ServiceNow president and chief financial officer Gina Mastantuono said leaders who boast about 14-hour days and four hours of sleep are setting a 'terrible example' for their teams.
Speaking at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit in Santa Barbara, Calif. on Tuesday, Mastantuono said too many senior employees still cling to the idea that overwork proves commitment. 'There's always been this—if you have to work 14-hour days and you get four hours sleep, and that shows that you're working the hardest and you deserve the most,' she told Alicia Hatch, U.S. Sports chief commercial officer and women’s sports leader at Deloitte. 'And in fact, that is such a terrible example for the people around us.'
Mastantuono said recovery should be treated as part of performance, not as an afterthought. 'Recovery is part of the performance; it's not secondary,' she said. 'Muscle doesn't grow when we pump out at the gym. It grows when we're sleeping at night and letting the muscles recover.'
She added that prioritizing recovery has changed how she works and leads, helping her listen more, react less and stay calm under pressure. That, she said, has helped her teams execute more effectively. 'When we do focus on taking care of ourselves, then we are much better bosses, much better colleagues, much better parents,' she said.
Mastantuono's comments fit a broader business debate over boundaries, productivity and the cost of burnout. Research cited at the summit included a University of Florida meta-analysis of nearly 200 studies that found recovery from work is associated with better sleep, improved mental health and increased long-term life satisfaction.
The market has already voted on the old badge-of-honor model for exhaustion. Capital rewards clear rules, and workplaces run better when leaders stop confusing burnout with merit. The real question for executives is whether they want productive teams or just performative sacrifice.
Power leaves a paper trail, and this one is easy to read: employees take cues from the top. If leaders normalize sleep deprivation, they export that standard through the organization. If they normalize recovery, they may get better judgment, steadier execution and stronger margins over time.
