ServiceNow CFO Gina Mastantuono’s Monday morning routine; data centers are a ‘gold rush’ for these workers; plus, what's up with Gen Z shoppers.

Good morning, CFOs, and welcome back from the Thanksgiving holiday break. We caught up recently with ServiceNow CFO Gina Mastantuono, who responded to our callout from the WSJ Leadership Institute’s CFO Journal for Monday morning routines that help finance chiefs prepare for the day ahead.

Here are edited, condensed responses responding to our Q&A on Monday morning routines.

What is your Monday morning routine?

Mastantuono: I like to start the week on offense, not defense. Most Mondays begin with a training session, which helps me create the energy and focus I need for the week ahead.

Beverage of choice?

Mastantuono: I make a green tea and carve out some quiet focus time. I review my priorities for the week and come back to two questions:

• What requires my attention now—I need to be present in each moment
• Where can I unblock the team to help them achieve everything they need to   

How do you stay mentally or physically strong for the CFO job?

Mastantuono: I live by one rule: Put your own oxygen mask on first. Leading across finance, strategy, and corporate development requires clarity, resilience, and steadiness. Taking care of my health is how I protect that.
 
My routine is consistent:

• Strength training three times a week
• Cardio for endurance
• Mobility work
• 8 hours of sleep a night  

As an introvert in a role that is highly external and connected to every part of the enterprise, fitness is how I recharge and stay grounded.

What are you grateful for in 2025?

Mastantuono: Family and close friends always come first. My husband, two boys, and my entire extended family keep me grounded, energized, and are an absolute gift and source of joy. Spending time with our close friends remains ever important as we move into the holidays. I am also grateful for our team at ServiceNow. Their grit, discipline, and customer focus are the engine behind everything we do.
 
I am especially grateful for the opportunity to help lead the company in a moment of significant industry change. AI is reshaping enterprise technology, and with responsibility for finance, strategy, and corporate development, I have a front-line view of how companies are navigating it. The scale of impact is meaningful, and I take that responsibility seriously.
 
What is top of mind for you for the remainder of the year?

Mastantuono: Two things: Delivering for customers and delivering for our people.
 
Customers are moving fast to modernize their business models with AI. They are looking for partners who can help them drive real outcomes, from efficiency and productivity to modernization and stronger financial results. With responsibility for strategy as well as finance, my focus is ensuring we are investing in the areas that create long-term value for them and our shareholders.
 
Internally, I'm thinking about clarity and discipline. It’s critical to balance near-term execution with long-term priorities, especially as I continue to lead my team through the changes AI is driving in how work gets done. My job is to make sure we are delivering every day while staying focused on the strategic investments that will matter three, five, and ten years from now.

CFO Journal readers, if you’d like to share your Monday morning routines, please hit Reply to this newsletter or email me at walden.siew@wsj.com.

Monday

Earnings: Credo Technology and MongoDB

The Institute for Supply Management releases its Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index for November.

Tuesday

Earnings: American Eagle Outfitters, Bank of Nova Scotia, Box, CrowdStrike Holdings, GitLab, Marvell Technology, Okta, Pure Storage and Signet Jewelers

Wednesday

Earnings: Dollar Tree, Five Below, Salesforce and Snowflake
ADP releases its National Employment Report for November.

The Institute for Supply Management releases its Services PMI for November.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports export and import price data for September.

Thursday

Earnings: Brown Forman, Docusign, Dollar General, Kroger, SentinelOne, Toronto-Dominion and BankUlta Beauty

Friday

Earnings: Victoria’s Secret

The Bureau of Economic Analysis will release the personal consumption expenditures price index for September.

The University of Michigan releases its Consumer Sentiment Index for December.

Economic worries aren’t putting much of a dent in consumers’ holiday shopping plans, with one glaring exception: Gen Z shoppers, Jennifer Williams reports.

More than any other generation, young adults are tightening their year-end spending budgets and shelling out less for gifts, survey data shows. That is a problem for retailers and brands that look to Generation Z—a group that runs from teens to late-20-somethings—to drive shopping trends and boost spending steadily as they earn bigger paychecks.

An investment boom in artificial intelligence is creating a thirst for massive data centers—and a bonanza for the workers building them. It is unclear how long that boom will last, Te-Ping Chen reports.

Data centers don’t employ many workers once they are actually built. During construction, though, they are a hive of workers pouring concrete walls and foundations, wiring electric panels and installing equipment such as power generators and chillers to ensure servers are cooled to a precise temperature at all times. 

How much are these workers making? Given such complexity and high demand, workers who move into the data-center industry—in roles ranging from electricians to project managers—often earn 25% to 30% more than they did before, said Jake Rasweiler, senior vice president of data centers at Kelly Services, a staffing and recruitment firm.

Moreover, data centers are ballooning in size, and a single project can take years to construct and require thousands of workers. Tech giants such as Amazon.com, Google and Microsoft operate 522 data centers and have an additional 411 data centers in development, according to Synergy Research Group.

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The Wall Street Journal's CFO Journal offers corporate leaders and professionals CFO analysis, advice and commentary to make informed decisions. We cover topics including corporate tax, accounting, regulation, capital markets, management and strategy.

Follow us on X @WSJCFO. The WSJ CFO Journal Team comprises reporters Kristin Broughton, Mark Maurer and Jennifer Williams, and Bureau Chief Walden Siew.

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