CEO Binance Changpeng Zhao (CZ) revealed his recipe for time management, advising not to waste time on anything other than knowledge.
A key skill for CZ is learning to say ‘no’. His credo is that what you don’t do is more important than what you do.
He prefers to start any meeting with a warning about a 15-minute limit. Zhao agrees to them only when there is a topic to discuss.
CZ does not participate in any chats — neither personal nor work-related. He has a limited social network, with a few ‘super-connectors’ able to link him to the people he needs.
Zhao does not enjoy shopping. He prefers online purchases in batches of ten wardrobe items, from the top five positions the algorithm offers him.
At home, in his office and in his suitcase, CZ is disorganized. He does not spend time organizing his space.
The CEO of Binance does not cook (no talent, as he says), choosing one of the three dishes seen on the menu—the one that will be on the table fastest. A French dinner is not for him.
CZ does not watch sports broadcasts. The exception was the FIFA World Cup final, because Binance sponsored Argentina’s national team.
He used to watch many films; now he finds them ‘boring’, perhaps because he has ‘aged’.
On social media, on Instagram he follows osteopathy and chiropractic specialists for exercises, and spends a lot of time on Twitter. TikTok and the like are not for him.
Zhao believes that many news items can be packaged into a digest that one can devote at most 30 seconds to. He allocates no more than 10 seconds to reading news notes.
CZ listens to books at 2.5x speed under almost any circumstances when not at work. He especially values flights, when he can ‘devour 2-3 books’ per flight. Last year Zhao spent more than 600 hours on board.
Book choices are recommendations from friends and algorithms. He often does not finish them, and the ones he loves he re-listens to and buys electronic versions.
As reported, Zhao estimated the 75% share of AI in Binance’s customer-support responses, risk management, transaction monitoring, fraud detection and market manipulation.
Earlier, CZ revealed details of the creation and development of the Bitcoin exchange, denying its ties to Chinese authorities.