CEOs Protect Mornings Like Fort Knox, Still Check Phones Religiously

KEY POINTS

•Business Insider's 2025 Power Hours reveal executives fiercely protect sacred mornings with early wake-ups and structured routines.
•Leaders like Stacey Kennedy and Meredith Whittaker combine yoga, protein shakes, and quick email checks before office hours to start their day.
•Mark Cuban processes up to 1,000 daily emails across three phones to avoid endless meetings, proving email overload is a status symbol.

Since Business Insider launched Power Hours in 2025, we’ve learned CEOs have mornings more guarded than the Crown Jewels at 6:30 a.m. Stacey Kennedy of Philip Morris squeezes email-checking into a five-minute window before a neighborhood mindful walk and yoga. Meanwhile, Signal’s Meredith Whittaker preps with protein shakes, cardamom coffee, dance music, chores, yoga, and a side of AI news. Paris Hilton's husband, VC Carter Reum, dodges inbox tyranny by brandishing a priorities list before opening email chaos—while Mark Cuban crushes 700 to 1,000 emails daily across three phones just to dodge boring meetings. Their shared wisdom? Mornings need ritualized protein, like Will Ahmed's 6-8 eggs or Justin Nedelman’s grilled cold fish salad, to power body and brain before ‘bad things happen’—like missing a dopamine biblically-prescribed gym session at 4:45 a.m. Life advice is clear: meditate to survive Zoom Armageddon and never, ever let your inbox run your life.