Time is money—especially when you’re Brian Moynihan and running one of the largest banks in the world. For the Bank of America CEO, prioritizing punctuality isn’t just a matter of professionalism; it’s a sign of respect.
The banking chief starts his day before the crack of dawn, reading through five different newspapers, catching up on overnight emails, and fitting in a workout—all before 7 a.m.
And by the time he arrives at his office in Charlotte each morning, he expects the same respect for time from the bank’s more than 212,000 employees.
“We have a pretty big history in this company—if you’re late, you’re actually selfish, and that’s ingrained in people,” Moynihan said in a recent interview with NBC News. “So we try to always be on time, not because we say you have to be on time, like it’s some rule, but you’re being selfish to other people involved.”
Moynihan acknowledged that keeping such a regimented schedule is easier with the help of a “great assistant.” But his emphasis on workplace discipline extends far beyond his own calendar. Under his leadership, Bank of America has taken a firm stance on in-office attendance. In 2024, the bank reportedly issued warning notices—what it called “letters of education”—to employees who failed to comply with its requirement to work from the office at least three days a week.
But as the second-largest bank by revenue in the U.S. behind JPMorgan Chase, competition remains fierce to maintain and grow its over 70 million client base.
Last year, Moynihan took home a base salary of $1.5 million—with equity incentive awards totaling $39.5 million, up 17% from the year prior. The company’s stock, though, has been relatively stagnant so far this year, up less than 1% YTD.
As the leader of one of the largest financial institutions in the world, Moynihan isn’t immune to long hours and high-pressure situations. But the 66-year-old’s secret to staying ahead of the curve, he’s said, is simple: preparation.
“I think the antidote to anything is preparation,” he told Fortune last year. “I’m not a professional athlete, but you watch the great professional athletes and, when you watch them, what happens is, when times get tough, they slow the world down. And some do it by techniques. You can see the breathing techniques, but others just do it by just how they mentally focus, and I think so it’s the same [in] business.”
Even after being in the CEO role for 16 years, he said that something as intense as an earnings call never gets old.
“Honestly, if you believe in what you’re saying—and you should only say what you believe in—and if you’re confident in your message, you deliver. But are you nervous every time? Yeah, because it’s your chance to have impact.”
Even still, nothing brings him back to earth quite like time with his family, including his two grandchildren.
“Nothing removes you from the days of whatever’s going on in life [than] a 3-week-old baby, or an 18-month-old—and just watch the simplicity of that,” he added to NBC.
Moynihan isn’t the only executive with strong feelings about meeting etiquette. While many CEOs have complained that meetings consume too much of the workday, they also argue that once a meeting is on the calendar, employees owe one another their full attention.
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has repeatedly said that he’d like to “kill meetings.” But he has also made clear that if a meeting is necessary, showing up prepared and engaged is a matter of respect.
“When I go to a meeting, I’ve done the pre-reads, and you get 100% of my attention,” the JPMorgan head said at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women summit last year.
“None of this nodding off, none of this reading my mail,” Dimon added. “If you have an iPad in front of me and it looks like you’re reading your email or getting notifications, I tell you to close the damn thing. It’s disrespectful.”
Meanwhile, Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Johnson has taken aim at too many meetings filling his calendar—leaving him with no time to get “real” work done. He vowed this year to clear his afternoons after Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday to do the calling, writing, or strategizing necessary for the job.
“When you first start, it’s easy to confuse busyness and going to meetings with leadership,” Jordan said on a panel of CEOs at The New York Times DealBook Summit last year. “…Because what we all find, I’m sure, is there’s no time to ‘work,’ and you confuse going to meetings with the work.”
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