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Scott Kirby fiercely protects his time. The 59-year-old United Airlines CEO limits his schedule to a maximum of four hours of meetings a day, pushing back on the norm of CEOs in back-to-back, marathon meetings.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When he does make time for a meeting, he expects a real exchange of ideas. He doesn\u2019t want a presenter reciting a PowerPoint presentation that everyone can read for themselves in their own time; he wants to talk.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMy meetings are also quick, and my meetings are almost all conversational,\u201d Kirby said in a recent interview with Semafor<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n By keeping his calendar under control, Kirby devotes more attention to the strategic decisions he considers more important.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe further you go in your career, certainly by the time you\u2019re the CEO, your job is not to work hard; it\u2019s to think hard,\u201d Kirby said. \u201cIf you\u2019re spending your time looking at yesterday\u2019s detailed metrics, you\u2019re doing the wrong thing.\u201d<\/p>\n Kirby received $32.3 million in total compensation for 2025, making him the highest-paid airline CEO<\/a> last year. He has to make bets years before passengers see the results, from aircraft orders to route planning.\u00a0<\/p>\n His forward-thinking role explains why he guards time for thinking, outside of meetings.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMy job is to be focused over the horizon \u2014 what\u2019s coming that no one else sees yet,\u201d Kirby said. \u201cIt is not to be focused on what happened yesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n Kirby told Business Insider that he begins most days before sunrise. He sleeps about eight-and-a-half hours and wakes up naturally at 5:30 a.m. He devotes five minutes of attention to email before he turns to exercise and reading.<\/p>\n Reading occupies about three hours of Kirby\u2019s typical day. He works through The Wall Street Journal<\/em> cover to cover, reads selected New York Times<\/em> coverage and keeps up with roughly five magazines as they arrive. He also finishes about two books a week, moving between biographies, history, science and science fiction.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cReading, I think, is the number one thing you can do to connect dots, which I think I\u2019m good at that other people don\u2019t see,\u201d Kirby said.<\/p>\n Kirby sets a meeting limit to preserve time for the work he views as most important, including making long-term decisions. That focus is especially important as United pursues an expansive growth agenda.\u00a0<\/p>\n United plans to take delivery of more than 250 aircraft<\/a> by April 2028. The newer planes are central to United\u2019s push to refresh its fleet and add capacity.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Chicago-based company is also making its largest international network expansion to date, announcing 10 additional overseas destinations<\/a> for 2027. The new routes include service to cities like Okinawa, Japan and Ibiza and Valencia, Spain.\u00a0<\/p>\n On board, United is trying to stand out from rivals like Delta with a better digital experience. More than 400 United aircraft had Starlink Wi\u2011Fi as of June, and the airline said<\/a> it expected to equip nearly 1,000 planes by the end of the year.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Scott Kirby fiercely protects his time. The 59-year-old United Airlines CEO limits his schedule to a maximum of four hours of meetings a day, pushing back on the norm of CEOs in back-to-back, marathon meetings.\u00a0<\/p>\n When he does make time for a meeting, he expects a real exchange of ideas. He doesn\u2019t want a presenter reciting a PowerPoint presentation that everyone can read for themselves in their own time; he wants to talk.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMy meetings are also quick, and my meetings are almost all conversational,\u201d Kirby said in a recent interview with Semafor<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\nKirby\u2019s daily routine<\/h2>\n
United\u2019s long-term strategy<\/h2>\n
Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n
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