Like Jamie Dimon, Databricks CEO hates days with too many meetings. He says it means he gets nothing done and he’s just got ‘monkeys on his back’

Databricks CEO Ali Ghodsi dislikes days filled with meetings, saying they leave him accomplishing little and feeling overwhelmed. Ghodsi maintains a compressed calendar, attempting to avoid scheduling meetings entirely, reserving blocks of time for focusing on the company's biggest issues. He holds weekly meetings at 8 a.m. to identify the main problem and collaborate on solutions.

Ghodsi strongly dislikes a day packed with back-to-back meetings, feeling it reduces him to a "slave to my calendar" and having "monkeys on my back." He emphasizes avoiding a calendar full of meetings, stating such days are unproductive. While Ghodsi leads a younger company, CEOs at larger, more established firms have expressed similar frustrations over meetings monopolizing schedules.

Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Jordan warned against confusing busyness with effectiveness, while United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby caps his meetings at four hours daily, preferring quick, conversational discussions over lengthy presentations. Notably, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has been particularly vocal about his distaste for meetings, urging them to be treated with the same focus as other critical work, "Kill meetings," he declared in his 2024 shareholder letter.