According to Fortune, top executives from companies like Salesforce, Visa, Amazon, Zillow, and American Express all check their phones first thing in the morning. Lyft CEO David Risher and Oura CEO Tom Hale both start by checking the Oura app for sleep metrics, while leaders like Gensler’s co-CEO Jordan Goldstein run through all their messaging platforms like Slack and WhatsApp to triage communications. The common apps include LinkedIn, email, weather apps, and news sources like the New York Times, with executives using them to strategize their day and stay informed. The habits were highlighted at Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech conference this September, showing that even leaders of billion-dollar companies, like the $11 billion Oura’s Tom Hale, are plugged in from the moment they wake up.
The Myth of the Detached CEO
Here’s the thing: this report basically shatters the image of the serene, disconnected executive who meditates for an hour before touching technology. Nope. They’re just as hooked as the rest of us. Frank Cooper III, Visa’s CMO, even admits he’s “addicted to LinkedIn.” I think that’s kind of refreshing? It humanizes them. But it also highlights a massive, unspoken pressure. That “quick run through all the instant messages” that Goldstein describes isn’t just curiosity—it’s a pre-emptive strike against the day’s chaos. They’re not just browsing; they’re mentally building their battle plan before their feet hit the floor.
Wellness as a Leadership KPI
Now, the most fascinating trend here is the immediate pivot to biometric data. It’s not just about emails anymore. For CEOs like Risher and Hale, the first metric of the day isn’t revenue—it’s sleep score and readiness. This signals a huge shift. Personal wellness is being framed as the foundational input for professional performance. If your Oura ring says you had a bad night, does that change your 10 a.m. investor call? For these guys, probably. It turns self-optimization into a continuous, data-driven feedback loop that starts the second you open your eyes.
The Morning Ritual is Triage
And that’s the real common thread: triage. Whether it’s Slack messages, urgent emails, or global news headlines, these morning routines are all about filtering. Goldstein talks about separating what needs a response now from what can wait for breakfast. That’s the core skill of modern leadership, distilled into a 5-minute phone scroll. It’s constant priority management. So while the apps themselves are mundane—Slack, Outlook, a weather app—the cognitive process they enable is anything but. It’s about regaining a sliver of control before the storm of the day hits.
What It Means for Everyone Else
But let’s be skeptical for a second. If the C-suite is already deep in Slack at 6 a.m., what does that signal to the company culture? It normalizes being “always on” from the top down. There’s an implicit pressure there. On the other hand, their use of news and LinkedIn shows they’re deeply aware of external context—market shifts, tech trends, competitor moves. They’re not just managing inward. The takeaway? The modern executive’s mind is a dashboard, and their morning phone check is booting up all the vital gauges: internal comms, external intelligence, and personal capacity. Basically, they’re logging in to work before they even log in to work.
