Netflix cofounder says he stopped work at 5 p.m. every Tuesday for 30 years to stay ‘sane,’ no matter the crisis: ‘Nothing got in the way of that’

Business leaders love to debate the myth of work-life balance. But for Netflix cofounder Marc Randolph, the rule was simple: every Tuesday at 5 p.m., he walked out—no matter what.

“I’ve worked hard, for my entire career, to keep my life balanced with my job,” Randolph wrote in 2023 LinkedIn post that has recirculated on social media. 

“For over thirty years, I had a hard cut-off on Tuesdays. Rain or shine, I left at exactly 5 p.m. and spent the evening with my best friend. We would go to a movie, have dinner, or just go window-shopping downtown together.”

It’s no question that it can be difficult for founders and CEOs to set strict work-life boundaries; sometimes they need to tune into late-night meetings with clients in different time zones, or feel that they should always be on call in times of business emergency. 

But even while serving as chief executive of $416 billion entertainment giant Netflix for seven years, Randolph stuck true to his Tuesday exception for the sake of his sanity. 

“Nothing got in the way of that,” Randolph said. “No meeting, no conference call, no last-minute question or request. If you had something to say to me on Tuesday afternoon at 4:55, you had better say it on the way to the parking lot.........

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