Here’s How the CEO of a $13 Billion Social Media Giant Manages Stress
Snap CEO Evan Spiegel tries to see stressful moments as a “gift.”
Key Takeaways
- Evan Spiegel is the CEO of Snap, a social media company with a most recent market value of $13 billion.
- In a recent interview, Spiegel said that he views stress positively, as a “gift” and a “learning opportunity.”
- Other tech leaders, like Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, experience the stress of the CEO job more negatively.
Snap CEO Evan Spiegel manages the pressure of running a $13 billion social media company by reframing the way he thinks about stress and building habits that help him cope with it.
In a recent episode of the Grit podcast, Spiegel said that he views stress positively, calling it a “gift” and a “learning opportunity.” A key part of Spiegel’s approach to stress is to act as a buffer rather than a transmitter of stress. He believes that it is his responsibility to absorb pressure for his team and family rather than unloading it on them. He doesn’t want colleagues or loved ones to feel the weight of his role.
To make that possible, Spiegel relies on practical routines, including regular exercise, sauna sessions and meditation, to manage stress privately. Those habits allow him to keep leading while maintaining emotional stability at home and at work.
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“I’ve tried to find my own ways,” he said on the podcast. “I want to absorb that stress, right? I don’t want to unload that onto people that I care about.”
Spiegel argued that what matters most is how a person frames stress in their own mind. Seeing stress as a positive growth opportunity can have a “huge impact on your ability to manage it,” he said.
Research backs up his claim. Stanford psychologist Kelly McGonigal‘s 2015 book, The Upside of Stress, claimed that viewing stress as a positive challenge rather than something harmful can improve work performance and resilience. This positive mindset became essential for Spiegel after years of high-profile decisions, from turning down Meta’s $3 billion acquisition offer in 2013 to taking Snap public in March 2017.
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Spiegel has been CEO of Snap for over 13 years, so being CEO for the long haul has made him better at managing stress.
“Once you’re just in a rhythm of dealing with stressful events all the time, it becomes very normal,” he said on the podcast.
Other tech leaders have different responses to stressful situations. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, for example, said earlier this month that he lives in a constant “state of anxiety” that Nvidia is “30 days from going out of business,” even though the company is currently the most valuable in the world and reported record revenue of $57 billion for its third quarter last month. Huang said on the podcast that he works “every moment” he is awake and is “exhausted.”
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Key Takeaways
- Evan Spiegel is the CEO of Snap, a social media company with a most recent market value of $13 billion.
- In a recent interview, Spiegel said that he views stress positively, as a “gift” and a “learning opportunity.”
- Other tech leaders, like Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, experience the stress of the CEO job more negatively.
Snap CEO Evan Spiegel manages the pressure of running a $13 billion social media company by reframing the way he thinks about stress and building habits that help him cope with it.
In a recent episode of the Grit podcast, Spiegel said that he views stress positively, calling it a “gift” and a “learning opportunity.” A key part of Spiegel’s approach to stress is to act as a buffer rather than a transmitter of stress. He believes that it is his responsibility to absorb pressure for his team and family rather than unloading it on them. He doesn’t want colleagues or loved ones to feel the weight of his role.
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