I started swimming, and then I did two Ironmans. I did a number of half-Ironmans. I did a half-Ironman last year. I use a Garmin. I'm not training right now, but when I am training, I'll try to exercise twice a day. Aside from bike riding or swimming, I like to white-water kayak. Usually, I am at my home in Washington working remotely, so I don't need to worry about commuting. I try not to look at my phone. It's always tempting to start swiping in some random app, but in general, I very much try to avoid. If I'm swiping for five minutes, it's probably Instagram. I drink Coca-Cola, not coffee I'm not a coffee drinker and I'm not much of a breakfast eater. At one point, when I was trying to lose weight, I did intermittent fasting, and now I'm not intermittent fasting, but I still often don't eat in the morning. My bad habit is I drink Coca-Cola now. I try to keep it to one, and I don't need it in the morning, but I do get caffeine. I always go through these cycles of saying, "I need to stop drinking Coke." And then I stop for a while and I feel good about it, and then I start drinking it. Ever since I was young, I'll keep flopping back and forth, and the family is constantly encouraging me to give up the habit. My day is back-to-back meetings I spend most of the time meeting with people. It might be a product review or a go-to-market review. I have one-on-ones with various folks. Some days we have an off-site with our leadership team. Slack is the primary channel. I still check my email regularly, but to be honest, my email now is dominated by messages I don't need to pay attention to. I have a 30-minute meeting later to sync on a personnel project. Then I have a two-hour quarterly business review. This is Amazon culture for managing what's going on. Once a quarter, we'll have a QBR for all of our business units. This one is for community health, which is the team that works on our moderation tools. Lunch is usually some form of a sandwich. I'm not a fine-dining person. I just think, why should I spend 30 bucks on a lunch? I can afford 30 bucks on a lunch, but it seems like I don't need it. My generative hours are around midnight There's also times when I need to be generative. I find it hard to be generative in the same space and in the middle of a day. Often, my modus operandi is that I'll get going at 10 or 11 at night, and then I'll just write till one in the morning. This probably was conditioned in me when my kids were young. I was working at NASA at the time, and then Google for some of it. Google is a good example. Folks were staying late at Google in 2005, but I'd still try to get home at 6 or 6:30. I'd spend time with the kids, do dinner, run around outside. Half the time I'd fall asleep while putting them to bed. Then I'd wake up at 11:00 p.m., start catching up on email and writing stuff. People always joked that they would get these notes from me at 3:00 a.m. I hang out and sing on livestream Today my work day ends at 3 p.m. because I'm streaming tonight. I'm doing my first full charity stream with an organization GCX for St. Jude's. The beauty of streaming is very little goes into prepping it. I streamed Tuesday night and the prep work that went into the stream was: I showed up in the room where we have a piano, I turned on the computer, I made sure my OBS configuration was right, and I hit "Go live." On that stream, I talked with the community some, but then I played probably a handful of songs. Sometimes I like to drop in on other streamers and hang out with them. On that stream, I knocked on T Pain's stream and we hung out for like 45 minutes chatting. Then I did an hour more of songs and signed off. The other day I was mostly playing Tyler Childers' songs. I'm a big fan of Zach Bryan, so I do a lot of his songs. Sturgill Simpson, Gregory Alan Isakov, and this guy Jeffrey Martin, who I think is amazing. Everybody knows "Let It Be" or "Take Me Home, Country Road" or "Piano Man," but those aren't the ones I usually choose. I consider myself a mediocre piano player, but as I'm improvising, it sounds like I know what I'm doing. I read and spend time with my kids after work If I'm at home, I'll do something with the kids at night. My son's 23, my daughter's 27. My daughter has an 11-month-old now. We all live close to each other. I'm the one who often did the cooking, but that's just because I'm a functional cook. I pick some form of protein, a tri-tip, steak, salmon, chicken. I pick something to do with potatoes, and then they're like five vegetables that are my go-to. It's fairly repetitive. I mostly cook at home. I can't remember the last time I had a non-work dinner where we made a reservation. I'll watch TV shows, but I don't watch many movies anymore. I just watched "Paradise." I liked "Your Friends and Neighbors" and "The Penguin." A little bit of drama, but not a horror thing. When it's time to wind down around 10:30 to 11 p.m., I'll lie down and read. I just finished reading "Long Island" by Colm Tóibín. I like novels, but I'm not really a Tom Clancy novel reader. I'm much more of a literary novel reader, something that has emotional connection. One of my favorite authors is Cormac McCarthy and his book "The Road." I've read it a few times. I fall asleep fairly quickly once I've started reading. Ten minutes and I'm getting sleepy.
Business Insider
24-07-2025
- Lifestyle
- Business Insider
A day in the life of Mark Cuban: He reveals his productivity hack — and how everyone can use it
One of our biggest series this year is Power Hours, an inside look at the daily routines of top executives, founders, and creatives across industries. We want to understand what makes these people tick: why one wakes up at 4:15 a.m. to hydrate and meditate, another runs a 10K after arriving at the office, and a third moonlights as a Lyft driver. BI's Power Hours series gives readers an inside look at how powerful leaders in business structure their workday. See more stories from the series here, or reach out to the editor Lauryn Haas to share your daily routine. When we reached out to Mark Cuban, we figured he'd be ripe for this series — a billionaire who has founded several companies, invested in hundreds of small businesses, and hosted the popular TV show " Shark Tank." His response: "My day is boring." "I read and respond to emails," he wrote in an email. "I work out. I read and respond to emails. I do a couple Zooms. Then I read and respond to emails. Then I eat dinner. Then I read and respond to emails." (To be fair, he also shared that he follows his morning email session with decaf coffee, a cookie, and a shower, before taking his daughter to school, then working out at Life Time Fitness, taking a second shower — and returning to email.) This raises the question: Why is a billionaire spending most of his day in his inbox? What's so great about email? And why doesn't he hire an assistant to do all this emailing? We had to investigate. So we sent him more emails. Here's what he told us (via email). Mark Cuban: I receive around 700 emails a day and use three phones (two Android and one iPhone) to manage everything. I'd rather get 700 to 1,000 emails than sit in long, boring meetings. I can easily search them decades later. I have emails going back to the 90s. It's asynchronous. I can write or respond any time, from anywhere in the world. That makes things much easier. There's also really no limit to the type or format of the content. I can include it in emails or attach whatever. Everyone has email. In 2025, I don't know anyone who doesn't. It's fast. Particularly now, with Google's auto replies. For maybe 10 to 20% of my emails, I just have to choose one of Gmail's recommendations. If not, I can usually give very short responses. People expect them from me. How do you keep your inbox organized? Do you use filters, folders, or an email extension? I have folders. I used to have too many emails, and Gmail couldn't keep up, so I had to segregate them into different accounts. Now, that typically isn't an issue. I spend most of my day trying to get my unreads under 20. It acts as my tickler file and keeps what's important to me, right in front of me. Have you ever hired someone to help manage your email? If so, how did that go? If not, have you considered it? Never. That just slows things down. I started sending messages in the 1980s on CompuServe. It was fast and easy. For my company back then, I had everyone get an address. It worked great then, too. I still have a bunch of those folders with emails! Do you ever ignore your email (like on vacation)? Or do you always keep up with it? For a short period of time, sure. But for a full day or longer, only in extraordinary situations like a special event for a family member. I have a hard time disconnecting. It's faster to just get it out of the way. Do you like to achieve Inbox Zero? Won't ever happen. I get down under 10 now and then, but I also use my unreads as a reminder of what I need to get done today. Would you ever consider letting AI write your emails? Only the autoreply. Anything else, if I have a long response, I might use AI as a typing hack to save time, but I'm typically going to add some flavor somewhere. For a long, long time. Usually commenting that I'll respond or create emails at all hours of the day. Which is fact. If it comes to mind, I'm writing and sending. Or if the only time I have to clean up my inbox is after everyone is in bed, that's when I'll work.
Business Insider
23-07-2025
- Lifestyle
- Business Insider
Mark Cuban reveals his productivity hack — and everyone can use it
One of our biggest series this year is Power Hours, an inside look at the daily routines of top executives, founders, and creatives across industries. We want to understand what makes these people tick: why one wakes up at 4:15 a.m. to hydrate and meditate, another runs a 10K after arriving at the office, and a third moonlights as a Lyft driver. BI's Power Hours series gives readers an inside look at how powerful leaders in business structure their workday. See more stories from the series here, or reach out to the editor Lauryn Haas to share your daily routine. When we reached out to Mark Cuban, we figured he'd be ripe for this series — a billionaire who has founded several companies, invested in hundreds of small businesses, and hosted the popular TV show " Shark Tank." His response: "My day is boring." "I read and respond to emails," he wrote in an email. "I work out. I read and respond to emails. I do a couple Zooms. Then I read and respond to emails. Then I eat dinner. Then I read and respond to emails." (To be fair, he also shared that he follows his morning email session with decaf coffee, a cookie, and a shower, before taking his daughter to school, then working out at LifeTime Fitness, taking a second shower — and returning to email). This raises the question: Why is a billionaire spending most of his day in his inbox? What's so great about email? And why doesn't he hire an assistant to do all this emailing? We had to investigate. So we sent him more emails. Here's what he told us (via email). Mark Cuban: I receive around 700 emails a day and use three phones (two Android and one iPhone) to manage everything. I'd rather get 700 to 1,000 emails than sit in long, boring meetings. I can easily search them decades later. I have emails going back to the 90s. It's asynchronous. I can write or respond any time, from anywhere in the world. That makes things much easier. There's also really no limit to the type or format of the content. I can include it in emails or attach whatever. Everyone has email. In 2025, I don't know anyone who doesn't. It's fast. Particularly now, with Google's auto replies. For maybe 10 to 20% of my emails, I just have to choose one of Gmail's recommendations. If not, I can usually give very short responses. People expect them from me. How do you keep your inbox organized? Do you use filters, folders, or an email extension? I have folders. I used to have too many emails, and Gmail couldn't keep up, so I had to segregate them into different accounts. Now, that typically isn't an issue. I spend most of my day trying to get my unreads under 20. It acts as my tickler file and keeps what's important to me, right in front of me. Have you ever hired someone to help manage your email? If so, how did that go? If not, have you considered it? Never. That just slows things down. I started sending messages in the 1980s on CompuServe. It was fast and easy. For my company back then, I had everyone get an address. It worked great then, too. I still have a bunch of those folders with emails! Do you ever ignore your email (like on vacation)? Or do you always keep up with it? For a short period of time, sure. But for a full day or longer, only in extraordinary situations like a special event for a family member. I have a hard time disconnecting. It's faster to just get it out of the way. Do you like to achieve Inbox Zero? Won't ever happen. I get down under 10 now and then, but I also use my unreads as a reminder of what I need to get done today. Would you ever consider letting AI write your emails? Only the autoreply. Anything else, if I have a long response, I might use AI as a typing hack to save time, but I'm typically going to add some flavor somewhere. For a long, long time. Usually commenting that I'll respond or create emails at all hours of the day. Which is fact. If it comes to mind, I'm writing and sending. Or if the only time I have to clean up my inbox is after everyone is in bed, that's when I'll work.
