2 time management tips Microsoft CMO learned from Bill Gates

In the early years of building his career, Chris Capossela was given a rare opportunity that other 20-year-olds dream of.

Six years after joining Microsoft, a Capossela manager recommended him for an unusual job: to be the speechwriter for then-CEO Bill Gates.

“Things came as a surprise,” said Capossela, chief marketing officer at Microsoft, Inc. “Bill sent an email to the management team describing what he was looking for and someone had forwarded it to me and said, ‘this is a good fit for you, you should try applying.’ It happened by accident, something that was completely out of my plan.”

Capossela spent two years, from 1997 to 1999, working alongside Bill Gates, watching the dot-com revolution unfold alongside one of the tech industry’s most powerful CEOs, co-editing articles televised speeches and assist Gates in live Windows product launches.

To date, Capossela has spent 31 years at Microsoft. He currently holds the role of Chief Marketing Officer, working under CEO Satya Nadella.

One of the most valuable lessons Capossela learned from Bill Gates – and also one of the secrets of his success – is the importance of time management.

Capossela said, Bill Gates always requires to schedule his work in a specific and meticulous way. And it is these time management tips that Capossela learned while working with Bill Gates that has allowed him to achieve the work-life balance he has always wanted.

Here are two of the time management tips Capossela says he learned from Bill Gates.

Plan for the whole year

Instead of just scheduling by week or month, try planning for the whole year ahead.

Capossela followed billionaire Bill Gates to plan the entire year of operation. This period is usually based on the financial year, that is, from July of the previous year to June of the following year.

Planning ahead according to an annual time frame will help you balance your schedule, breaking down goals to be achieved at the end of the year into smaller, more manageable tasks, thereby increasing your productivity. productivity and improved work-life balance, among other benefits.

You don’t need to map out all of your goals or projects for the next 12 months, Capossela adds, but at least outline your goals for the year, important dates, and key dates. vacation or other big events to stay on top of your schedule.

This strategy has helped Capossela plan her work so that she can spend more time on family vacations.

“When the last day of the year comes to an end, I don’t feel stressed about what I haven’t accomplished or what I need to do next, because I actively plan for next year,” he said. Time is our most precious resource, you can’t get it back once it’s lost… So it’s important to ask yourself, ‘How do I want to spend the next year of my life? ‘”

Organize your time into different groups

Do you ever feel like you’re wasting time in constant meetings or replying to too many emails?

It’s a challenge that even Bill Gates, one of the world’s most successful CEOs, has faced. In a 2017 interview, billionaire Bill Gates once shared with TV host Charlie Rose that he sometimes feels he has to take advantage of “every minute” in his schedule to show his seriousness. as a business leader.

But Gates found a creative solution to this problem. Caposella revealed that Bill Gates has broken down and organized his time into different groups, considering the amount of time he spends in each group and adjusting his schedule accordingly.

Capossela learned this way and organized her time into four groups: time spent on human resources (recruiting, hiring, and team management), time spent on corporate strategy, time for marketing and time for customers.

Start with four groups and spend 25% of your daily work on each category, Capossela recommends. Try this method for about 3-4 months and see if it makes you more productive.

“It helps me to manage my time more strategically and organize the tasks that are consuming all my time,” says Capossela.