When you’re at the helm of a billion-dollar corporation, stress comes with the territory—so CEOs are turning to personal rituals and deliberate routines to stay sharp and avoid burnout. Ivan Espinosa, CEO of $8.5 billion Japanese car giant Nissan, decompresses from the job by jamming out with his band and hitting the tennis courts each weekend.
“How do I manage stress? Well, I try to continue being myself,” Espinosa said in a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal. “So I like to play tennis on the weekends. If I can’t, I play golf. And I also am a musician.”
The Mexican national first joined Nissan back in 2003 as a product specialist in the company’s Mexico planning division; after rising through the ranks and holding senior positions in Thailand and Europe, Espinosa finally moved to Nissan’s global headquarters in Japan in 2016. He also held a litany of leadership roles before assuming the role of CEO last April.
Throughout a whirlwind career like Espinosa’s—bouncing around different companies, and taking on greater responsibilities—stress is bound to creep in. However, reconnecting to himself through music and exercise has kept his cortisol down.
“I like to play the drums, so I have a band; every now and then we get together, and we play for a while,” the Nissan leader continued. “This helps me [stay] real and … true to myself.”
How leaders manage stress: Meditation and runs on the beach
CEOs are falling into their own rhythms to manage the pressure from their high-profile, stressful positions in the business world.
Michael Tennant, founder and CEO of purpose-driven venture studio Curiosity Lab, has perfected a formula to combat stress. Right after waking up, the leader meditates, journals, and zeroes in on the most critical task of the day. He front-loads his day with work that is creative and inspires him, then slides into difficult and intense leadership tasks.
“My morning routine is the biggest part of my stress management,” Tennant told Fortune in 2023. “This routine gives me the space to assess everything in my world, set daily priorities, and take action toward achieving them that day.”
Adam Ross, cofounder of skin-care services business Heyday, fends off stress in the same “cathartic” way as Espinosa: exercise. And it’s a popular choice among business leaders; Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts CEO Alejandro Reynal makes fitness a priority in leading the billion-dollar luxury hotel chain. He jump-starts his day with an early morning workout, and combats burnout by taking time to find calm before the office grind.
“Routine helps me stay grounded: I start my mornings early, exercise or run on the beach, have breakfast with my family, and take a few quiet moments before the day begins,” Reynal told Harvard Business Review last year. “Most stress fades when you reconnect with purpose—and remember that what we do is about people, not pressure.”
Meanwhile, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos handles his stress in a completely different way. The entrepreneur worth $268 billion wards off stress by confronting his anxieties head-on—whether it requires sending an email, or picking up the phone to smooth things out.
“Stress primarily comes from not taking action over something that you can have some control over,” Bezos told the Academy of Achievement in 2001. “I find as soon as I identify it, and make the first phone call, or send off the first email message, or whatever it is that we’re going to do to start to address that situation—even if it’s not solved—the mere fact that we’re addressing it dramatically reduces any stress that might come from it.”
