{"id":7818,"date":"2026-04-19T03:33:53","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T03:33:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/7818\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T03:33:53","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T03:33:53","slug":"the-ceo-of-8-5-billion-japanese-car-giant-nissan-plays-the-drums-in-a-band-and-hits-the-tennis-courts-to-destress-from-the-top-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/7818\/","title":{"rendered":"The CEO of $8.5 billion Japanese car giant Nissan plays the drums in a band and hits the tennis courts to destress from the top job"},"content":{"rendered":"

When you\u2019re at the helm of a billion-dollar corporation, stress comes<\/a> with the territory\u2014so CEOs are turning to<\/a> personal rituals and deliberate routines to stay sharp and avoid burnout. Ivan Espinosa<\/a>, CEO of $8.5 billion Japanese car giant Nissan<\/a>, decompresses from the job by jamming out with his band and hitting the tennis courts each weekend.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do I manage stress? Well, I try to continue being myself,\u201d Espinosa said in a recent interview with<\/a> the Wall Street Journal. \u201cSo I like to play tennis on the weekends. If I can\u2019t, I play golf. And I also am a musician.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Mexican national first joined Nissan<\/a> back in 2003 as a product specialist in the company\u2019s Mexico planning division; after rising through the ranks and holding senior positions in Thailand and Europe, Espinosa finally moved to Nissan\u2019s global headquarters in Japan in 2016. He also held a litany of leadership roles before assuming the role of CEO last April.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Throughout a whirlwind career like Espinosa\u2019s\u2014bouncing around different companies, and taking on greater responsibilities\u2014stress is bound to creep in. However, reconnecting to himself through music and exercise has kept his cortisol down.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI like to play the drums, so I have a band; every now and then we get together, and we play for a while,\u201d the Nissan<\/a> leader continued. \u201cThis helps me [stay] real and \u2026 true to myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

How leaders manage stress: Meditation and runs on the beach<\/p>\n

CEOs are falling into their own rhythms to manage the pressure from their high-profile, stressful positions in the business world.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Michael Tennant, founder and CEO of purpose-driven venture studio Curiosity Lab, has perfected a formula to combat stress. Right after waking up<\/a>, the leader meditates, journals, and zeroes in on the most critical task of the day. He front-loads his day with work that is creative and inspires him, then slides into difficult and intense leadership tasks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMy morning routine is the biggest part of my stress management,\u201d Tennant told Fortune<\/a> in 2023. \u201cThis routine gives me the space to assess everything in my world, set daily priorities, and take action toward achieving them that day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam Ross, cofounder of skin-care services business Heyday, fends off stress<\/a> in the same \u201ccathartic\u201d way as Espinosa: exercise. And it\u2019s a popular choice among business leaders; Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts CEO Alejandro Reynal makes fitness a priority in leading the billion-dollar luxury hotel chain. He jump-starts his day with an early morning workout, and combats burnout by taking time to find calm before the office grind.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cRoutine helps me stay grounded: I start my mornings early, exercise or run on the beach, have breakfast with my family, and take a few quiet moments before the day begins,\u201d Reynal told Harvard Business Review<\/a> last year. \u201cMost stress fades when you reconnect with purpose\u2014and remember that what we do is about people, not pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Amazon<\/a> founder Jeff Bezos<\/a> handles his stress in a completely different way<\/a>. The entrepreneur worth $268 billion wards off stress by confronting his anxieties head-on\u2014whether it requires sending an email, or picking up the phone to smooth things out.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cStress primarily comes from not taking action over something that you can have some control over,\u201d Bezos told the<\/a> Academy of Achievement in 2001. \u201cI find as soon as I identify it, and make the first phone call, or send off the first email message, or whatever it is that we\u2019re going to do to start to address that situation\u2014even if it\u2019s not solved\u2014the mere fact that we\u2019re addressing it dramatically reduces any stress that might come from it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When you\u2019re at the helm of a billion-dollar corporation, stress comes with the territory\u2014so CEOs are turning to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7819,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2439,6863,6864,6865,6866,6867,6868,8,17,6869,1438,2841,6329,6870,6871,1257,6872],"class_list":["post-7818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-japan","tag-amazon","tag-burnout","tag-career-tips","tag-chief-executive-officer-ceo","tag-executives","tag-exercise","tag-golf","tag-japan","tag-japanese","tag-jeff-bezos","tag-jobs","tag-music","tag-nissan","tag-rock-band","tag-stress","tag-tennis","tag-work-life-balance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7818\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}