Khozema Shipchandler begins his workday as early as 4:30 a.m., checks email, stays on the job until about 9 p.m., and runs laps around the house to blow off steam. He allows a six-to-eight-hour window on Saturdays to not think about work. He links his discipline to parents who immigrated from Mumbai and instilled a work-hard/play-hard ethic. Early career effort led to rapid advancement, becoming CFO of a multi-billion-dollar GE business at 31 and later CEO of Twilio. He argues that sacrifice and long hours distinguish leaders from others, contrasting with younger workers seeking stricter boundaries.
For most 20-something-year-olds fresh out of college, 4:30 a.m. is when the night ends, after a night of partying. For Twilio's CEO, Khozema Shipchandler, it was the beginning of his day. The 51-year-old exec says he's always been a morning person-on weekdays, at least-and that starting his day while others slept is why he got ahead faster than most. "I was kind of built that way," he tells Fortune, adding that you set "benchmarks based on your life experiences."
"My parents were the classic immigrant success story, and as with many immigrant parents, they wanted their kids to do better than them and to create the opportunities for them," he reflected on his family, who moved to the U.S. from Mumbai. "They really pushed working hard and playing hard-which, by the way, I do play hard when I'm not working-so that was the goal."
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