TIME
United's chief caps meetings at four hours and reads for three
Scott Kirby, the 59-year-old chief executive of United Airlines, limits himself to a maximum of four hours of meetings a day and spends roughly three hours reading. He wakes naturally at 5:30 a.m. after about eight and a half hours of sleep, gives email five minutes, and finishes around two books a week alongside The Wall Street Journal and about five magazines.
The calendar is built backwards from where United intends to be, not from what arrives each morning. Kirby has said his job is to look over the horizon rather than at yesterday's metrics, and the company's commitments run years out: more than 250 aircraft to be delivered by April 2028 and 10 new overseas destinations announced for 2027. He received $32.3 million in total compensation for 2025.
Source: Entrepreneur · September 15, 2026