Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, on work-life balance as a CEO: ‘I’ll still chaperone the first-year field trip’
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, has a lot on her plate: she’s founder and CEO of home and lifestyle brand As Ever, is a mother of two, owns media arm Archewell Productions, and oversees her charitable work through the Archewell Foundation, which she founded with husband Prince Harry in 2020.
But the Duchess doesn’t let her work and charitable demands stop her from spending time with her family.
“I want work-life balance, if such a thing exists,” she told FortuneMost Powerful Women Conference in Washington, DC, Tuesday. “I’ll always go chaperone the first graders’ field trip, then run back and try to finish the meetings.” She also recently told Strive podcast with Emma Grede, she loves preparing her children’s lunches. “It sounds ridiculous, but I love it,” the Duchess said.
Meghan said her team at As Ever was fewer than 10 people. The duchess said she remained heavily involved in the creative side of her brand, which sells homewares like marmalades, teas and cookie mixes, but was also involved in the math.
“The brand is an extension of my aesthetic,” she said FortuneAlyson Shontell, editor-in-chief of . “But it’s more than that. The operational side is key. I’m constantly looking for ways to adjust our margins. [and what] our expenses look like [by] I really go through the P&L.
The Duchess launched As Ever this year with Netflix as its main investor and partner, and demand has been strong. Some of her products sold out within hours, although Markle says her team thought supplies would last for weeks.
What other CEOs say about work-life balance
Many CEOs of large companies don’t necessarily prioritize work-life balance; many view work as life and life as work.
In fact, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Reid Hoffman have spoken out against work-life balance. Bezos recently said he sees it as more of a “work-life harmony.”
“If you’re happy at home, you’ll be better at work,” he said at Italian Tech Week earlier this month. “If you’re better at work, you’ll be better at home. These things go hand in hand. It’s not a strict trade-off.”
Hoffman, meanwhile, said that for founders to be successful, they must be “committed to winning.”
“The only great founders are [the ones who are] like, ‘I’m literally going to go all out to do this,'” he said in Stanford University’s How to Start a Startup course in 2014.
Cerebras co-founder and CEO Andrew Feldman also recently issued a stark warning to startup founders: “This idea that somehow you can achieve greatness, you can build something extraordinary by working 38 hours a week and keeping a work-life balance, it’s mind-boggling to me.
“That’s not true in any walk of life,” he said.
Yet some CEOs have a similar view to the Duchess when it comes to work-life balance. Indra Nooyi, for example, said at the 2019 congress Fortune At the MPW conference, although “work and family are going to be a challenge,” it is a critical issue that needs to be addressed within the labor market.
“When bias occurs within the workforce, it takes away women’s confidence,” she said. “When it attacks your confidence, it attacks your competence.”
