ServiceNow CFO: 14-Hour Days and 4-Hour Sleep Are a 'Terrible Example'

ServiceNow's president and CFO Gina Mastantuono has a blunt message for executives who brag about 14-hour days and four hours of sleep: stop. Speaking at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit in Santa Barbara on Tuesday, she called the habit a damaging signal to everyone below the corner office.

"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," Mastantuono 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."

That is a notable admission from the finance chief of a company that sells productivity software to large enterprises. ServiceNow's business case rests on automating work; its CFO is now arguing that more hours at the desk produce worse outcomes. The summit exchange, moderated by Hatch, did not address whether ServiceNow has changed its own internal policies on working hours—Mastantuono spoke only about culture and personal habits.

What does the research actually say?

Mastantuono's claim has backing in the academic literature. A University of Florida meta-analysis of nearly 200 studies found that recovery from work is associated with better sleep, improved mental health, and increased long-term life satisfaction. The gap, Mastantuono argued, is not in the evidence but in the behavior of senior leaders.

"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."

The athletic framing is deliberate. Mastantuono has long promoted fitness as a driver of both personal health and leadership quality, and she argued that while recovery has entered mainstream culture through sports, it has not permeated the vocabulary or habits of business executives. Senior employees, she said, still embody toxic ideas about overworking.

The caveat: Mastantuono cited no internal ServiceNow data on productivity, attrition, or burnout. Her evidence was personal. She said recovery improved her own work-life balance by sharpening her ability to listen rather than react, and to stay calm under pressure—which, in turn, 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.

Why is an Olympic medalist in this conversation?

The panel also featured Janet Evans, a four-time Olympic medalist in swimming and chief athlete officer of LA28, the organizing committee for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles. Evans knows recovery from competition—but said she still needs reminders to step back.

Hers came from LA28 CEO Reynold Hoover, a three-star former U.S. Army Lieutenant General who leans on military phrasing around the office. Evans recalled his advice:

"No one's guns are drawn. No one is shooting each other. So Janet, you're gonna figure this out tomorrow."

The takeaway is simple: a leader who treats every deadline as a firefight trains the organization to do the same, and the costs land on sleep, health, and decision quality.

What is the so-what for executives?

For a Fortune-caliber audience, the message lands as a management warning, not a wellness lecture. The research is settled; the behavior is not. Executives who model exhaustion as a badge of honor—four hours of sleep stretched across 14-hour days—should expect their teams to copy the habit, with the performance costs the University of Florida data implies. As LA28's preparations ramp toward the 2028 Games, even its chief athlete officer is being told the work can wait until morning.