What 13 successful leaders read every morning

The billionaire investor tells CNBC he reads the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, the New York Times, USA Today, the Omaha World-Herald, and the American Banker in the mornings. That’s a hefty list to get through.

The President of the United States told Rolling Stone he begins his day with the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post. He’s a devoted reader of the Times’ columnists, and also likes Andrew Sullivan, the New Yorker, and The Atlantic.

The Microsoft cofounder gets a daily news digest with a wide array of topics, and he gets alerts for stories on Berkshire Hathaway, where he sits on the board of directors. Gates also reads the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and the Economist cover-to-cover, according to an interview with Fox Business.

The Buzzfeed founder and CEO wakes up around 8:30 a.m. and heads into the office with the sports or business section of the New York Times, he tells The Wire. He also takes New York magazine. (Subscriptions to the New Yorker and Economist fell by the wayside after he had twins.)

Still, like many younger leaders, the principle way he discovers information is through Twitter and Facebook.

The CEO of fast-food chain Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen says “reading and quiet time to reflect are the most important part of my morning routine.” For example, one of her recent morning reads was the book “Leadership Secrets of the Salvation Army” by Robert A. Watson and Ben Brown. Bachelder also says that the morning is her favorite time for writing on her blog, Serving Performs.

“I typically read the Wall Street Journal, from the center section out,” the General Electric CEO told Fast Company. “Then I’ll go to the Financial Times and scan the FTIndex and the second section. I’ll read the New York Times business page and throw the rest away. I look at USA Today, the sports section first, business page second, and life third. I’ll turn to Page Six of the New York Post and then a little bit on business.”

In 2006, the Starbucks CEO told CNNMoney that he gets up between 5 and 5:30 a.m., makes coffee, and then picks up three newspapers: the Seattle Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times. The habit must work, because he’s stuck with it for more than two decades.

The creator of syndicated comic “Dilbert” says he wakes up at 5 a.m., eats a protein bar, and reads Business Insider for inspiration.

“I prime my creative engine with external news, but I avoid the dreary and hyper-political stuff, because it would be a downer,” Adams says. “I am looking for patterns in life, not jokes. For example, a story about war in the Middle East might give me a joke idea about meeting etiquette.”

“I’m looking for relevant news, urgent business and team needs, updates from startups I invest in, or anything awesome to get my brain going and know what’s going on in the world,” she says.

When Fox Business asked the Berkshire Hathaway vice chairman and right-hand man to Warren Buffett what he likes to read in the morning, Munger kept it simple. “The Economist,” he said.

The “Shark Tank” investor says he wakes up every morning at 5:45 a.m., checks the Asian and European bond markets, and watches business television for 45 minutes while he works out. He then spends another hour from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m reading the latest business news.

“Knowledge is power,” O’Leary says, “and it’s important to have a 360-degree view of the financial climate all over the world.”

“I start my day by consuming quite a lot of information,” the entrepreneur and social-media guru says. He reads TechMeme, the email newsletter MediaREDEF, Business Insider, ESPN, and Nuzzel, an aggregator of headlines and links that his network is sharing. Next he heads to Twitter, where he spends “a significant amount of my morning responding to people and starting conversations.” Lastly, he checks Instagram to see what his friends are up to.

The NFL Hall-of-Famer and entrepreneur has had the same morning-reading routine for decades. “First, I read the Atlanta Journal Constitution to get my local news,” he says. “Next, I go to the New York Times, which skews liberal, and then I read the Wall Street Journal, which is more conservative. I’ll read every part — domestic, foreign, business, sports, even the parts that might bore me a little — because feeding my brain is an absolutely essential part of my day.”