United CEO Limits Meetings, Prioritizes Daily Reading Habit

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby has built a reputation for guarding his schedule fiercely, capping meetings at no more than four hours a day. Rather than sitting through back-to-back sessions common among top executives, Kirby insists on a different approach entirely.

Conversational Meetings Over Slide Presentations

When Kirby does attend meetings, he expects genuine dialogue rather than a rehash of information everyone could read independently. He has described his sessions as brief and driven by real conversation, not PowerPoint recitations. This philosophy stems from his belief that senior leadership should focus on strategic thinking rather than operational minutiae. According to Kirby, the higher one rises in a career, the less the job is about working hard and the more it becomes about thinking hard.

A Reading-Heavy Daily Routine

Kirby’s schedule reflects this mindset. He wakes naturally around 5:30 a.m. after roughly eight and a half hours of sleep, spends just five minutes on email, then dedicates about three hours daily to reading. His routine includes working through The Wall Street Journal, selected New York Times articles, around five magazines, and roughly two books each week spanning biographies, history, science, and science fiction. Kirby credits this habit with helping him identify patterns and connections others might miss.

This disciplined focus supports United’s ambitious growth plans, including delivery of over 250 new aircraft by April 2028 and the airline’s largest-ever international expansion, adding 10 new overseas destinations for 2027, including Okinawa, Japan, and cities in Spain. United is also expanding Starlink Wi-Fi access across its fleet, aiming to equip nearly 1,000 planes by year’s end. Kirby earned $32.3 million in total compensation in 2025, making him the highest-paid airline CEO that year.